Locked Away
by N-I-N-T
Summary: Follows coma theory: Ash wakes up from a ten year coma to realize that all of his adventures were only a figment of his imagination; but he questions if they were more than that. Everything has changed in ten years, and he must put back all the shattered pieces while he embarks on a new journey to save the world and himself. Pokeshipping
1. Chapter 1: Introduction

(edited by crywonder, 08.08.2016)

Summary: Follows coma theory: Ash wakes up from a ten year coma to realize that all of his adventures were only a figment of his imagination; but he questions if they were more than that. Everything has changed in ten years, and he must put back all the shattered pieces while he embarks on a new journey to save the world and himself. Pokeshipping

Genre: Romance/drama

sub-genre: hurt/comfort/adventure

Rating: Teen

Pairings: Pokeshipping, Rocketshipping, partial mentions of others

Disclaimer: I don't own the Pokemon anime, the Pokemon games, or the Pokemon characters involved.

 **Locked Away, Chapter 1**

All day, Ash had been feeling a bit odd. His head felt a little fuzzy, and his entire body ached beneath his clothes; though he could not recall why. He, Clemont, Bonnie and Serena were passing through a small town on their way to Victory Road, having just collected his final badge; he was well on his way to his sixth league tournament. This time he would walk away champion. This time was different. Ash could feel it.

Kalos was a much bigger place than any he had traveled so far, with each town a memory on its own. So, as they crossed through yet another nameless town, the smell of the multiple vineyards penetrated his senses. He sniffed happily, embracing the many different cultures he had found over the years. Every region had a characteristic of its own; Kalos was no different. Its majestic ruse came from romantic lights, carefully placed signs, and authentic, old-fashioned restaurants that the group walked by. Like towns before this one, Ash might have enjoyed himself a bit more, if the mouse resting on his shoulder wasn't heavier than usual. Even though they had spent yesterday energized and ready to finally win their first championship match, the adrenaline seemed to skip over Pikachu, who looked painfully ill.

"You sure you're okay, buddy?" Ash asked while scratching the electric pokemon's ears. It squealed at him happily, eliciting a loud sigh while it hopped down from his shoulder and into Ash's arms, where the worried trainer then cradled it.

Clemont raised his eyebrows and smiled. "He's probably just tired, Ash. I wouldn't worry so much," the blonde laughed as Bonnie ran up ahead.

"Oh, look guys, there an ice cream shop! Can we stop there?" Bonnie jumped gleefully.

Ash tried his best to muster a smile, but the dull ache from earlier that morning pounded the joy from his face; instead, Clemont and Serena answered for him with their own cheers of excitement.

"That sounds great after our long walk, don't you think Ash?" Serena turned to him smiling as brightly as the sun, but Ash could only smile weakly while he rubbed his stomach, feeling very hungry, as he had been the last couple of days. No matter how much he ate, he was never satisfied.

A look of worry washed over Serena's face as Clemont ran forward to follow his younger sister into the ice cream cafe.

"Are you feeling okay, Ash? You've been acting kind of funny since yesterday," she said coolly while extending her hand to brush his forehead.

Her hand never made contact, however, as the ten-year old boy pushed himself away and shook his head.

"I'm fine, just a little hot is all," he muttered halfheartedly. He looked up, using his hand to shield the rest of the light that his hat couldn't cover, to see that the sun hadn't shifted form it's noon-day position; though after their walk into the city, it should have been well into the evening by now. Ash didn't have long to think about it while the boiling heat made his throat dry. It was also winter last he checked, wasn't it? He tugged on his collar slightly, burning up as he swallowed against a lump that had started to form in his throat, and followed Serena into the parlor behind his friends.

A cold gust of wind smashed into him, knocking the breath out of him when the doors opened. Trying not to wince, he trudged through the ice-cream shop, forcing a smile to his lips as he took a seat beside Serena in the booth. Bonnie and Serena both sat beside the window, carefully plucking out menu items that sounded interesting while Ash placed Pikachu on the corner of the table. It wasn't very often that Ash let Pikachu have ketchup, but on days celebrating his most recent entry into the championships, he would treat the pokemon.

"Here Pikachu," Ash muttered happily, handing a bottle of smashed tomato to the yellow pokemon, but he merely shook his head, and crawled down from the metal table and back into Ash's lap, where it curled up into a slight ball against his stomach. Ash's face scrunched up as he removed his hat.

"I don't think Pikachu is feeling well, guys." Ash muttered while fanning the small pokemon. He stroked its yellow fur while his companions raised their eyebrows and smiled softly.

"Like we said, he's probably just tired." Serena paused, brushing her hand through her short hair after removing her own hat. "We all are," she added with a curt smile.

Ash couldn't muster the same feeling of confidence because he could still feel an embroiled heat threatening to burst from his chest. Maybe _he_ was the one feeling unwell? The leather seats of the booth had no feeling beneath his legs; instead, he felt like he was floating, drifting into a haze of his own world when the waitress approached them.

"What will it be for you folks?" She asked, having red-hair and a cheerful, pale smile. She had gorgeous cerulean green eyes that Ash felt looked oddly similar to someone else that he knew, but neglected to mention it before his friends started their orders.

"I'll have a chocolate sundae!" Bonnie exclaimed. It was also Ash's favorite dessert.

"Me, too, actually," Ash added to Bonnie's order quickly as the waitress scratched down the information and smiled happily at the group. Serena ordered a fancier desert, with Clemont opting out of desert all together, in favor of fries. Ash could have gone for some fries as well, maybe even a full burger.

"Actually, can I get a burger and fries too, with a glass of ice water?" he added quickly, feeling the pit in his stomach worsen. The waitress smiled that oh-so-familiar grin and tilted her head slightly.

"Sure can, just give us about ten minutes." With a nod of her head, and a spin of her heels, she was off into the kitchen where she tossed the staff the order before stalking off to another group at another table, who Ash couldn't see the faces of.

Stroking Pikachu's fur habitually, Ash rubbed the back of his neck with the other, lost in his own thoughts while Bonnie talked with Serena, and Clemont picked at one of his newest inventions: the replacement of pokeball transfer systems. It would have been super handy, considering the fact that most of the time a trainer needed to trade his pokemon, they were in the middle of nowhere, far, far away from a pokemon center.

However, as the swirl of the ceiling fan hummed above them, Ash found it hard to keep his focus, almost like he was being drained from the inside out. Seconds later, even though the waitress had told them ten minutes, their meal was ready. The green-eyed waitress set Ash's meal down first, with the glass of ice water, and then stalked off to grab the ice cream and Clemont's fries. Worriedly, the smell of food was lost to the young trainer who picked at his burger, relating the taste to tree bark or cardboard.

"Does this taste stale to you?" he grumbled, pushing the plate to Clemont. Serena looked worriedly at Ash, this time touching his head. He felt normal, so she shrugged.

"You must have caught a small cold or something..." she hummed thoughtfully, while sipping her shake.

Ash shrugged in response and drifted into his own chocolate sundae, and thoughts. As his eyes opened and closed lazily, he thought for a while that falling asleep would be a wonderful feeling. Once or twice, he dozed off, listening carefully to the unstructured scratches of Bonnie's pencil against white paper. She and Serena were designing a new look for Serena's show cases. When he opened his eyes again, everything took a white hue; Clemont looked like he was glowing while he tinkered with his screwdriver, and hummed a random song to himself.

A few tables away, Ash could finally see the face of the lady sitting a few rows down from him—a young woman with auburn hair and brown eyes. Her face was pale white, and stony. But _familiar._ When he saw that face before, she always smiled at him; there was never any room for worry unless she was angry—which was rare.

"...Mom?" Ash asked, his voice waking him from his trance. Everything returned to normal, even the waitress whom he associated with, that had red hair and a slender body, walked around a bit chubby and had brown hair. He shook his head, feeling the slight head rush. What was that? He thought, but didn't have long to decide as he looked at Serena and Bonnie, who did not heard him speak.

"Did you say something?" Bonnie looked up to Ash with her big, doe eyes and while sparing a single glance back at the table where he saw his stone-faced mother previously; he shrugged.

"It's nothing," Ash said, looking at the elderly couple, who fed a toddler spoonfuls of baby food. He felt better though – even though he hadn't touched his food, his stomach no longer felt like it had a gaping hole in it. In fact, his entire body felt lighter; but his mind betrayed him.

"How are we paying for this?" he asked suddenly, catching his companions off guard.

"...It's on the house...?"

"Said who?" Ash said flatly, looking around the restaurant.

Everything not only had a happy, sunshine glow, where everything was right in the world and everyone was his age or extremely old, but it suddenly felt _too_ clean, too perfect. Not quite right. Ash swallowed hard while looking down at Pikachu, who had disappeared from his lap. He dipped his head down to look under the table, but the pokemon was no longer there. He then sat up and looked around the table.

"Where did Pikachu go?" Ash murmured, but his companions shrugged.

"Who?" Serena asked with her lips pursed happily. Ash's face fell, and he got up from his seat feeling anxious. The same dystopian feeling rocketed into his chest, and he looked around desperately.

"We should go, guys," Ash murmured, standing up, but when he looked back down, Pikachu was happily sitting on the table, sipping on his bottle of ketchup.

"Ash, you're causing a scene. Sit down!" Bonnie yelped, waving her hand at the trainer, but Ash licked his lips, and shook his head.

"Something is wrong..." he muttered, though he couldn't place what was bothering him. Pikachu walked up to him, and sat down with his ketchup to his lips and blinked up at his trainer. His foot bounced beneath the black and white tiled floors; he felt like he had been there for ages already, so when he glanced at the clock and saw that it hadn't changed, his heart raced.

Maybe he had been over-working himself the last couple of days, rushing from town to town to collect different kinds of pokemon and win badges. He never seemed to stop; he just kept going, and going. Maybe battling was finally getting to him? Ash rubbed his hands over his head, scratching his hair as he tugged on his red cap once again. But he had to work hard, he had something to prove to the world; he had to be the very best, and he had to get better.

Breathing in a fresh smell, rather than the smell of the coffeepot, ice-cream laden restaurant, he held his nose. The area smelled like latex gloves, and slowly, the sound of the ticking clock distracted him. He watched the second hand go around once, and then again and again, but the minute hand never changed.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

The slow beeping in his head pulled at his ears. The soft sounds blasted in his ears while Clemont tucked at his project, and Serena tore up the design she just made.

Sccrch. Scccratch.

The sound of paper ripping into two echoed loudly in his head, he pressed his hands against his ears harder; but no one seemed to notice, and the sounds didn't get any quieter.

Drip, drip. The leaking faucet beside the waitress poured into his ears like a screaming engine in the middle of the night, or a blazing chainsaw in the dead of a forest. Without realizing it, he had put his hands over his ears, as if to silence the outer noise – but it only made it worse.

"I can't take this!" he screamed loudly, silencing the once noisy diner. Even with his scream, the echo of the sounds didn't end. Blasting in his ears were the sounds of his friends; only his friends had stopped what they were doing to look up at him. His friends stopped, but the sounds did not. Was he going crazy?

He couldn't take their stares, their desperate looks of worry, so instead he rose to his feet, kicking against the table and causing Serena's shake to spill over the table, as well drowning Bonnie's picture in a mud of melted pink ice cream.

"Ash! What are you doing?" Serena cried while taking a few napkins off the table to pat the drawing as the waitress, the one Ash had recognized earlier with red hair and green eyes, returned. She ripped a cloth out of her apron, and laid it out flat over the mess while Ash looked upward at the ceiling, feeling it pull further and further away.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Was he hearing things? The sound of a microwave, an alarm? He looked over at the counter, spooked. He was gathering more and more looks by the second.

"Pika pii...?" The small rodent asked, but Ash shook his head violently and sprung forward as if some other force was guiding him. Outside. He needed to go outside.

Striding boldly, he moved to the exit doors, leaving behind cries from his group. Something wasn't right; he could feel it in the way the wind caressed his face. The noon sun was _still_ up, but it was cold. _So cold_ , and yet he was burning up just a few minutes ago. He touched his hands to his face, wiping a cold sweat from his forehead. Shaking, he tucked his hands under his armpits. The temperature was frigid – had the temperature dropped in the last few minutes? It wasn't this cold earlier; his temperature dropped fast.

Ash...wake up dear...

"What?" He spun around. Serena, Bonnie and Clemont still watched him from inside the restaurant, trying to clean up the mess that Ash left behind. He turned once more to his left, and again to his right. Nothing. Nothing but the cold wind. He could barely even feel the weight of Pikachu on his shoulder. Shivering, he started forward into the middle of the street, walking past moving cars, adamantly questioning what was happening. If he started moving, he would surely warm up, right?

It only made his feet heavier. After a few steps, he could hardly walk.

What in the world was happening to him?

Unfortunately, his legs gave way in the middle of the street, forcing a car to halt to an impressive stop to avoid him. His legs buckled from underneath him, and he was on his knees in seconds, wheezing for air.

By that point, Serena had come running out of the diner, calling Ash's name.

"Ash! Someone call a doctor! Anyone!" she screamed. Ash could hear her voice waver; tears bordered her eyes when she turned him over to look at her. He felt so cold, and she was so warm. Tenderly, she pressed her warm palm against his cheek while Pikachu folded itself onto his chest, but the kind gesture had only knocked the wind out of him. When he tried to speak, only short coughs escaped his lips.

"It's going to be okay." Serena cried. He could feel the warmth of her tears hitting his face as everything started to go dark.

"It's going to be..."

Darkness. When his eyes closed, it was all he could see. Nothing to the left of him, and nothing to the right. It was worse than a dream; in fact, he never remembered dreaming, he just knew traveling, and laughter... never darkness. He couldn't comprehend what was happening to him, the normal day ending so abruptly. Cold and clammy hands had grasped his shoulders, as if shaking him, but Ash was numb already. His mind was elsewhere, somewhere far away. And for the first time in many years, Ash was terrified.

There was a long moment of silence until the rushing of those small ticking noises and beeps flooded his ears.

"You're absolutely sure you want to pull the plug Ms. Ketchum?" Even though it sounded like he was under water, he could hear a man's voice. An older man, one who took his life too seriously.

And then something he wasn't prepared for. Tears escalated, he could feel them cascade down his cheeks, only they were not his own.

"Yes...I'm sure..." His mother's voice wrecked havoc in his body, remembering that stone-faced woman who sat in the booth down the ways from him. He wanted to scream at her, to ask her what was going on, what was happening to him—but the sudden, sharp spike of pain followed by her tears only forced his mind to scream out. Swirling pain enveloped his entire body, slowly suffocating him until all that he felt, all that he could think, all that he knew...

Was nothing.

 **Author's Note:**

This is a different, darker spin on the pokemon world I haven't seen in awhile. A large premise of this story will be focused with this in mind: "How does the pokemon world really run?". I haven't seen a coma theory story in a very, very long time, and I've never personally seen a finished variation (Even in all of my years on Ffnet) So, without further a due, here's my rendition of the coma theory; I hope that you all like it,

But as usual; I write my stories primarily for myself, but if other people like them as well; then that's super awesome.

Hope you guys enjoy the ride.

P.S.: This is technically an Alternate Reality, isn't it? But...Aren't all Fan fictions technically AU's though? Just a thought.

NINT


	2. Chapter 2: Waterflower

**(edited** _07.08.2016)_

 **Locked away,** C **hapter 2:**

 _Oh,_

Viridian City, Misty had so many pleasant memories in the vast city. Most of them consisted of first dates, pokemon victories, and under water ballets, but she cherished them all. Returning to the city, however, was always partially bittersweet, because for every pleasant memory of the city, there was one memory that hadn't been so pleasant at all.

The red haired female stepped off of the green and brown train cart in three-inch heels. She wore a pair of black tights as pants, with boots that ended right under her kneecaps. She looked almost like a model in her flowing, sheer-white blouse that ended above her mid thigh. Sleeves covered her arms loosely, and the neckline hung off her shoulders; revealing clearly, the top of her blue tank top that she wore beneath. In the midst of summer, there was no reason to cover up completely; in fact, she was already rethinking the boots, but her sisters had told her that any good woman did not wear flip-flops outside of pool and beach areas, sneakers were for kids, and so boots were her only spare.

Reluctantly, she listened to their silly fashion advice—no matter how absurd it may have been. Boots in the middle of summer? The red head grunted as she lugged her semi-large white purse over her shoulder. Passengers shuffled around her carelessly while strands of her hair fell into her face. Her hair was down in a layered bob that curled right beneath her ears on both sides; it puffed a little more in the back, and hung a little longer on the right side. Usually she wore her hair up in a ponytail, but when she left the gym, the few times she did, she tried to look presentable by applying a bit of make up, side-sweeping her bangs-rather than letting them hang in her face, and wearing jewelry. Cascade water-drops dangled from her ears, and off of a simple silver necklace.

Around her, she had _already_ gathered looks from prepubescent teenage boys with too much acne and a bad odor while she shuffled her feet forward on the hot concrete. A part of her wished that Viridian City had spent a little more time building their train station. Sure, even though it snowed in Kanto rarely, there wasn't a good reason to not have a roof over the loading platforms: it was _too_ hot. What if it rained? Everyone would be running for cover and failing. Misty grimaced as she adjusted her dark sunglasses.

Whispering began moments after she approached the ticketing station to verify her arrival. Getting it stamped meant she could get half off her next purchase; anything to save a few dollars. Young trainers, occasionally older ones as well turned to one another. Boys stood behind her in line, muttering to one another.

"Isn't that the Cerulean city gym leader?"

"I heard she has a mean streak..." the small one replied.

Misty cracked a small smile, listening to the boys whisper about her _greatness_.

"Who cares who she is, look at that ass. She has a booty I would..." He didn't have time to finish as the gym leader had spun on her heels, and faced the boy behind her with demonic eyes. She glowered at him, flicking down her black patrol shades with a look of intense fury. Sea-green eyes were the portals to hell, if those boys didn't know any better.

"Who the hell do you think you are? Watch your fuckin' mouth!" She growled, cracking her knuckle as a vein popped on the side of her cheek. Like clock work, the two whispering teens turned, and quickly fled the scary woman, doing their best not to trip as their tails tucked between their legs. She flicked off her glasses in one motion and cocked her mouth to one side with a sigh.

The Cerulean City gym leader, Misty, in all of her red haired glory, folded her arms in a huff as she turned back to the ticket counter. The man stared at her timidly, and slipped her signed ticket back to her before she smacked her lips and began her stroll down the walk while muttering; "Stupid kids don't know any manners." and shuffled her sunglasses into her bag.

Due to standing circumstances, she didn't have the patience for teenagers anymore. As a water pokemon trainer, and the Cerulean City gym leader, she spent a majority of her time wearing a swimsuit at the gym. Unless challengers were under the age of twelve, she couldn't catch a break with the comments; even when she was dressed _properly,_ people commented on her looks.

 _The 'ugliest' sensational sister my ass._ She thought bitterly as she pushed through the exit doors with a little more aggression than she wanted.

Greeting her outside were the roaring sounds of the city, which was only slightly maintained by the high walls of the train station. The rush of different city noises hit her with a loud sigh and she hummed while holding the strap of her bag. Breathing in the pollution, she smiled once more, her fit having passed.

 _Yes; Viridian City had so many pleasant memories._ She thought as she strolled eagerly through the encapsulating town that had changed so much in the last few years. On the main street, buildings were high—some up to twenty stories. Silph Co. was the largest business in Viridian City, and their logo could be seen on every bus and nearly every street corner that she passed. Abruptly stopping her stride, she looked past the street lights and the busy streets. Littered along the sidewalk beside the train station were the bodies of the homeless, claiming to have been ran out of their homes by some evil force. They held out their dirty hands for money, and Misty had a hard time telling them no. Years ago, she tried to pass around what little she did have; but found that there was simply not enough. So now, she tried to avoid the beggars, though it made her heart heavy to do so. When the walk light flashed on at the intersection, and the cars stopped, Misty pressed onward without passing a glance to the out stretched hands.

About a block away from her destination she exhaled looking up at the large, metallic pokeball that hung at the end of the street indicating the pokemon hospital. The pokemon center, which used to only be a shell in the center of the city, was now a multiprocessing, mass marketing, fully operating pokemon hospital; and just so happened to be where she was heading. The hospital had recently released a new brand of pokemon food from some guy under an alias from Pewter City. It completely renovated how beneficial pokemon food was. As the decent, and good nature gym leader that Misty was; she didn't mind the short travel and extra money to provide her pokemon with the absolute _best._

Along with that _,_ Misty liked the city. They had a plethora of stores that Cerulean City didn't offer, and the atmosphere was a bit more forgiving. No other city was like Viridian City. Since Team Rocket had been undermined, and the former Viridian City gym leader, Giovanni, brought to face charges by the police; the theft rates were down by almost half. Little kids roamed the street free of worries! Aside from the 'homeless corner' right outside of the train station, people were able to relax in the city. Even the elderly could relax, sip tea and enjoy their day without a care. Really, there wasn't much Misty could think she disliked about the city. Outside of the homeless corner, the suburbs of the city were maintained, and there were a plethora of available jobs. When Giovanni was put behind bars for his crimes, Silph Co. opened several new branches of their company; thus, allowing the market to boom. Nearly every corner of downtown was littered with sidewalk cafes that allowed people to sit out in the sun, enjoy the gentle breeze and the sound of swaying tree.

Misty happened to be walking near one of the sidewalk cafes when an article that was on the back of an open news paper caught her eye. An elderly woman sat in a black metal chair, flipping through carelessly when Misty rushed to the railing of the small diner and pressed her fingers against the metal fence.

"Turn back to that last page!" Misty crooned to the old woman, getting a disgusted look in return.

"Get your own paper!" She shrieked, loftily slamming the paper down on the table, so that neither female could read it. Misty gave the older woman a snarl, rolling her eyes as she did. How mature!

Ignoring the woman, Misty turned on her heads, and took off down the street. Rushing to the next newspaper bin, which happened to be down the street and across from the pokemon center, Misty scrounged through her purse to pull out a few quarters. She slipped them inside of the coin slot, and then watched the latch release eagerly. A loud shriek echoed from the box as metal rubbed against metal when Misty pulled to door down and dipped her hand in to take out a single, neatly folded paper.

Cursing at herself for forgetting, it took her a few frustrated moments to look through the first three pages—she hadn't even been sure what she saw was what she _really_ saw; or why she cared even the slightest about it. As she made it to the third page; she grimaced: News about a coma patient that was so quickly glanced over.

Deflated, Misty dead panned and shook her head. It wasn't what she thought: "Man dies after coma; six days after fatal accident." She read aloud before lowering the paper. A wave of relief washed over her, but it only lasted for a moment before she handed the paper off to some man leaning against the wall. While there were many great memories around Viridian; there was a looming, depressing reminder.

Namely memories of a young trainer named Ash Ketchum.

 **XOXs**

It took her several hours before she worked up the courage to walk to the hospital. The twilight sun died in the distance, and showed no signs of easing up. The heat had long since penetrated her boots, and she once again swore to herself that boots were a terrible idea. Staring at the large infrastructure before her, she carried a plastic bag full of pokemon food in one hand, her purse on her right shoulder, and a bundle of white roses cradled in her right arm. Her green eyes looked upward at the tall, multi-color building with an intense sadness in them. She hadn't realized the date, otherwise she would have been here a few days earlier.

Every year on July 22, for the last ten years, she made a customary stop at the Viridian City Hospital. It didn't matter if she was busy, if she was sick, or injured; she found a way here. Every year except this one. Sure, over the last few years, she had lost any hope for the frail boy she visited, but even to this day; she felt slightly responsible.

So every year, _she would visit._

Maybe it was fate that she decided this week to spontaneously vacation from the gym? Maybe something good would happen? Maybe she wouldn't spend ten hours with what was essentially a corpse; dusting curtains, cleaning nails and trimming hair, for someone that hadn't even made a slight notion of living in the last ten years. Aside from the fact that his results never came back negative, he was on life support, he was fine. Only, he wouldn't wake up. Disheartened by her own thoughts, Misty entered the building after scaling a few steps, and then approached a plump woman seated behind the front counter.

"Hello, I'm here to visit an Ash Ketchum. He should be in the long-term care unit..." Misty spoke quietly, tapping her fingers on the top of the desk as if partially ashamed that she still visited. She knew that her sisters made jokes about it; but she couldn't help but think somewhere, even if it was a very small place; it helped the dying boy. Maybe put him at peace just a little.

"Your name?" The woman asked in a sickly sweet accent.

"Misty Waterflower."

A few moments, clicking on her keyboard; she pursed her lips.

"I'm sorry, I don't see a Mr. Ketchum in the long-term care unit." She said to the gym leader, looking at her with wide, empty blue eyes. Misty blinked.

"Was he moved? Could you just search for Mr. Ketchum?" she tried, but the nurse didn't seem to care.

"I'm sorry, are you family?" she asked in an uppity tone of voice that made Misty shiver.

"No, but I visit every year." Misty tossed out, clearing her throat.

"I'm sorry ma'am, that's not good enough. The family has asked that he not be disturbed during this time."

 _During this time? During this time for what?_ Every nerve in Misty's body had started to violently twitch as she licked her lips. Deep down, though she tried to hide it, she always had a bit of a _temper_. "Just look up my name then, I'm on the visiting list, I promise."

"I'm sorry, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." The pudgy nurse suggested with a snooty tone. Misty cracked her neck then slammed her palm against the counter top. The sound echoed among the tall ceilings and alerted a few visitors. Misty didn't yell, she didn't scream, rather, she hissed.

"Listen, lady. I'm the 'ma'am' that fucking carried him in here ten years ago; now give me a damn room number or so help me I will..." She stopped herself, refrained herself from threatening the poor woman's life; she was just doing her job, after all. But Misty could tell that the lazy, absent minded woman had rethought her situation.

"...Just let me look you up in our system." She stammered quickly, flicking her fat fingers against the keys once more until she let out an elated sigh.

"I'm sorry, you _are_ on the visitors list." She half squealed, causing Misty to roll her eyes. _Of course_ she was on the visitor's list.

"His new room is on the eighth floor; room 856. Enjoy your visit." The nervous woman squeaked out the words so quickly that Misty almost didn't catch them as she took her visitors pass, and then took off. She ripped the sticker from its parchment, and slapped it against her left shoulder without writing a name. So long as she had the pasty yellow tag, people would know that she was a visitor and wouldn't bother her. _Yay._

On her way to the elevator, she hadn't thought much about the room change, but she knew that something wasn't right. Long-term care was on the fifth floor. Ash had a nice room there, blue curtains with wooden stands that supposedly made the room feel more 'homely'. Why they would change his location after so many years? She wasn't sure. Though, the hospital was flooded with plenty of other coma-patients, some not lucky enough to have a name. There were several John Doe's that Misty had visited during her first few years, but as time went on, she realized just how minimalist those flowers were to them. There was no misunderstanding that once a person was in a coma for over a year, typically, the brain cells would start dying; most people who didn't wake up after the first month were removed from life support; but Delia, this boy's mother, just _knew_ that her son would wake up.

Misty remembered the moment like it was yesterday. She had followed this silly boy she fished out of the river to find her bike, only to stumble upon him passed out and electrocuted in the middle of the road. Misty scoffed under her breath and shook her head as she waited in the elevator with a nurse.

In the beginning, Misty asked many times: _What's the difference between being shocked and being electrocuted?_ The simple answer: people who were electrocuted didn't get back up. Of course, she didn't know that as an eleven year old, no, all Misty saw was a half-dead boy with a pikachu curled in his arms who needed help and she panicked. Misty didn't know CPR at the time, or really any form of first aid, so she did the only thing she could do. She threw him over her shoulder, and carried him into Viridian City, where eventually a nice officer named Jenny intercepted, and took them the rest of the way.

His pokedex had been fried in the explosion, and Misty could only assume that because of the power boost of the thunderstorm that day, as well as the metal bike—the shock of the attack was just too much. If a pokedex, designed to be nearly indestructible, had essentially turned into smolder, Misty wasn't even sure how the boy survived; let alone make it all the way to Viridian City with her practically dragging him.

With a beep from the machine beside her, Misty arrived on the eighth floor with a heavy heart as she exited the elevator with a sigh. Only the soft tap of her heels against the floor provided sound for this section of the hospital.

After the initial accident, she had stayed in Viridian City for two weeks in order to send out fliers, and articles, or anything else that could help identify the boy. Luckily, an auburn haired pokemon trainer, who heard the news from Misty's sisters in Cerulean City rushed back to Viridian City to address the situation. To this day, Misty could barely remember that boy's name. The name 'oak' flashed in her mind like a sore thumb, but she couldn't be sure anymore. After his arrival, he called Ash's mother, DNA tests were ran; and it was all verified. Back then, Misty thought that if she found Ash's mother, it would relieve the pain in her chest, but it only made it worse. _So much worse_. When she saw Delia for the first time, that look of absolute horror reflected in her eyes as she broke down at the sight of her son was a moment Misty would never forget.

Misty hoped she never had to go through something like that. Ever.

Since then, everything changed slowly over time, everyone but Ash. Delia started off peppy, hopeful and visiting religiously for the first three years; but over the last couple of years she must have drifted. Misty neared the boy's room knowing that _everything_ was different now as she put the situation together in her mind. The room change, the time to grieve, public visitation revoked. She gnawed on her thumb nail. Years and years of waiting was hard on the participants, devastating, even. Misty couldn't blame Delia for her decision.

Empty beds lined the other rooms, and only a single nurse worked the floor, smacking her gum haphazardly while she text on her cellphone. She didn't even notice Misty enter the hospital room. Trembling hands squeezed the door knob, and then twisted it slowly until she was standing inside of the last hospital room that Ash Ketchum would ever see.

The eighth floor was for terminal patients.

 **XOXs**

When Misty finally got settled in, she took the time to review his charts that were left at the end of his bed. A request was put in from a Ms. Ketchum to have the life support machines disconnected; only two days ago, on July 22. _His birthday_. After that, she disappeared without alerting the doctors even though she was supposed to stay until his condition ended. The mother probably couldn't live with the idea that she had to pull the plug on her own son, and because she couldn't deal, she ran. Had Misty been here on the twenty second like she was supposed to, she might have actually had enough time to talk some sense into Delia.

Yet, why was that Misty's business? Misty didn't have the pay the hospital bills, deal with the pressure of living with the idea that her son was locked away in a coma for years—no, Misty could put it out of her mind easily enough the moment she stepped off of the hospital's steps. Delia thought about it every day, every night, every moment, and Misty only visited once a year. However, something about 'pulling the plug' after waiting ten years left her frosty.

Before taking a seat in the only available chair in the dark room, Misty took her time dressing the white roses. Hospital staff moved what few possessions that he had from his previous room into this white jail cell, including the pale blue vase she bought for his flowers over six years ago. She got tired of putting the flowers into small, Styrofoam hospital cups, so she bought a new one. One that would bring color to an other wise gray area.

Next, she fluffed out the white curtains, and pulled them open to let in the twilight sky. When the dying sun fell over Ash's face, she could see how sick he was becoming when he was no longer connected to life support. She gave him credit, most people died within the first couple of hours, some within the first few minutes, but he was a fighter; even if he was a vegetable. His cheeks were practically concave, his skin a pasty whit and cold and clammy. If Misty couldn't hear the heart monitor in the corner, beeping occasionally to let her know that he was still breathing, she might have thought that he died hours ago.

Apparently, it was inhumane to euthanize human beings, so instead of just ending it, he had to die slowly in a pile of his own encrusting filth. Misty could barely stand to look at him; a skeleton of his former bright eyed self. Those chocolate brown eyes that stared up at her the moment she fished him out of the river plagued her on her visits. Misty covered her mouth thoughtfully. This was all just so wrong. It wasn't fair that Ash's life was over just like that.

Tapping her heel on the floor, a thought crossed her mind. She _wouldn't_ look at him like this, it was barbaric to do so. Quickly, she hung her purse and plastic bag off the side of the chair before setting off in a fine huff. She stepped out of the room long enough to grab a few rags off the sanitary clothing rack, a fresh gown, and some sanitary gloves. Offering only a passing glare at the neglectful nurse, Misty spun around and re-entered his room quietly. Without caring about her hair, which took a little longer than she cared to admit in order to set perfectly, she tossed it into a quick bun; and then ditched her fancy blouse in favor of the practical blue tank top she wore underneath.

Carrying a bucket from the bathroom plump full of lukewarm water, she placed it onto the floor beside his bed; and dipped one of the wash cloths into it. The gloves offered adequate protection while she gently started to wipe his face off; removing some of the grime and oils that had formed there. While he wasn't nasty, with a catheter insert and only liquid drops, he still wasn't clean either. In the long-term care unit, he was sponge-bathed every day; but here, they only offered the bare minimum; a bed and coverings.

The persistent IV drip had even stopped and was left unchanged thanks to the delinquent nurse on this floor; and for a moment, Misty wondered if she should walk out and report the nurse—but at the rate Ash was decaying, she doubt that he would make it through the week regardless. It was awfully humane to even keep an IV connected when his lungs were probably crashing as each heart beat droned slower.

Misty walked away from him for a few moments to fetch a spare IV bag. Inserting a needle into a human wasn't any different than inserting one into a pokemon, and Misty had long developed said skill. She nipped and changed the IV bags before pulling out the fresh gown. Previously, she had thrown off his blankets, now; she had thrown off his old gown, and replaced it with the new one, only bothering to snap the buttons together behind his neck, and then gently flapping the others around the shoulder. That was more than the other nurse had done, at least. He was clean, and while he was far from the living world, he was taken care of.

With her task complete, Misty used her forearm to wipe away a stray sweat. Removed her gloves and tossed them into the garbage bin and then reached down into her purse to grab some nail trimmers.

The worst thing about blaming herself for an accident that-unless she had thrown herself on top of the boy and pummeled him back then-was unavoidable, was the persistent, stinging guilt that forced her to preform these kind gestures, even when the death sentence had already been drawn up. She felt like she had to do these things, as if it would ease her own mind to know that she had helped, if only a little.

Misty grimaced, he should at least be able to die with some dignity, no?

And so like she had the last ten years, she plucked and trimmed at his nails, taking careful time not to cut him or break the skin. His skin was almost paper thin; translucent in the sunlight. Each vein until his elbow was visible like some kind of blue and purple mix of wires. The sight made her sick, but she pressed on until the task was complete. It wasn't like he could help it.

Once she finished, she was able to ditch her second set of gloves, clean up, toss the dirty laundry into the empty hamper, and return to her seat where she pursed her lips uncomfortably, watching him.

At the least, she thought he would look a little better after that—but he didn't look different—he was still dying. Still gray. She couldn't change that. And so she sat, with one knee crossed over the other. Cradling her chin with her hand, watching this young man die before her eyes. His body becoming his eternal tomb.

 **XOXs**

Misty hadn't meant to doze off, no, she was supposed to leave almost an hour ago. Stretching, the gym leader let out a yawn while rubbing her eyes to clear the sleep. Inhaling the musty scent of the room, she glanced at Ash's paling face one last time before pulling her sheer blouse back over her blue tank top.

Leaning over his bed to get a good look at his face, she gently placed her right palm against his left cheek, the same one she had slapped so many years earlier; it was almost ironic, poetic even. She chuckled as sadness seeped into her eyes.

"Ash," she started, and then pressed her lips gently against his forehead before pulling away sullenly. "I'm so sorry this happened to you." She spoke softly, turning her entire body away, lingering her fingers along the fresh bed sheets.

"Wait." The voice was so weak it almost sounded like a whisper. Had Misty been anyone other than who she was, she might have even thought that she imagined it... but the weak grip that snatched her wrist, the hands that had only a few hours ago been as numb and lifeless as her doll collection was, holding her wrist in such a way that shivers ran down her entire body. Frozen in fear, she could see it, very briefly, but it was there, dark chocolate eyes staring up at her in complete panic.

"...Misty?" He questioned hoarsely, weakly, and for the second time, his heart rate machine spiked.

The death lurching scream that followed from the gym leader not only woke the dead, it woke the sleeping nurse at the station.


	3. Chapter 3: Adjustments

**Edited** _07.08.2016_

 **Locked Away, Chapter 3:**

After Misty "called" for the neglectful nurse, the doctors to swarmed in shortly after. A near full panic breached the hospital staff that evening.

Misty, who was backed up into the corner of the room, had an older, gentler nurse's approach her, and kindly asked her to leave the room. She was shell shocked, confused even? Maybe a little bit terrified at the same time. Ash, while awake, looked sicker now than he did sleeping. With so many doctors poking at him and shifting his bed; she wasn't entirely convinced that he wasn't a zombie. Misty was about to be escorted out of the room by said gentle nurse when Ash spoke again. His voice sounded quiet and dangerously scratchy from years of unused vocal cords.

"She stays." Ash groaned, talking created a mass amount of pain; his heart rate spiked again. A nurse ran in with some items from a cart, holding a portable oxygen tank while another doctor used a flashlight over Ash's eyes several times.

"We need to get him into ICU right away." The doctor croaked, ignoring Ash while addressing his staff. He then rattled off a few more instructions, about medicine, oxygen levels while a nurse shoved a needle into Ash's left forearm. Blood surfaced, and Misty shivered at the sight. Having been called away, the gentle nurse returned to help her coworker, thus leaving Misty standing between a rock and a hard place. Should she leave? The doctors said leave, but as quickly as they asked, they seemed to forget her as their primary focus turned back to Ash.

The hospital staff loaded Ash's bed, kicked off the breaks, and started him towards the exit, blazing right past Misty. Ash shook his head as they moved him-disgruntled and confused-passing in and out of consciousness. Unlike the doctors who were all work, Misty could see the complete terror pouring out of his eyes. Ash didn't have a clue where he was, but somehow, he recognized on who she was. She could tell that he didn't like that he was being moved, from where ever he was, and even tried to sit up; but was knocked back from his own weak and ill body, causing vibrations as the doctors rushed him into the elevator.

Misty stood in the hallway like a deer in headlights as he was wheeled away. She could only watch, unable to speak until that look of panic on his face turned to one of fear and betrayal. Once he was loaded into the elevator; Misty finally had the nerve to speak again.

"I'll still be here when you get back!" She screamed, cupping her hands in front of her mouth so her voice would carry. Once the elevator doors had closed, she placed her hand over her mouth, thinking there was nothing else that she could do.

Hearing her call after him, even though he was confused, was oddly comforting. The last thing he remembered was collapsing in the middle of the street of that unknown town, but even that seemed so hazy. Misty looked so different. His body ached. The lights above him in the elevator hurt his eyes. His thoughts couldn't untangle and he tried to touch his aching head, but found that he could not lift his own arm. How long had he been out? Where did Serena go? Did they think he was going to die?

Because he sure has hell felt like it. He felt like he had been asleep for years; but that couldn't have been right. Only yesterday he won another badge. He was about to go to the Kalos league championships. He raised his hand as if to impose a question, but the doctors had strapped his hand down after the last attempt, but he wasn't quite sure he had the strength to lift it, regardless.

"You need to rest and take it easy." The same older nurse that had told Misty to leave the room lumbered over his face, speaking quickly. Too quickly, Ash barely understood anything they were saying. In fact.. everything seemed kind of...blurry.

"Shit, he's coding, get a-" And like that, he was out like a light.

 **XOXs**

 _Morning_ arrived much faster than it had the last time. He didn't feel like he was in an endless, dark void. No, morning came like it had every day for the last ten years of his life.

Brown eyes cracked open at the first light of dawn to the sound of _beeping_ to the left of him and the distant hum of an oxygen tank. When he tried to move, he could feel restraints on his wrists, but even those were too heavy for him to lift right away. His _bones_ felt to heavy to lift. Half-baked, possibly drugged out of his mind, he finally forced his eyes open just enough to get a decent view of his surroundings. A clean, white room with blue curtains stared back at him. He inhaled sharply, and then exhaled again, testing the strength of his lungs. At least his body felt better today than it had yesterday. Still, he felt so...tired.

He turned his head very slowly to the door which was located to the left of his bed, and then to the heart monitor and then the IV, which was pumping some type of brownish-gold liquid, beside an oxygen tank. Scrunching his face, he could finally feel the hoses that had been pressed into his nose; and they suddenly itched like crazy. Wiggling his face to distort the feeling, his eyes closed heavily, like they wouldn't opened again, and then slowly he peeled them awake. Time seemed to jump.

For a moment, Ash thought to call out, but a flicker of red hair outside his door kept his words tucked under his tongue. There she was again, a weird Misty that looked like Misty...but wasn't Misty? He made a face while she came into perfect view as she talked with the nurse that Ash vaguely remembered from yesterday. Misty was still wearing yesterday's outfit, her hair was messier, curly where it shouldn't have been and black rings decorated the bottoms of her eyes. She probably hadn't slept. That was typical Misty. Ash thought that she looked older, _much_ older, but why? He inhaled, and as if thinking about her made her ears burn, she looked over at him, and then nearly jumped out of her skin while she started to push the nurse into Ash's room. Once the nurse realized where she was being pushed to, she, too, hustled in her step.

"Ms. Waterflower, please wait outside." The nurse said while taking a step into the room and cracking the door shut. The nurse came around to the left side of Ash's bed, where he stared at her with weak, questioning eyes. It was funny, hearing Misty called by her last name. He would have laughed, if he had the energy to do so.

"What's going on...?" he asked finally, feeling a bit foggy.

They must have been pumping him full of drugs because his mind moved in slow motion. It would take weeks to get those drugs fully out of his system, he thought inwardly. The nurse didn't reply, instead an oddly familiar tap outside of his room forced his eyes to shift back over to the cracked door, where he could see a beady sea-green eye peaking in. For the first time since this craziness started, he cracked a soft smile at Misty's absurd antics.

His smile almost made her heart do a flip, she shrunk away from the door the moment their eyes made contact, and pulled out her phone while stepping further down the hallway.

Buried in the depths of her phone was a single name that she had never called: "Delia Ketchum". Misty licked her lips hesitantly, having not gone to her hotel that night, she ended up sleeping in the hospital waiting room. Her lips were dry and tasted like bad coffee. She tapped her finger on Delia's name, and then tapped the edges of her phone, trying to decide if she should call or not.

The hospital already tried Delia's home number several times since the boy miraculously woke up, but could not reach the woman. With doctors screaming it was a miracle, and his recovery speed unprecedented in the field of science, the news media was already flooding the hospital trying to get a word with the doctors who had only two days ago removed Ash from life support. It was raving news, streaming on the television behind her in the waiting area. Luckily, the news reporters weren't allowed in the ICU, so Misty was left alone-not that they would bother her anyways—and Ash was left undisturbed.

Though, it was not likely Ash Ketchum's story would go region wide for sometime, she hoped that was the only reason Delia wasn't picking up her phone. She didn't know yet. Still, Misty thought that it wouldn't hurt to try, so she clicked the call button. After a few minutes, she was met with the same dial tone that the hospital got when they tried to call. Frustrated, Misty pinched the bridge of her nose; unable to understand how the hospital allowed this woman to pull the plug on someone without updating their contact information!

Grimacing, she pulled the phone away from her face, and clicked the end call button. Stepping back in line of Ash's room while crossing her arms. She peered in once more to see that he was looking at the nurse attempting to take a blood sample and rambling on about something. He clearly didn't like needles, his face was scrunched up in discomfort as he looked towards the window. If only he knew just _how many_ needles he had over the last ten years, he might not look so terrified.

Misty turned away once again, placing her hands on her hips and her phone back into her pocket. She leaned up against the door frame outside of his room, hands in her pockets, waiting patiently for the nurse to finish her routine. When the nurse finally did step out, she did so shaking her head. The action caught Misty's attention and she reared her head at the nurse, who looked gravely concerned.

"What's wrong?" Misty asked, voice full of worry. The nurse inhaled and then offered her a sweet smile as she guided the young woman down the hall a ways.

"Ms. Waterflower," The way that the nurse addressed her so professionally made Misty _almost_ feel like an adult. She cracked the faintest of smiles as the nurse continued. "We've never seen such a quick recovery... he's already talking..." she stammered, but shook her head, regaining her thoughts.

"If you choose to visit with him... please, do not mention his current situation. He does not seem to be aware of his predicament, and I would like to consult a psychiatric doctor to have him assessed before the news is broken to him; these kind of things take a lot of time to heal. Do you understand?" The nurse spoke gently, in a manner that calmed Misty's frantic heart as she laid a wrinkled hand against Misty's shoulder and smiled. Misty nodded and offered a slight smile in return; she wasn't dumb enough to go against professional advice, and the sweet nurse didn't seem to want to create harm.

Misty nodded, "I'll watch what I say." Misty assured her before the nurse smiled and went on her way with Ash's chart. Most likely on her way to speak with said doctor. Misty inhaled as she turned, heart racing, and pushed Ash's door open.

He didn't notice her at first, the tap of her heels having become simply back ground noise as his droopy eyelids found their solace in the light beaming in behind the blue curtains. Even in his drug induced state, his eyes were full of life and brightness; he blinked once, and then a look of frustration crossed over his face. She watched his fingers wiggle in their restraints, and then she exhaled, putting two and two together. With haste, she slid her purse onto the ground beside Ash's bed. He jumped in response as she trot across the room and then ripped the blue curtains open with one swift, refreshing act.

When the light poured into the dreary room, he exhaled happily. The warm sun against his skin was almost a foreign feeling that brought a tingly feeling to his arms. While he thought it was early morning, Misty knew that the sun was already setting again. Ash had slept over twenty-four hours, with a few awake moments he didn't seem to remember. Her task complete, she turned at him and slipped into the blue chair to the right side of his bed and wiggled her phone between her hands nervously. Ash could only smile at her as an uncomfortable silence settled soon after.

He wouldn't speak first, he had no idea where to start with his mind as scattered as it was, and so she pursed her lips and blinked her long lashes at him.

"How are you feeling?" She murmured.

"Honestly?" Ash tried to chuckle and shifted slightly beneath his covers. His voice was barely there when he motioned to his arms which had regained some of their color over night, and didn't appear as transparent. She snapped her eyes back to his, having caught herself staring, only to see that his eyes had closed again, and slowly re-opened. Probably a side effect of having been comatose for so long.

"Yeah, honestly." Misty nodded, assuring him.

Surprisingly, his answer came quickly; "Muggy. Sore. A little uncomfortable," he shifted, and Misty could only assume he was referencing the catheter and had to stifle her own laugh. Ash continued. "...Confused. Unearthly tired...and did I mention sore?" He ended by looking at her intently, catching the color in his face again for the first time. She cracked a smile.

"That sounds about right." She offered with a flinch as she crossed one knee over the other.

Her callous answer raised his eyebrows. "Why so short? ...you're usually such a chatterbox." He asked skeptically, craning his neck a little to look out the window. His hair fell behind him in that moment, and she finally realized how long it had grown as a blush fell over her cheeks.

She covered her face, humiliated. How in the world did he remember how often she would ramble, rant and carry on when she came to visit? What if he remembered all the weird stuff that she would bring up? No, it must have been some subconscious memory. She grimaced and knit her eyebrows, returning her attention to him yet unsure of how to reply. Catching her discomfort, he watched as she swiped her bangs loose, letting them fall into her face like she did when they were kids.

...were still kids. He wasn't sure. "You changed your hair. It looks nice." He finally managed pointing very gently with his finger.

"I change my hair a lot." Misty flushed, surprised that he remembered what she looked like. Was it possible that the last thing he remembered was her slapping him, and then stealing her bike? Boy, that would be a great memory to have on repeat for _ten years_.

He grinned, or at least tried to. "You actually look like a girl."

Misty almost shot to her feet, ready to yell "a lot changes in ten years!" but had to refrain from doing so. Teetering on the end of her seat, she twisted the hem of her white blouse into her fingers.

"That tends to happen since _I am_ a girl." she managed. C _hange the subject_ she warned herself, "So, do you remember anything?"

He seemed stunned by the question and blinked at her a few times. Maybe it was too much of a personal question? Misty wasn't sure. Perhaps she shouldn't have even asked but as she watched his eyes roam around the room in a fog, she gulped. What if he didn't remember anything at all? What if he was simply in a dark void for years?

Ash couldn't think right away what happened, his memory was fuzzy at best, but he was sure it was because of the medication they had pumping into his veins. However, he did know a very prominent feature was missing from his room; and he inhaled sharply. So much so that his skin-tight chest seemed to raise nearly two inches.

"Where's Pikachu?" He questioned rather than answering her, leaving Misty to scowl. While his eyes skimmed around the room, to the window, the small bathroom and all of the moving tables she wondered if pikachu was the last thing he remembered? She guessed that would make sense, since he was trying to save said pokemon from a flock of spearow during the accident.

"Your mom has him." She shifted awkwardly. That was a normal, decent answer, right?

Ash grunt in response, as if only now catching on that something was off about the entire situation. Clearly disgruntled and upset that pikachu was gone, he looked around the room once more for some kind of time, or date, but when nothing came up, he stared back at his one life line: Misty. She stared back with those deep, sea-green eyes. If his mom took pikachu, Ash must have been out for weeks. Then again, why would Misty be here, and not his mother? It simply didn't make sense. Then, panic flooded his system; hopefully he hadn't missed the championships!

"What about Clemont? And Serena? Or Bonnie? Did I miss the championships? How long was I out?" His sudden overload of questions as he blinked nervously made Misty suck in her lips. She gnawed on the bottom one, and Ash didn't miss that _look_ in her eyes.

"...who?" She muttered softly, looking painfully at him.

His brain didn't seem to catch on right away, disorder sprayed with anger fueled his next comment; "You know, the group of people I traveled with in Kalos. You know them."

She shifted in her chair. This must have been what the nurse warned her about. She raised her eyebrows and tried to keep a calm, thoughtful expression, but Ash no longer seemed to care.

"Kalos...?" her voice, barely over a whisper caused him to wince; her words physically hurt him. As an after thought, Misty shook her head, and as a mother would a child, placed her hand over his, attempting to sooth his anger. He didn't like that though. In fact, it made him angry. He shook his head. If he had more strength, he would have ripped his hand away from hers in a fit. Her obscure answers were driving him crazy. Instead of answering him with an answer, she answered him with more questions! She wasn't acting like _Misty!_

"Cut the crap, Misty. Stop dodging my questions! What's going on?" He said quickly, catching Misty off guard. While his words started out powerful, they quickly dwindled into a toxic, worrisome confusion as he gazed down at his lap and arms. He wasn't stupid, he could clearly see that something was all wrong. At his outburst, she sat back and released his hand from hers. She wanted to spare a glance at the door and look for a doctor, feeling a bit nervous because of his anger; but instead, she steadied her breath. Maybe trying to talk with him was a bad idea after all; but she was here, and right now that was all he had. Clearing her throat she regained her composure.

"Maybe it's because I want to hear about you. Tell me what you've been up to." Misty tried.

At that comment, Ash's eyes lit up like a fire cracker, and at least for a brief moment, he forgot about the oddity of his situation. Or perhaps, it was the drugs and occasional conscious slips that allowed him to so easily forgive her for her evasiveness. He started to ramble, albeit slowly and painfully, about his adventures. Occasionally he made references to other 'leagues', regions, pokemon, people he wouldn't/shouldn't know that were obscure and abnormal. Misty had to bite down hard on her inner cheek to avoid being mortified, reminding herself that this boy had been in a coma for ten years. There was bound to be a screw loose somewhere.

Ash had created a whole new world in his dreams while he was sleeping, but the more he talked, the more it became a world that Misty wished she could have been apart of. Where the good guys always won, and bad people lost, were dealt with, or goof balls. No one ever died, people were always happy, and solutions were always found. Slowly, as he talked about the pokemon he should have known nothing about, Misty's face turned from terror into happiness, watching the light in his eyes while he spoke. At first she was ecstatic, that he was able to recall so many events, even if they weren't _real._ Then, happiness drifted, and worry took its place. If he thought all of these events were real, and he most definitely did; what was going to happen when they told him the _truth_?

As nearly an hour ticked by, she was laughing when she was supposed to; but she didn't make any comments. She didn't want to influence the idea that these dreams were real, because they weren't, but she didn't want to damn them, either. He spent ten years in his own mind—what else could he have done other than create an intricate, detailed world? Even if it was a bit terrifying, she was sure it helped just to talk; he didn't even seem to mind that she had no impute.

A knock came from the door, jarring their attention to the same old nurse from before; the one with the sweet disposition and laugh lines.

"I'm sorry to cut your visit short, but I need to set up some appointments with Mr. Ketchum, run a few tests, and get a few signatures." she said in a sullen tone as she eyed Misty who was collecting her purse from the floor beside Ash's bed.

"But first, could I talk with you for a moment in the hallway, Ms. Waterflower?" she squeaked softly, catching both Ash and Misty's attention. The later of which pursed her lips and shrugged her agreement as she tossed a quick goodbye to Ash, and followed the nurse into the hallway.

"Please, call me Misty. You'll make me feel like my mother otherwise." Misty muttered as she cracked the door to Ash's room, leaving the beaming boy staring after her. When Misty finally turned to look at the nurse, the look of intense worry, mixed with frustration caught her attention. Misty could reflect that composure.

"We can't seem to get a hold of any family members, and his emergency contact is, well, deceased." Misty cocked her jaw at the nurses words, knowing where this was going as the nurse continued. "The clerk at the front counter said that you were the one who brought him in ten years ago, is this correct?"

Misty nodded.

"Well, this might be improper to ask," She shuffled some papers before presenting Misty with some of Ash's results; which made no sense to the gym leader. "I know you're a very busy woman...but would it be possible for you to stand in as a contact, at least until we can get a hold of his mother?"

 _Ah, there's the request_ Misty thought bitterly as the nurse referenced to some important vitals on Ash's chart with her pen, and then flipped the page to which Misty shook her head slightly. Misty wasn't sure what to say, so she looked at the nurse, whose sweet smile was hard to turn down.

"His blood work, as well as the scans we took last night show rapid improvement in three of his major cognitive processes; he's able to speak, and comprehend at a much faster rate than other," she lowered her voice, "coma patients."

"Why does that matter?" Misty asked quietly pressing her hand against the form that had been handed to her. She glanced it over, and then shifted the notebook back into the nurses old arms. She tucked it close to her chest and looked at Misty with pleading eyes.

"Ms. Waterflower... _Misty,_ please." the nurse begged urgently. "The transition for someone in his situation can be devastating as is, to recover as quickly as he is can be twice as frightening. Usually a patient will take months to regain their ability to talk—but as you can tell, he seems to have no problem. Normally, we would have months to search for the relatives...but at this rate...he's already a candidate for physical therapy, and the psychologist suggests that having someone familiar around to smooth things over would be beneficial, and you seem to be..." _close to him_. Misty finished in her own thoughts with a loud sigh.

Misty raised her hand to silence the nurse, having heard enough. She clicked her heel against the white tile while licking her lips, unable to believe the situation she was just put in. She looked up at the nurse, then back at the floor as she turned away to walk back to Ash's room and peek in at him. In his bed, he was using his fingers to tug gently on his bound wrists, and seemed to be humming something to himself; patiently waiting for the nurse's return. Misty kicked the wall beside his door, startling him, but not before she could walk back to the nurse and take the clipboard out of her hands. Had it been anyone else, any other person sitting in that room, Misty would have laughed. But damn her and her motherly instincts: what if no one else ever showed up? What if he was alone in the world? She wouldn't be able to sleep if she just left that up to fate, and so she clicked the pen and sighed.

"Alright, I'll do it." Misty grumbled, signing her name at the bottom of one of the forms before she could change her mind. Had any other nurse in this hospital asked her, she would have probably walked away. The nurse smiled gratefully at the red head, who tried to appear nonchalant as the nurse verified Misty's information, which she could recite without thought.

Essentially, Misty was asked to sign a release form beneath Ash's paper work. It was the hospital's way to ensure that Ash could not be bullied into situations in the absence of his parents, but still needed care that he couldn't wait on. As well as allowing for Misty to be called in case of an accident. Since Ash was a minor before he woke up; until he was given proper psychiatric assessment, he was to be treated as such; which meant that he needed family, or someone he trusted, to witness all signatures that he was otherwise approached to make. To make _him_ more comfortable, not that Misty had any control over what he could or could not do. It was perfectly legal since she was the first person on Ash's file at the hospital. Nevertheless, it wasn't very common because usually relatives came rushing back at the news of family waking up.

Somehow, that sweet lady, Delia, that Misty met so many years ago, neglected to do so.

"You have no idea how much you just helped speed up the process." The nurse reassured Misty, pressing a soft hand onto her broad shoulder. Misty waved her off.

"Yeah, yeah. Go get started. I need to call my sisters and let them know how much of a _saint_ I am." Misty muttered sarcastically, sounding a bit peeved as she walked the hallway, alas, that was probably the lack of proper sleep over the last twenty-four hours.

Little did they know, that their entire conversation wasn't far enough away from Ash. He heard bits and pieces, and was trying to fit the pieces together in his mind; which seemed difficult considering the fog that hung him. _Speed up what process?_ he thought inwardly, but was not able to think critically at the time when the nurse walked in with a beaming smile.

"Alright, Mr. Ketchum, are you ready to get into the details of physical therapy?" She asked, sounding overly chipper. Ash had to force himself to smile. Did he need physical therapy? Wiggling his fingers, he mentally thought: _Yes._

As the nurse fumbled through the appropriate information, flipping through papers at a speed which Ash couldn't keep up with, Misty slipped quietly back into the room behind the nurse. She approached the foot of his bed with a rather frustrated look. Her posture screamed that she was angry, and Ash leered back at the paperwork to avoid her gaze. Not that she was looking at him. While the nurse spoke about therapy, she mentioned a psychologist that Ash needed to sign for; though he didn't understand why he needed that, either, the nurse said it was simply part of the recovery process.

"Are you right handed or left?" the nurse asked, pulling Ash from his stupor.

"Uh, right." he muttered as the nurse reached over and unlatched his arm. She sat upright quickly, and fished a pen out of her pocket. Slipping said pen into Ash's fingers, which took an excruciating amount of effort to grasp, she placed the sheet next to him.

Mustering all the strength he could manage, he pressed the ball-point pen against the edge of the paper with a great deal of effort, and managed to sign his name not once, but twice! His arm felt like it had weights tied to it, and he was a little embarrassed by his horrible chicken-scratch writing at the bottom of the page. He tried not to let on how he felt, but he was overly aware at how much larger his body was. How _frail_ his body was. He could even touch the railing of the bed when he managed to wiggle his toe. He was taller, his voice was deeper—as scratchy as ever, but not how he remembered it. Nothing was how he remembered it.

"Now are you okay with Misty here, witnessing as a family member for the time being?" The nurse asked sweetly, forcing a small redness to Ash's face that went mostly unnoticed due to his gray features.

"...uh, sure...I guess." He muttered awkwardly. The nurse flipped to the same release form that Misty had signed previously, which only made Ash feel more illiterate when he scribbled his name above her elegant signature. Strange, he remembered Misty having a rough and gawky signature.

The nurse snatched the pen from his fingers, and then gently bound his hand again, much to his dislike as she smiled down at him.

"Now just wait here, and a doctor will visit shortly, alright?" She said sweetly, sparing a short glance to Misty whose expression had not lifted from the stipulated frustration that was there. He wasn't sure what to say to ease her troubled mind. While he wasn't all together, and he didn't have all the facts—he was absolutely sure that he had been asleep for awhile. Even though he saw the dates on the papers, he couldn't remember the last time he looked at the date, so he had no idea if it was accurate or not—how silly was that? After sharing a brief glance with the gym leader, she let out a loud sigh.

"I'm going to go, and I'm going to have a shower." She expressed while approaching his curtains and tugging them closed, in the distance, he could see the sun setting.

"Wasn't it morning?" he murmured, and Misty could only shake her head dutifully as she smiled at him. Shortly, she brushed her hand against his blankets and then gave him a curt, defeated head shake that worried him to no end.

"Get some rest. I'll see you in the morning." She muttered oddly while walking out of his room, the distant tap of her shoes indicating that she had left for real. The excitement over, he looked over at the window again. She had only shut the sheer blinds, so he could still see some of the sky. Maybe he had slept the entire day away? How odd. He wanted to press his hand against his forehead, but under current circumstances, he could not. Instead, he shut his eyes, trying to align his thoughts. Where was he? Why did everyone seem so awkward with him? Where was his mom? And what happened to him?

His eyes were too heavy to open, but he resolved that when he saw Misty next, he would ask her about this; but for now...he was simply exhausted.

 **Author's note:**

Right off the top, I'm going to disclaimer this for all the nerds out there like me. I have done some moderate research about coma-patients for this story. That being said, for story-saving time, as well as the author's(my) sanity, I am not going into full-recovery detail. The first several weeks, sometimes months (depending on how long they were comatose) is spent slipping in and out of consciousness and relearning cognitive behavior (Such as listening/speaking/reaction/movement) but I'm going to breeze(d) through a lot of that. There's also the whole thing that people who are in a coma for longer than x amount of time are usually vegetables when they wake up, and most of the time they never recover...and technically, since Ash was out for ten years, that would classify as said vegetable and yet he is not.. and, well, I figure since I'm already breaking the rules, I might as well go big or go home!

Man, lots of amazing feedback for the first two chapters, thank you, guys. Here's to hoping I don't disappoint? -toasts-


	4. Chapter 4: Lie to me

**Locked Away, Chapter 4: In my dreams,**

Nearly two weeks had passed since Ash woke up. He spent at least two hours a day in physical therapy, two hours getting check-ups, constantly having to check if all of his vitals and organs were still strong. On a good day, he would be poked with a needle only twice a day. He also had a cat-scan and MRI to check for any brain damage, and probably because wanted to rack up a good doctors bill, they sent him for x-rays. In the beginning he wasn't allowed to leave his room. Physical therapist would come to him and they would do routine, light exercises, mostly focusing on regaining the function of his legs and building muscle. Since Ash was no doctor, he had no idea how long it would take for such weakness to occur—but by now, he was guessing at most a year. What in the world happened to him to keep him out for that long? Unfortunately, no one would tell him. Not even the psycho therapist that visited Ash every evening just to 'talk'.

Even Misty, one of his best friends seemed to dodge the question, instead, she talked about 'safe' subjects, and Ash was starting to find it very intolerable and frustrating; more so now that the drugs were induced less and less.

His mind seemed to clear up, but the clearer it became, the foggier his memory was. It disturbed him, but he tried not to think too much about it. Right now, he was focused on getting better and healing so that he could visit his mom. Misty never specified which, but she said his mother was simply "taking care of urgent matters, but sends her regards". He wasn't sure that was the truth, but Misty had no reason to lie to him.

On good days, if he managed to get through physical therapy without passing out, he was allowed to go outside for a little while, so long as he had someone to monitor him. Typically, Misty was the one to push his wheelchair around, as he did not have enough strength in his legs to walk. Being outside made him feel human again, the second best feeling since he awoke after getting off the pain killers the hospital subscribed. While sometimes his everything hurt, he knew he was at least alive if he was in pain. Because his stomach was out of use for awhile, he was told by the doctors that he would need to keep an IV in his arm, rather than actual food. He was only allowed apple sauce, and pudding, and some soft fruit. At this rate, he was even starting to think Misty's cooking would be better than the soft food diet the hospital gave him.

Ash was improving, getting a little better everyday, but as he grew, so did his questions. Misty couldn't handle the questions, he could tell from the expression on her face. She would grow fidgety and awkward, and would excuse herself from the room for any given reason. Even his 'shrink' would get numbly quiet when Ash would ask questions about himself, and talk about his adventures. It seemed like everyone thought he was crazy!

Misty came less and less as the weeks came to a close, making an appearance at least once a day to check on him after physical therapy was over. Specifically when he was usually too tired to plague her with questions. They would then sit in an awkward silence. He wasn't allowed to watch television, read magazines, and the only thing he was given to busy himself were crossword puzzles and an old romance novel that Misty lent him.

He heard the doctors in the hallway more clearly when they spoke with her; often when they believed that Ash wasn't awake. How they mentioned that Ash was getting stronger everyday, and that they weren't sure how much longer they should put off the truth. The nurses begged the doctors to wait until they could reach Delia. His mother. Though, he questioned why that was becoming an issue.

Because of Ash's improvement, he was able to get that stupid, uncomfortable, itchy catheter removed, and with the help of a nurse, was able to get out of bed and walk to the bathroom to do his business—in his case, that was like an award winning movement. He could even lift his arms without becoming fatigued. Most recently, when morning came, the nurse provided him with green hospital scrubs to wear instead of an itchy gown, so the day was already looking up!

Look at every situation with a glimmer of joy. Isn't that what his mom always said?

Thinking about his mother, he turned over in his bed, and kicked his feet to the side, practicing raising his knees when the physical therapist was out. Honestly, he was obsessively bothered by the fact that his mother hadn't stopped in to visit yet. Sure, he didn't call very often, or visit much... but that didn't seem like a good reason to ignore Ash; in what ever situation he was in. He needed to see someone, anyone that wouldn't treat him like he would shatter if they actually spoke to him about what happened. Ash _knew_ something happened; now if someone could tell him what it was, instead of treating him like he was crazy. He would be eternally grateful. He muttered under his breath.

At one point, when Misty had excused herself to the washroom, he tried to use her phone to call his mother, but he couldn't even figure out how to turn on the slick black brick, let alone make a phone call. Instead, when she returned, he asked _her_ to call, but his efforts were denied by her immediate departure there after. She dodged his requests, she ignored his questions, she treated him like he was crazy, and when she spoke to him; it was like he was a baby. By this point, he barely wanted her around if she was just going to bite her tongue at everything—but being alone didn't exactly sound appealing, either.

Since taking her phone the first time, he repeatedly asked her everyday, to the point that she started to deny bringing her phone because 'the battery' was dead. The worst thing, however, was that he could see her own look of frustration. He wasn't the only one who was upset by the hospital; she was as well, she just didn't show it as much as he did. For that, he was grateful. If she wasn't allowed to talk about what was going on, he at least appreciated the thought that she was as frustrated as he was.

Lucky for him, yesterday evening, he had been moved to the third floor, the physical therapy wing of the hospital, and had a room with a nice view of the outer gardens. More white walls, more blue curtains, but it was better than listening to screaming patients in the ICU at midnight, ripping him from a dead sleep. In celebration, Misty promised to bring lunch and got permission to bring him into the garden for an entire _hour._ He was friggin ecstatic.

 _Be positive about the little things..._ he reiterated to himself continuously as he practiced lifting the weights next to his bed to pass the time.

Down the hall, he knew that Misty had arrived, because of the heated discussion with his physical therapy team and shrink that echoed the hallway. Ash pursed his lips. It was the third time that week that Misty had gotten into a spat with the older gentle men; but from what he could recall, it was probably about the same thing as two days ago.

"Come clean and tell him because I can't handle this anymore!" She had screamed, her shrill voice bellowing through the ICU and silencing even the most traumatized patients.

The fights started after Ash decided he didn't want to talk with the 'therapist' anymore. The therapist would make comments about his memories being dreams, and since that was clearly impossible, Ash simply stopped talking; which resulted in staring contests between the young adult and the old man. Misty started fighting with him after Ash's last late afternoon session, in which the therapist tried to push whatever news onto Misty; to which she exploded. Ash laughed at that, he could only imagine the man's face at her rise in anger. Misty could be fierce and intimidating, if not by her appearance anymore, then by her voice alone. Ash was familiar with her rage, having more than once had it upon himself many times... only when he tried to recall specific events, he found it more and more difficult to do so.

Ending her spat with the therapist, Misty muttered as she turned the the corner into his room, stumbling upon something very peculiar. Ash, who had been entirely engrossed in his own thoughts only a few moments ago, was standing. On his own. He wore green hospital scrubs and a robe while attempting to walk from his bed to the window. Even though he seemed to brood on many, _most_ occasions the last week, his mesmerized gaze of outside never faded. The cascading light that danced over the inner garden, the large water fountain that had been cleaned only yesterday, and the gentle rays of the warm sun. She wondered for a brief moment if his body knew the truth far before his mind did. That he had been stuck in a tiny room for ten years, sleeping, longing to be outside. His skin had lost the dark tan that he had as a child, but he was no longer pasty—no longer transparent. Color radiated in his cheeks as he pulled the curtain aside to peek into the garden.

Fresh air was so close, he could almost open the window and tumble out, thoughtless of the results. Excited to breath in anything other than the smell of sterile hospital and latex.

Mesmerized herself, Misty paused at the door. His shoulders, which had been lowered in defeat at the start, were raised like a champion's as his head bobbed to each pigey that flew by. He nodded to other patients who tottered around in their wheelchairs around the garden. Whether he knew it or not, he looked like a little kid seeing the world for the fist time. So, she thought that he _must_ know; at some unconscious level what happened to him.

She cleared her throat, effectively eliminating his grin.

Surprised, Ash nearly tumbled, panicked and praying that it wasn't a nurse; the last time a nurse caught him standing on his own, he was scolded for half an hour. Misty rushed to his side to snatch him before he fell; arms out stretched and having tossed her purse and basket to the side in preparation to catch him—but, he managed to steady himself on his own by gripping the window sill.

"I thought you were yelling at that shrink?" He grumbled, looking down at her. She had fallen into a lunged position in her belief that he would fall, and had to smack her lips awkwardly before standing upright.

Still wide eyed, she replied while dusting off her shirt; "I was, but now I'm not. I didn't expect to see you standing."

Offering only a grin in reply, he walked, albeit wobbly, from the window back to his bed, where he plopped down and threw his arms up as if screaming "success!" garnering a well earned scowl from the red-head.

"You could really hurt yourself doing that." She scolded but he simply adjusted his position on the bed and shrugged.

"If I don't practice, I won't get better." he retorted matter-of-fact with a raised eyebrow. He was clearly breathless, just from that short jot, but he tried not to show it. Misty gnawed on her cheek, wanting to persuade more that he was rushing the process, but instead, a thick blanket of silence slipped between the two of them. Previously, occasions of silence were met with thousands of Ash's questions, but as he thought he wouldn't get an answer, his champion shoulders drooped down in a sad way. Nevertheless, he forced himself to smile.

There it was again, that _look_. From his perch on the hospital bed, he could see the ticking of her brain as she watched him. Weighing the consequences of a decision that she had little control over. She looked frustrated, yet thoughtful, and Ash was sure if he had that many thoughts in his head, he would surely have a headache. She stood with her thumb and index finger under her chin and Ash could see that her hair was tied back with the help of bobby pins and a clip. Two pieces of red hair fell to frame her face, and once again, he thought that it made her look older. Her white skirt and light blue button up top and slip on shoes only added to the age. He cracked an earnest smile.

"You dress a lot girlier now than you used to." He commented. His words had a kick to them, yanking her out of her own mind and back into reality as she looked at him breathless.

Misty had forgotten how she was dressed, and completely disregarded the fact that she had tied her hair back in what she would call "the mother up-do" until he mentioned it. Unadulterated irritation formed in the appearance of a snarl on her face.

"Unfortunately," Misty paused, walking to the basket she discarded a few minutes ago. "When my sisters dropped clothes off for me, they dropped off _their_ hand me downs. Apparently, I don't have a professional wardrobe." Misty groaned while rubbing her temples. Over the last week or so, she had grown accustom to talking about her sisters with Ash. That was one of the few topics that she could talk to him about without any awkwardness or worry about spilling the truth. He watched her with a grin of amusement, twisting his fingers in the sheets below, he was about to speak when she set the basket down beside him on the foot of the bed.

"We still on for that picnic?" She asked while watching the light poor into his eyes. All of his facial features beamed at the reminder of their planned activity, and he was stoked.

Giggling, Misty shook her head as she wheeled out his wheelchair from the corner of the room, and the light faded from his eyes, replaced with a stern pout.

"I can walk..." he tried, but Misty end that before it started with a firm head shake.

"No, no you cannot. You know the hospital would ring my neck if I let you leave this room without a wheelchair." She let out a sigh, but the sudden awareness that he would need to be pushed around in a wheelchair _again_ made him weary.

"Look, I can just leave you the basket if you want to have a nurse take you later instead." her face scrunched up as she talked, but at the rejection, Ash chimed in quickly.

"No, we can go. Anything to get out of this room." he looked up at her with beady, brown eyes and knit his brows together. "I just hate relying on people to push me around."

"Well, you're unfortunately stuck with me until you feel better." her words stung slightly. Her callous tone reminding him once again that Misty was _different_ in every way he could possibly remember. Even the way she carried herself was different. Surely there were a plethora of reasons; but he could never phantom that it was because Ash was still a stranger to her. He watched as she wedged the wheelchair to the side of his bed and put the breaks on.

"Do you need help-" He was up before she could finish, and had fallen happily into the seat of the uncomfortable locomotive. She raised an eyebrow and chuckled. At least her laugh was the same, he thought anxiously.

"...Did you bring your phone today?" He tried, only to have a wicker basket placed neatly in his lap as reply.

 **Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxox**

The outer garden of the Viridian City hospital was massive. Trails leading almost a mile around the facility though trees, flowers, and hills. At the back of the garden, the vast forest, which was fenced off as a well maintained portion of the Viridian Forest, was often used in helping to relax patients. The front of the garden was a mass of flowers surrounding a multitude of trimmed shrub and the large water fountain. Surrounded by several benches, this is where most people spent their time. Misty, however, wanted to show Ash something a little different—something that might jar his memory.

Demonstrating her amazing strength, she pushed Ash to the top of the northwest hill; the tallest hill in the garden at the start of the gated portion of the forest. A concrete bench sat at the top, but few ever bothered to travel there unless it was a jogging nurse or doctor on their free time. Most patients couldn't make it up the excruciating incline. Misty, a professional swimmer, could barely make it up the hill with an embarrassed, yet enthusiastic Ash. If she wasn't pushing the patient, she was sure the hill would be cake; but the extra weight was an excruciating exercise routine all on its own.

She told herself that at least the way down would be easier.

Finally reaching the top, she rolled him beside the bench so that he wouldn't fall down and then let out a loud, weary sigh and collapsed on top of the bench facing upward at the sky. He whistled at her with an unamused expression and gave her a thumbs up.

"Today, I learned that the hulk is secretly hiding in the body of a ginger female." Obviously not catching onto the degrading sarcasm laced in his voice after having been pushed up a hill, she pumped her fist in victory. Misty chuckled as she sat up, finally catching his embarrassed gaze and twisted fingers and shook her head.

"It's worth the view. I promise." She reiterated, watching most of the humiliation exit his features as she took the basket from his fingers and pulled out a blue blanket that she spread out over the concrete bench.

"Don't picnics usually go on the ground?" He half muttered the question, shooting Misty a shy glance.

She huffed in response, busy with straightening the blanket, "I know you're stronger than you were two weeks ago, but I'm not sure you could pull yourself off the ground without help, and I'm not much help."

It took a moment for her words to sink in, but when they did, he shifted uncomfortably. Since she took his hand that day two weeks ago, she _never_ touched him. Not that he could remember much physical contact with the gym leader in the first place; it just seemed like she intentionally tried to avoid it more now... or at least it felt like that way.

"You just pushed dead weight up a slope like this," He gestured with his forearm to make the slope, causing her to laugh. "I think if I fell down, the last thing I would have to worry about is getting up." he paused to look at the grassy hill that lead back down to the main encampment of the garden. "Besides, if I got stuck, I could just roll down."

"Yeah, and put yourself into another-" Luckily, she caught herself, and slapped her hand over her mouth. He didn't seem to notice, however, occupied instead by the view she had mentioned before.

She was right, it was well worth the wait. He could see the entire hospital, even his room window, from the hill. But beyond that, he could see the entire city, or at least most of it. A mixture of smells of wild flowers and cotton penetrated his nostrils, and he closed his eyes. Taking in the scent, the wind whipped across his face and he eased up. His chest rose and fell as he inhaled deeply. No matter how much he tried to remember, the last time he felt this way was when he was a child. The rush of the open air, the smell of the flowers, the heat on his flesh from the sun.

"I missed this." He uttered breathlessly, much to Misty's amazement.

When his eyes opened again, he was grinning at her and went to stand up on his own. Misty stretched her hand out to help him, but he was surprisingly able to stand without the assistance. She was impressed, most people took weeks to get to this point. After working the feeling back into his toes the first week, he was determined to walk all on his own by the end of the month. Yes, he was sore, yes, he was _always_ tired, but more importantly, he was stronger. He slipped onto the concrete bench and let out a sigh of relief.

Misty didn't miss a beat to start unloading the basket; "The nurse said so long as I didn't bring anything super heavy you could have something other than soft foods; so I brought a sandwich, and soft food; just in case." she held out the neatly wrapped, thin bread sandwich, that had no cheese, no bread...and was actually just bread..

"err...Mist..." He mumbled shifting the 'sandwich' in his lap. "This is just bread..."

"Yeah, they said that anything else might be too rough on your stomach. But, you know, you could pretend there's delicious cheese and meat, and vegetables on there." She murmured while coughing gently. He raised his eyebrows at her.

"It's the thought that counts." He muttered gratefully while unwrapping the bread. The waft of fresh bread hit all of his senses, and his stomach growled tremendously. How long had it been since he ate _real_ food? It felt like forever. He could hardly remember the last time anything smelled so good. He broke the bread as Misty revealed two juice boxes, a bottle of water, and her own vegetable sandwich.

"The nurse suggested bringing something homemade, but I'm not the best cook..." she grimaced while crossing one knee over the other, taking in the serene picture before her.

"I know." he answered quickly, tasting the delicious kick of baked perfection. His eyes lit up and he had to remind himself that he was only allowed small portions. His taste buds were alive with the vibrant after taste of cedar wood. This far surpassed the soft, tasteless food from the hospital.

He hadn't noticed right away, but she grew visibly uncomfortable at his comment. He knew, he kept saying. He knew that she was the gym leader before anyone told him. He knew that she trained water pokemon, he knew that she had three sisters before she told him, that she hated bug pokemon, and a multitude of other things that he simply couldn't have known. Though, when Misty brought it up to the therapist, he continuously told her that it was subconscious recognition. Misty couldn't argue, she might have mentioned those things during her visits.

When the silence blanketed over them, he watched her carefully with an overbearing sadness. The way her eyes drew to the ground, how her hair fell limp in its bun, and her lack of words were so unlike herself—as usual. Having been starving only moments ago, and excited for lunch all day, he suddenly felt quite repulsed and settled for looking into the distance apathetically.

The mute nature wasn't lost on Misty, but she didn't have a lot to say. Nothing that wasn't advised against—she wasn't allowed to talk about pokemon, or herself, or anything that would imply the shift in time. She could talk about her sisters again; but that didn't do much. And he had long since stopped telling her about his adventures for what ever reason. Everything she wanted to talk about surfaced from the single question: "What was the last thing you _really_ remember?". Instead, she opted to pluck her peppers out of her sandwich, and allow frustration to take over her senses again. She wasn't anything to Ash; so why had she agreed to help him in the first place?

Muttering endlessly about whatever was on her mind, Ash chuckled, catching her attention.

"What's so funny?" She questioned, ending the silence between them.

"You might look like a lady now, but you don't eat like a lady." He replied instantly, covering his mouth as he laughed and observed the pile of peppers she had scooped off into the discarded wrapper. Her mouth twitched as a vein pulsed on her forehead. A tint of red rose to her cheeks, and upon seeing the oh-so-familiar reaction, he started to laugh harder.

For a moment, it felt normal. Like they were old friends, or at least acquaintances. Misty was already accustomed to being around him—at least sleeping him, so it was easier. But he, he claimed to have already known her for years. She was apart of his dream land...and she wasn't entirely sure how she felt about that. A part of her was scared, believing Ash was crazy; yet, another part of her believed it was a defense mechanism. Catching her emotion, his laughter died down and was replaced by a wave of depression, followed by an exasperated sigh.

 _Just get through this visit_ she thought to herself, inhaling deeply. Then she could go back to her hotel room, read a few of her text books, and pretend like this _never_ happened. Perhaps she could have succeeded had she not looked over at the sullen boy. His shoulders leaned forward, his lips turned downward in a permanent frown, and his eyes, _oh his eyes_ , were like open gates into his own personal torment and hell. Yes, his body knew something was wrong, but his mind was...

She couldn't take it anymore.

"Do you want to talk about it? What you're going through?" She managed, only to watch his depression fade into irritation quickly.

"What I'm going through?" he scoffed. "I don't even know what _exactly_ I'm going through." Ash licked his lips gently, gathering his thoughts. They all seemed so scattered, so confusing, but he felt like sharing none of them with Misty. At least, not _this_ Misty.

Clucking her tongue awkwardly, she placed her sandwich into the basket, no longer hungry.

"Have you thought about it at all?" she inquired weakly.

"Of course. Everyday." he snapped, even though he didn't mean to be so irritable. Misty was different; at least _she_ was around.

Misty wasn't entirely sure what to follow with, so she pursed her lips. "I know we're not..." _close_ she thought, but neglected to add it in favor of his reality. "But you can talk to me."

"Talk to you?" he objected harshly, whipping his head around to look at her. She could finally see that his cheeks were no longer sunken in, replaced instead by a strong chin and fleshy cheeks.

"I've tried! You don't answer any of my questions and when you do they're so vague you might as well have not answered at all." He grumbled, watching her sea-green eyes for any indication of dishonestly.

There wasn't any.

"I'm..." _not supposed to tell you anything_ , her eyes tore away from his, looking instead at the pumping water fountain at the bottom of the hill. "I'm trying." she mused, crossing her arms over her chest.

Ash lost it at that.

"Yeah, but why? You only show up after physical therapy when I'm too exhausted to ask you anything; you usually only stay for ten minutes at a time to tell me about your sisters, and only your sisters—which you hate talking about—and then you treat me like I'm going to break if the _truth_ sucks!" He wasn't shouting; his voice didn't have the power behind it right now. In stead, his tone reflected desperation, confusion. Everything he said was true. Misty felt guilty, but she had to choke back her answers, too. It wasn't like this was easy for her—she hardly knew Ash, and yet here she was, sympathetic to his needs with no other reason behind them other than the guilt that she felt _slightly_ responsible for his accident ten years ago.

She ran a trembled hand through her hair, messing up the pins as some fell lopsidedly to the side of her head; "I'm not supposed to.."

"To what? Treat me like a human? Talk to me without looking at the clock six times? If I'm crazy, just let me know. I mean, I can hear you fighting with my therapist, Misty..." His words flattened out at the end, having ran out of breath. "If it's that big of a deal to visit, then you don't have to." he murmured, uneasily folding his arms. It was so strange to say this to the girl beside him. There was a time when he knew he didn't have to. Misty would have been scolding him for being so reckless, but she would have been the first person to tell him what was going on, as well.

Feeling accused, she sighed in defeat. "The hospital asked me to stay."

If he thought that the truth would make him feel better, he was so very _wrong._ The sound of her confession hit him like a hammer to the chest, and he shook his head, muttering 'great' under his breath He lurched forward, letting his elbows rest on his knees, and his hands cradle his head. Who even was this Misty? It wasn't _his_ Misty, he knew that for sure. The only problem? He could barely _remember_ his Misty.

His defeated reaction egged her on. "Well, what did you want to hear?" She half-yelled, startling him. This was the first time she raised her voice at him, but he gazed up at her, face scrunched.

"How about what's going on with me? Why am I in Viridian City? Why does it feel like memories are slipping away by the handfuls and I have to visit a therapist for three hours _everyday_ who forces me to talk about the same thing _everyday_ , and yet tells me nothing?" Half way through his aggressive tone turned into one of intense fear, wrapped with a shudder. "...where's my mom?" he added meekly, looking at the ground below his feet.

Unsure of what to do, she reached out her hand to stroke is back, but he immediately shrugged her hand off.

"Don't... don't touch me." he countered.

Letting her hand fall limp between them, she swallowed and cast her eyes to her feet while he pressed his hand against his forehead. "I'm not crazy, okay? I don't need to be babied."

"Ash, you aren't crazy." Misty reassured him, making a decision, "You're just...remembering things...wrong." she tried, sucking in as much air as she possibly could. Her heart raced behind her chest and she let her shoulders fall. She wished for a moment she had a doctor here to bail her out, to have an excuse to leave in some way; but she couldn't do that. He needed to know, whether it was 'right' for him or not.

"I'm not remembering things correctly?" He echoed, looking alarmed at her. "Be honest... Do you know me, like really know me?" He asked, sitting up with a pained expression.

Misty fidgeted, unsure of how to answer that question. No, she didn't. She had no idea who he was until after she brought him to the hospital; and she most definitely didn't share all of the memories that he brought up. It took her a moment, but she motioned her head side to side. If Ash had blinked, he would have missed it. A worried expression laced over her pale features, to which Ash sighed.

"Because I know you." He replied confidently, looking directly at her. His gaze startled her, so she shook her head once more, this time more self-assured.

"No, Ash, you think you know me. You dreamed me up probably because I was the-"

Ash shook his head smiling in disbelief.

"No, no, no." he cut her off. "You're a gym leader, you love water pokemon, you dream of going to France someday. You hate peppers and carrots and bugs terrify you."  
"That's not exactly..."

"You own a Gyarados that knows flame thrower." He added, but Misty shrugged. These weren't exactly tie breakers, and quite frankly, he was scaring her. Catching her fear, he sighed, frustrated.

"Your parents walked out on you when you were six, your older sisters names are Daisy, Lily and Violet. You're the youngest. They used to be the gym leaders, but after they made you feel like a second-rate sister your entire life, you walked out telling them that you wouldn't return until you became a water-pokemon master. You were terrified of Gyarados since you were a baby because you had accidentally crawled into one's mouth." he paused for air, her eyes returning to his chocolate colored ones. Her mouth fell ajar in disbelief.

"Your favorite pokemon is goldeen, psyduck irritates you, you're a compulsive maniac about romance, your favorite color is yellow and I know that the only reason your hair is a darker shade of red," She touched her hair at his comments, he continued. "Is because it's naturally orange and you hate being called carrot top." He gulped at the end of his rant, readying himself for the reaction that would knock him onto his ass, but it never came. She gawked at him instead, the fear replaced with amazement.

"Am I wrong?" He asked suddenly, once again, Misty could only reply with a head-shake. She was stunned from his knowledge, regardless of what the doctors said, it seemed like too much information for only his subconscious to hang onto. Initially, she though 'stalker', but he was in a coma for ten years, that was out of the question, and he hadn't been allowed to use of computers, and no one in Viridian City knew he well enough to _know_ her that well.

After she didn't reply, he took it as a sign of rejection, so he scoffed and rubbed his eyes in disbelief. For a moment, Misty thought that he would cry, but he never did.

"Listen, I'm sorry for bothering you so much." He sighed, and looked at his wheelchair. "Can you just do my one last favor and take me back to my room, or just to the doors and the nurse can take me the rest of the way." He asked shamefully.

She rocketed to her feet and extended her arms out at her sides for emphasis. "Do you remember the last thing that happened to you?"

Ash gazed up at her, eyes bloodshot. He blinked a few times, drawing a blank. Of course he knew, he told her the last thing that he remembered. He was in Kalos, he just won his last gym badge. He knit his eyebrows as she exhaled.

"Because I do." He shook his head slightly, unaware of what she meant. "On July twenty third, I fished you out of a river bank on route one outside of Pallet Town. You were cradling a nearly-exhaust pikachu, and I slapped you for your negligence. After that, you stole my bike." Drawing air into her lungs to finish before he could speak, she puffed up her chest.

"Almost an hour after I fished you out, I made my way towards Viridian City to find you and get my bike back. That's when I found _you._ Collapsed in the middle of the road, barely breathing, hunching over your pikachu with shocks of electricity still rising from your body."

Now, it was Ash's turn to struggle. He couldn't recall the memory. Well, he could recall a bit of it, but it mostly seem like a vague, distant past; but it seemed so accurate. The waver in her voice almost crushed him.

"I visit you, and I stay here because I'm the one that brought you here, Ash. I carried you the last two miles to Viridian City _on my back_. I brought you to this hospital and you've been here since then." She exhaled, heart breaking at his expression. "That's the last thing that happened to you. There wasn't a grand adventure; you've never been anywhere other than Kanto." As she sputtered the truth, tears formed in the corners of her eyes; sorry that she had to be the one to tell him this.

For a long moment, they didn't break eye contact, but they didn't speak, either. Ash's body shook as he inhaled deep, and exhaled, trying to wrap his head around her words. Ash knew that he wasn't lying about his dreams. They were _real._ At least to him... but Misty, her story seemed...it seemed so much more believable than a ten year old traveling six regions without aging, without worry of shelter, or food, or school. He let out a sigh he didn't know he was holding in, and looked down.

"How... how long ago was that?" he managed breathlessly.

"Ten years." She commented.

Seconds after the words fell from her mouth, Ash's whole body froze, and he could feel his mind spiraling away from him. He shuddered, telling himself it couldn't be true. It couldn't be... but it made perfect sense. His eyes were wide to the point that they could have fallen out, and he shook his head. Suddenly, he lurched backwards, standing quickly. Too quickly. Misty tried to calm him, but he was walking away from her, towards the forest lining.

"I don't believe that! What kind of game are you playing at!?" He screamed in denial. His legs wobbled beneath him, but adrenaline pumped through his veins, giving him strength he hadn't before: sheer determination fueled his body.

"You're going to fall! Ash, stop!" She screamed, alerting a few nurse who were in the garden. Having a hard time following after him in the pencil skirt her sisters brought her, she tried to jog only catching up with him the moment his legs buckled.

Misty hadn't been fast enough, she couldn't catch him before he fell, but she was knelt down beside him only seconds after. He rolled over onto his back and looked up at her, writhing in pain from his stupid sprint, and in a few other places thanks to his rough landing. He didn't know what to say as she scooped his head into her lap and called after anyone available. Her voice traveled far, but Ash could feel the stinging salt at the corner of his eyes, and he covered his face with his forearm while she glanced over him in a panic to make sure nothing major was bleeding or broken.

What did he just hear? How could he believe this? He bit the inside of his cheek. How in the world was he asleep for ten years and not noticed? Mew, how dense was he? Six regions and he was still ten? How in the world did he ever think that was normal? He shuddered violently as her soft hands smoothed through his hair. He could hear the foot falls of hospital staff running up the hill when he tucked his eyes into the crook of his elbow and started to weep.

"I was there. In Kalos." He mumbled.

"Ash, that's impossible. You've been here." She tried stroking his hair in comfort, but he looked up at her with an intense glare.

"You're lying!" he shouted, trying to sit up, only to find that he couldn't. Fuck falling. "How do I know this isn't the fake world?" he whined, trying to control his tears, but they spilled out of him like rivers. Misty, too, had shed a few tears, but kept them at bay so that at least one of them wouldn't be blubbering to the help. No, she couldn't relate to the idea that he missed half of his life, but she could relate to the pain. So when he finally mustered enough strength to sit up, she snagged him quickly, wrapping both arms up and around his back, pulling him into a warm, much-needed, embrace.

"I wouldn't lie to you. Not about this." She said calmly, wrapping her hand up around the back of his neck, pressing his face to rest against her shoulder, where she whispered into his ear.

"I am so sorry this happened to you. But it will be okay, Ash. I promise." She whined into his collar until finally, his tears exploded and he wrapped his arms around her back, sobbing violently into her shoulder. She brushed her hand through his hair, trying to get him to calm down; but nothing eased his pain. Nothing but time would.


	5. Chapter 5: Acceptance

**Locked Away, Chapter 5: but I was sold out...**

To say that he handled the news rough was an understatement.

Ash handled it grievously.

It took nearly thirty minutes to get him back to his room, and once there, he fell into a depressed state for a few hours. How could this happen to him? Worse yet, Ash's therapist demanded that security put a temporary restriction on _this_ Misty's visiting permissions for one week. Apparently, no one thought that Ash was ready for the news. Perhaps he was not, but he wanted to know. No matter how horrible the truth was... wasn't that what he had told Misty? However, no part of Ash was prepared for that. Ten years. His whole life, every journey, every friend, everything.. it was... it was all a dream.

He exhaled and rolled over, tugging at his stiff hospital sheet. How in the world did this happen to him? Couldn't they have done something to wake him up sooner?

Vaguely, he recalled the incident when pikachu electrocuted him. He had just taken Misty's bike and was in a rush to get to the nearest pokemon center, and away from angry sparrows. That was _the start_ of his journey. His first day out. Ash was comatose since his _tenth birthday_. He flipped back over onto his back, staring up at the dark ceiling. Ash couldn't believe it. His door was cracked, so that the light of the hallways wouldn't disturb his sleep. Hospitals never shut down, even at midnight.

Apparently, he did.

Apparently _he_ shut down for ten years. Brock, May, Max, Dawn, Cilan, Iris, Clemont, Bonnie and Serena... Team Rocket... Everyone else... they couldn't _all_ be a figment of his imagination, could they? How would someone even describe that? How would, no, how _could_ he make all of that stuff up? Sure, he guessed he should have noticed that he traveled through six leagues at the age of ten, but time never seemed to be an issue in his world. It didn't matter. Maybe that should have been his first clue... but when it never really existed, how was he supposed to know the difference?

Being told the truth about his situation did nothing to solve his problem. Now, he only had more questions, but this time, they were... oh mew.

He curled up on his bed, looking towards the crack in the window. How much of his life was real? None of it, said the therapist when they got him back into the hospital after Misty's confession. _None of it_. Nothing that happened after that incident Misty described to him was real.

Oddly enough, that didn't feel right. None of this felt right. To make matters worse, Misty was escorted off the premise of the hospital for 'threatening' the therapist. What over? he had no idea. But it resulted in her visitation suspension. His stomach ached. Earlier that day, he wanted nothing more than to be left alone, to see Misty the way she _was_ or not at all, but now, he would have just accepted her the way she is. The idea that she wouldn't be allowed back for an entire week terrified him. What if she didn't come back at all? Technically, she really didn't know him. Not really. She had no reason to help him anymore, especially now that he knew the truth. Ash's heart ached at the thought. To top it off, they couldn't reach his mother, either. And pikachu? Heaven knew where ever the mouse pokemon was, or if it would even remember Ash as anything more than the bad trainer that he was when he first started his journey. It pained him to imagine that he and pikachu never really bonded...that it was all...just... nothing.

He blew air from his nose and curled his pillow over his head. Listening beyond his room, he could hear the night shift nurses gossiping to one another, and the distant sound of a television. He swore that if he hadn't fallen earlier and possibly damaged his coccyx and hip from his impoverished landing, he would have stumbled out of his room, and demanded to watch the news, or really, anything that would verify that Misty wasn't lying to him. Or the nurses. Or the doctors. Or the therapist.

That he had been asleep for ten years.

Now that the skitty was out of the bag, the therapist vouched for her, but then quickly tried to justify not telling Ash because "it wasn't for Ash's best interests". _No_ , he thought, _it wasn't for their best interests_. They didn't want to deal with him. Not without his mother. What, did they think he would break? Ash grimaced lightly.

He just might, he couldn't lie. He had never felt this way before. The sudden head rushing, adrenaline inducing, body shaking anger and depression that simply did not exist in his dream world. Not even when he lost a battle in his own mind had he felt like this. He groaned pitifully. Man, he was locked in his own mind for _ten years_ and he still never made himself the champion. What kind of low blow was that to his self esteem? He pinched the bridge of his nose, and exhaled.

What was he supposed to do now? Restart? How could anyone expect him to _restart_. He had already obtained so much, yet...nothing at all.

Where was he supposed to go from here. He touched his head with his forearm and inhaled sharp, taking in the clean scent of the hospital. The darkness wrapped around his eyes, teasing him. In the shadows cast on the ceiling from the moon, he could see the shapes of everything left behind. His friends, his family, his _life._ Tears pooled at the corners of his eyes and he sniffled, knowing how pathetic he must have looked.

He fell asleep with these thoughts in his head. Falling further and faster into a depression. Ash withdrew himself from this new, darker world. He didn't want to be apart of it. Not like this, not if it meant that everything he knew was simply...gone.

 **Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo**

By the third morning of her suspension, Misty tapped her neatly manicured fingers against her wrist of the opposite arm. Earlier, she had all but lost her patience with Ash's therapist and with this whole situation.

How dare he accuse Misty of creating a road block for Ash. He was already in one! How was he supposed to get better if he didn't know what he was recovering from. Just telling him 'you can do it!' over and over wasn't going to increase motivation, and he looked so... _sad._ Any good therapist should have seen the sadness in Ash's eyes, so Misty didn't regret her decision to tell him.

Sure...Ash was handling it poorly right now, but he would get better. Right? He just needed time.

Soaking in the sun behind her curtains, she argued that she told Ash the truth of his accident for his sake. Or was it to appease her own guilt every time he looked at her? Sure, it wasn't the best situation to be in, but it was all that he had. The truth, no matter how bad, wasn't that what he said? Sitting up, the comforter fell to her waist and she pinched the bridge of her nose with an audible sigh escaping her lips. The therapist told her to go home after their spat, since the truth was out, the hospital didn't need her around anymore; Ash would be in full control of his treatment and handling. However, when the therapist started making some 'accusations', it took every bone in her body to deter from hitting the man. He was lucky he got away with just a scolding, because if security hadn't throw her out, she would have probably...

She exhaled, thumbing the blue and white comforter sprawled out over her legs. She would have probably lost her temper, so easy to rise to the challenge, sometimes, she forgot her place. _Sometimes_ she went a little overboard. But how dare that _shrink_ insinuate that _she,_ Misty Waterflower, was after Ash's assets!

He didn't even own anything!

Groaning, she rubbed her temples. She hadn't slept at all since the confession three days ago. Apart from her head already aching from lack of sleep, she had migraine forming from the impromptu intake of alcohol from the night prior. Possibly not her best course of action, but all she could see after leaving the hospital was _his_ brown, tear soaked eyes staring up at her. She cared too much, that was Misty's curse. She couldn't be the bitch she tried to present herself as; no, she would always have that tiny conscience screaming at her.

Mew, it almost ripped her heart out the way he looked at her; and _she_ was the reason it happened. How was she supposed to know he would react so horribly to the news? He seemed perfectly fine just working day by day to get better. Now he knew why he had to get better, that was something, right!

Misty threw herself backwards on the bed. She needed to go home, and yet she couldn't pull herself out of the hotel room, to the Viridian City train station for the three hour trip to Cerulean City. Before, she felt responsible for him, since no one else had come back to claim him. Now, she felt guilty. This was the exact reason she didn't want to be the one to tell him about his situation. That look. Oh man, she knew she messed up by telling him the second it happened. Those chocolate-brown eyes begging her for a different answer right before he exploded. _Mew_ ,

 _She knew it_. Groaning, she rolled over, wrapping the blankets around her body, messing them up more. Her phone was somewhere on the ground, she had thrown it in frustration after last nights ordeals, patting around momentarily, the black rectangular object had fallen beneath the night stand. Scooping it up, she whipped her hair back, and then tapped the screen alive. At only ten percent battery, she leaned over to plug the phone in with an irritated expression.

Last night, since she _couldn't_ leave the damn city, she had spent some time playing detective. Mostly trying to find Delia Ketchum. Since Misty had effectively managed to ruin Ash's recovery, state of mind, and all hope of reality, she thought that she could _at least_ do this. Her last listed address was Road 467, Pallet Town; her last available phone number was the one Misty had listed, but after that.

Nothing. Misty even thought about calling the police to put in a missing persons report, but how would she go about explaining that?

"Hi, I'm looking for this grown adult's mother, who may or may not be alive, but you know, just pulled the plug on her son and skipped town." The cops would laugh at her.

Simply not showing up to the hospital was not grounds enough to make a case, and Misty didn't have the money to hire a private detective. Quite possibly, Delia didn't want to be found. Misty couldn't imagine why, so she thought that the news must not have reached the woman. Where ever she was, she must not have known that Ash woke up. That could be the only way Misty could justify the older woman's absence.

Misty thumbed through her messages and emails quickly while anxiously gnawing on her nails. Dark black rings hung under her eyes, and she was in the same blue tank-top from two weeks ago, in dire need of a wardrobe upgrade, but her mind was else where. The league sent her a few emails regarding her temporary hiatus from the gym, mostly asking when she would be back, and if she would be available to judge a contest being held in Pewter City. She rolled her eyes, no, she was on vacation, damn it. Her sisters were perfectly fine at the gym. Daisy messaged her once,

"So, like, did sleeping beauty like ever wake up?" Misty rolled her eyes at her sister's excessive use of the word 'like' even in text messages. She didn't bother to reply instead, she clicked back over to her internet search, and with a clear mind, she typed Delia's name into the search engine and pressed enter.

The same as last night, aside from a few articles from Ash's initial accident, a few short stories and interviews from three years ago; she mostly dropped off the face of the earth. Which couldn't be possible. She was around here somewhere, she was at the hospital on Ash's twentieth birthday to have his life support ended, so unless she ran off and... _Oh... oh no._

Alarms rang in Misty's head and she snapped forward once again and retyped the entry: "Delia Ketchum, obituary". Only, before the screen had finished loading, the hospital rang her.

A bit confused and distracted, she swiped to answer and pressed the phone against her ear.

"Hello?" Misty echoed, to which a nurse responded quietly. Her gaze fell to the floor as she listened, and the after inhaling quickly, she licked her lips.

"I'll be right there." Misty murmured, ending the call and throwing the blankets off of her body as she sprang from the bed.

 **Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo**

Ash only slept, and he wouldn't eat. He wouldn't speak, couldn't think. He didn't respond to nurse or doctor visits, and he wouldn't participate in either form of therapy. No, he had broken down, curled up in a ball on his bed.

It was on the third day of his depression that the nurses were hooking him back up to an IV drip and sedatives; the doctors had decided that he was not mentally capable of moving past such turmoil—like so many coma patients—so they were trying to prevent his body from shutting down without a will to live. Ash was okay with that, what was there to live for? Obviously nothing _he_ could remember. Nothing made sense in this world, and quite possibly, he didn't believe it was the real world. No, he was sick, sleeping somewhere in Kalos. That must have been it.

That was his plan, to return to where he was. To leave this fake world.

At least, that was the design, until the flash of unadulterated rage in the form of red hair yanked him, quite literally, out of his depression.

"What the hell are you doing?!" She yelled, her voice booming down the hallways. Ash stared up at her with wide eyes as she wrapped her fingers around the collar of his hospital gown and pulled him into a sitting position where her fiery green eyes bore holes into his skulls. Terrifying. More so than he could ever remember.

"How did you get in here?" Ash squeaked, having not seen her enter... of course, he hadn't seen anyone, not really. One glance at the door answered his question; that same old, happy-faced nurse from the first day smiled weakly at him.

"You said you could handle it!" She yelped, and then dropped him. He slouched forward, feeling the IV in his arm tug uncomfortably. "The truth sucks so your solution is to just _fucking_ die?!" She paced the room angrily around him, wearing the same boots as the first day, recreating the same taps that haunted his first moments of consciousness.

"I..." Ash started, but wasn't entirely sure what to say.

"Do you know what happens when you die? You don't wake back up. You don't get to visit a dreamland of wonderful adventures. You _die._ " She muttered dangerously close to his face. Her rage was not lost on the older boy. He could feel his chest tighten nervously, and he swallowed, words stuck in his throat. No one had ever died around him before. Maybe it would pull him away from this nightmare, and back into _the real world._ He wasn't sure... it was the only thing that he... He looked away from her, ashamed to meet her gaze.

"If you were in any other condition, I would slap some sense into you." She grumbled while folding her arms and taking a step back so that she could look at the pitiful boy in front of her. Slowly, swallowing down his disgrace, he gazed up at her, his stupor lost for a moment. His mouth fell open slightly, and then closed before a horribly, sickly sweet smiled pulled at his lips. Mixed with his sad brown eyes, Misty exhaled

"You came back." it wasn't a question. It was a statement. An honest, simple statement that caught her entirely off guard. He sounded surprised.

A small blush crept up over her features, and she pursed her lips angrily to drown it out; "Of course I did. I wasn't just going to leave you here alone."

His face scrunched up disjointedly, replacing the smile.

"Why?"

Misty's eyebrows raised and she pressed her thumb to her chin and tapped her heel on the ground gently. Why in fact, was a wonderful question? She had already been told to go home, her services no longer needed. She was free from guilt. But it was more than just that. She shrugged her shoulders.

"It's just who I am." She assured him, watching a grateful twinkle form in his eye and a smile tug at his lips. She dismissed this, and removed a few magazines from her purse, as well as a local news paper and slammed them onto the foot of his bed.

"I'm also not supposed to be here right now. Luckily the hospital staff cares about you or they might not have called." she looked at her wrist watch quickly and then back at him, who thumbed the magazines nervously before looking back at her.

"Now, Ash Ketchum, if I get another phone call that you're trying to opt out early, I'll be back." She put two fingers to her eyes, and then pointed them at him. "And if the dream Misty you created is anything like I really am, you know that you'll be in a world of pain." She warned him, narrowing her eyes to slits.

He looked down at the magazines; they were not only battle magazines, they were world news magazines, as well as geography articles and he sniffled as his chin started to quiver slightly in response to the kind gesture. Her face twitched as he looked up at her with those shiny, tearful doe eyes and she had to flip her glasses on to peel her eyes away and keep her composure.

"I don't know what to say..." he whimpered quietly, but Misty put her hands on her hips and clicked her heels.

"That you'll stop being a _baby_ and get better." She watched him with a dutiful gaze, her voice demanding his attention, "You're not _dead_ Ash, and if you keep at this, you will be. So don't give up. You can do this." Ash watched her as she spoke, even beneath dark glasses, her smile, Misty's authentic smile was the same as he remembered it. Even though he felt like death from his three day fast and ashamed of himself for how he was acting, his chest burst with heat, and he returned her smile genuinely.

"I'll try." He assured her but she didn't seem impressed as she shouldered her bag and moved towards the nurse who had been watching the door. She had to leave, of course, she was still under suspension.

"You better do more than try. I could go to jail for sneaking in here." She murmured before tossing him a quick wave, and stepping out of the room while keeping her head tucked low.

Ash sat back, blinking at the door where she left, and shivered. He must have been cold because he felt numb yet fuzzy all at the same time. Whether she realized it or not, she was a lot like how he remembered her and it made his heart race as he placed a hand over his chest. If she was anything how he remembered her...maybe there was a small chance that he hadn't imagined _everything_ ; some part, some people, maybe, _just maybe_ there was a small chance that they were real, too..

There was hope.

He turned his attention to the magazines in front of him, and opened the first page, realizing right away that he...if he didn't believe Misty before, he did now. He didn't know half of these words! He shuddered and ran his hand down his face, before digging into the trainer magazine, reading as many articles as he possibly could. He would just have to figure out how this world worked, and then determine where to go from there. He would figure out why this happened to him...after all, there must have been some reason, right?

Misty was right, this wasn't him. His world wasn't the same, but _he_ was the same. Ash Ketchum didn't give up! He simply couldn't. Not with his mom, Professor Oak, pikachu, and _even_ Gary out there. They _were_ real, and that, Ash thought with a determined huff, was at least enough to live for until he could figure out the rest.

 **Author's Note:**

You will have to find out next chapter. You all know what, rather, _who_ I'm talking about. Again, thanks for all the amazing reviews -hearts- you guys are awesome.


	6. Chapter 6: Moving forward

**Locked Away, Chapter 6: Saw all of the saints**

A week following his shameful incident where he tried to muzzle himself, a stronger, brighter Ash was sitting up in his hospital bed, lazily flipping through a global magazine. Since he was aware of his situation, as well as the year and how many he had missed; he was allowed to enjoy the simple pleasantries that other patients received. Unlike his first few weeks in the hospital, he had a television in his room, open windows, and courtesy of the nursing staff, a new magazine to read every morning. Misty, after her ban was lifted three days ago, also brought him reading material. While at first, it was very difficult to embrace all the different information, Ash became like a sponge, absorbing all of the news about the world that he missed out on in the last ten years.

The first information he sought out for himself was the division of the regions. Surprisingly, or not, it should have been—but it wasn't, all of the regions he dreamed of existed. Alas, they were not as perfectly woven to his tales as he would have liked, but they existed, so he wasn't complaining.

In his mind, he could tell that he had clearly been, at least possibly, stuck in the same year over and over again. Anything that didn't and shouldn't make sense in his world was recuperated by pokemon, rather than this worlds constant update of technology. Pokedex could transfer pokemon inside of a pokeball with a button, huge green phones and monitors had been replaced by slick black screens. From what Ash could tell, pokemon health was monitored on the side lines to demonstrate their effectiveness during battle, and villains actually had repercussions for their illegal activities. Pokemon theft was enough to send someone to prison for a minimum of ten years. He didn't even think his dreamed up world _had_ a prison, let along a judge, jury and executioner.

Enthralling his mind with the many differences between his world and this one allowed for his brain to recuperate. Being able to focus on something, on improving himself was a great distraction for the overwhelming distress his mind was truly under. Busy hands meant a busy mind, which meant that Ash didn't need to think so much. About anything.

Playing on the television in the corner of his room, an article about Team Rocket started, with the news anchor headlining all of Team Rocket's vandalism in the last eight years. While his Team Rocket, Jessie, James and Meowth, were a goofballs who focused only on targeting pikachu and failed miserably at it, this world's Team Rocket was apparently a menace up until last year. Their leader, discovered to be Giovanni, the former Viridian City gym leader, was held accountable for their actions—assault and battery charges, theft, occasional murder, kidnapping—and the list rang on the longer the news anchor spoke. Frankly the news of prison and life sentences were a little over whelming for Ash, who up until three weeks ago, didn't know such a thing could exist. Even when officer Jenny caught a bad guy, it seemed like they just reappeared at any given opportunity, regardless.

Ash scoffed at that while clicking the television off. The longer he was awake, the longer he realized that no matter which way he dressed it up, his dream world made less sense. Everyone repeated the same, continuous tasks, and no matter what, everything played a lulling stand still of motion. He never improved, and when someone finally did start to improve, his mind quickly replaced them with someone new and shiny.

His way of coping, the therapist told him. Anytime anyone would begin to mature, Ash's brain, which was still the embodiment of a ten year old boy, could not allow them to, so he would replace them with a new counterpart, constantly starting from the bottom. Ash shifted and leaned back in his bed, pressing his head against his headboard and squeezing his eyes shut. Since Ash didn't know what it was like to _win_ before he was comatose, he didn't know that he _could_ win in his comatose dream land, thus, the never ending cycle of his dreams. Battle, compete, lose.

He shuddered, returning his attention to a magazine that an older, male doctor had given him with the image of a woman in front of it. He set it down on his lap before looking over at the clock that hung across the wall from him, above the calender that Misty bought.

It was only 7:00am, and Ash was already up, reading news papers and articles and watching news headlines. If someone had asked him a few years ago—which they couldn't, because he was of course, in a coma—he rolled his eyes, they would have never suspected that Ash Ketchum was trying to learn via the use of reading material. His mornings were nothing but reading until physical therapy stole him for a few hours, then he would go to lunch. After that, he would spend an hour with the hospital's therapist, and then return to physical therapy before being brought back to his room for the evening, where he would watch World Action News, and read more about this newer, darker world. He tapped his fingers against his wrist impatiently, hearing the familiar click of heels down the hall that brought a relieved sigh to his chest. Misty, however, was the only anonymity in his life right now. She didn't run on hospital time, though she showed up everyday at the same time, she always brought with her something new and interesting. Yesterday, the second day since returning from her suspension, she showed Ash how her phone, formerly known as pokegear, worked—the upgraded version of the pokegear from ten years ago that he remembered. She also showed him pictures of the Cerulean City gym, which was three times as spectacular as the one he imagined, and, as she proudly deflated his balloon, did _not_ have a giant dewgong on the sign. Misty had that removed years ago.

He laughed, hearing her stop to chat with a few nurses at the station she had become acquainted with over the last four weeks she had spent visiting the hospital. He fumbled with some magazines and tugged on the short pony tail his hair was tied into to at least look presentable in contrast to the always pristine Misty. Her appearance was one of the harder things to adapt to in this new world. She _always_ looked nice, even when she wasn't trying to. Long gone were the years of boyish clothes and messy hair, replaced instead with practical, yet stylish chic clothing. Ash didn't know if it was heavy influence from her sisters that caused the change, or if that was just the way she grew up. Either way, he felt mediocre in her presence, especially when all he could wear where hospital gowns or scrubs, with no exceptions anywhere. He didn't _own_ any clothing.

When Misty walked in that morning, wearing a pair of lightly flared bell bottom jeans and a yellow vest with a skin tight black undershirt and hair tied back into a careless pony tail; he knew that she had finally gotten that wardrobe upgrade she was complaining about.

"Good morning." He squeaked at the woman holding the questionable magazine he hadn't looked at previously in his hands. Her eyes were bright until she saw the magazine, and suddenly her entire face fell into a dark scowl upon seeing the half-naked lady sitting on the front cover of the magazine he was _trying_ to look busy with. He looked astonished as she approached him, unsure of why she was so angry until she ripped the magazine out of his fingers with a snap.

"You don't need to look at that." She barked, tossing the filth into the trash bin as she rounded the corner around his bed. Ash laughed nervously, still having the innocence of a ten year old, he didn't understand the issue. Lucky for him, she recognized that.

"Which doctor gave you that shit?" Misty grumbled, placing the extra coffee she had brought with her onto his wheel-able bed-side table. She had one in her hand for herself as well when she sat down, gingerly lapping one leg over the other and rolling the wheeled chair beside Ash's bed, where she snagged the remote for the television out of his hand in one smooth motion.

"They're hosting the Indigo league championships today. Do you want to watch?" she offered, not making eye contact. Ash visibly flinched at the suggestion. He wasn't ready to see pokemon battles yet, something about them pulled at his heart and knocked the wind out of his chest at the same time. His entire world was made up around battling pokemon, only to find out that _none_ of it actually happened. Some of the pokemon he witnessed weren't even _real_ in this world.

"..Uh, no actually, if that's okay." His weak voice caught her off balance and she spun her head to look at him firmly.

"You sure?" She questioned, knowing well his love of battles from his previous talks about them, before he realized he was asleep for ten years, however. He nodded bravely while he grimaced uncomfortably, nodding his head in response.

Misty shrugged, "Alright." she said, beginning the channel flipping that would commence for th next couple of minutes.

While Misty busied herself with finding something on the television to watch, Ash decided to give _coffee_ another chance, taking a short sip of the black juice, only to scrunch his face and stick out his tongue. The bitter taste leaving his hair standing on end, he set it on the table and smacked his lips in disgust while he looked up at Misty. She always brought him a complimentary java the last few days she came to visit, but he had no idea how she could stand the taste! Often time, she wound up drinking her own coffee, and then his; if he hadn't touched it, or if it hadn't gone cold, or really, she drank it regardless. A part of him was starting to think she bought two simply to justify the intake of extra morning coffee.

"Then how about Case n' Model?" The tone of her voice was almost giddy as she flipped to the show in question—Ash groaned.

"Anything else, please?" He muttered while rubbing his face. He didn't feel like watching a bunch of woman walk up and down a catwalk in different, strange and bizarre looking outfits _again._ That was yesterday's montage of hell. Today, Ash wanted some peace.

"Journey stories?" She pressed her lips together in a line, flipping to the soap opera which revolved around the stories of six trainers forced to travel together. Ash scrunched up his face as the title screen started and looked at the red-head pitifully.

"I think TV is a bad idea..." He groaned, leaning over to snatch the newest paper off of her lap.

Misty shrugged as she clicked the power button, returning her full attention to the warm beverage she had in her hands. Inhaling its dark roast, she sipped it gratuitously while Ash moshed through the headlines, scanning through everything like a computer. He read obituaries, girly articles, job wanted advertisements and even the Viridian City news articles and politics. A lot of politics he didn't understand, apparently there was a call to prevent the League from having so much power, but he only skimmed the article, not prepared to take on the heavy stuff. Instead, he flipped to the comic section, where his face took an unearthly glow. Misty watched as he cracked a small smile, and then finally belt out a laugh.

"Good ones today?" Misty asked while tipping her cup to him. He nodded sheepishly while setting the paper down beside his drink. Having finished hers already, she shot the cup into the trash bin across the room with amazing accuracy, and then snatched Ash's while bouncing her leg up and down. Jittery, or excited. Ash raised his eye brows at her.

Misty whipped her pure into her lap. "Have you had breakfast yet?" she questioned with perfectly glossed lips. Ash chuckled slightly, watching her rummage through her purse of endless supplies. No matter what, she seemed to always have whatever she needed. Perhaps it was her purse, or perhaps, it was her willingness to be prepared for anything.

"Not yet," he finally answered, catching her eye as he motioned with his fingers to indicate that he was going to walk there. "But the nurse hasn't been by to walk with me to the cafeteria yet." He added sincerely.

Since his _incident_ a week ago, he started his rigorous efforts to reclaim his lost balance; already having the ability to walk almost freely through his room. He didn't even need help to visit the wash room, which was wonderfully empowering. Just yesterday, the doctors finally approved his intake of normal food items, and there was talk going around that he _might_ just be able to transfer to a physical therapy only facility so he could focus more of his time on healing rather than having hours of waiting periods between visits. Things were looking up, if only a little bit.

Misty's mouth twisted into a grin as she revealed a brown sack from her purse.

"Well, then you got lucky!" She chirped as she opened the sack to reveal two carefully wrapped burritos the size of Ash's hand. He blinked at the food in wonder, and scratched his neck awkwardly. Sure, the doctor said that he could have normal food...but Ash wasn't sure this was exactly what he meant.

"Can...can I eat this?"

"It's just eggs, hash browns, cheese, and bacon wrapped in a perfect flower tortilla." She wafted the scent to him. "But...if you don't want it, I can take you to the cafeteria like you planned."

The smell of breakfast food taunted him with its perfect blend of flavors. His mouth salivated as he licked his lips. His stomach growled at him, recalling the horrible experience of yesterday's meals, and he greedily reached out and took the wrap from her fingers. Damn her and her temptations. Misty smiled proudly at him while she tore open the tin-foil wrap.

"It's from the shop down town, so, hopefully we don't get food poisoning." She mustered gleefully, her cheerful mood once against catching Ash's attention. He narrowed his eyes at her.

"Food poisoning? You didn't cook these, did you? Telling me it's from downtown as a disguise or something..." He mused painfully with a quirked eyebrow, examining the breakfast wrap. Misty glared at him, having already taken a bite of her own. She _hated_ that he knew that she was a terrible cook when he _was not_ supposed to know that about her. She tried not to glower.

"Watch your mouth." She warned him, getting a wide grin in response as he, too, cracked open the foil and started to munch down on the heavenly goodness that was everything delicious about breakfast wrapped into one perfect burrito. The first bite was slow, testing the flavors against his tongue before his stomach and mouth agreed promptly that _this_ was not poison, and was in fact heaven on earth. The fastest way to his heart, he supposed, was directly through his stomach.

Misty had to stop herself form laughing while she shook her head, watching him nearly devour the greasy meal with one bite—if humanly possible, he might have just swallowed the damn thing whole. The gym leader had a hard time believing that only a week ago, he was trying to starve himself back into a coma; now, she couldn't get him to stop eating. Everyday he complained about being hungry, which was what left to the release of his ban on solid foods. His body was burning too much during exercise when he was on soft foods, and wasn't having enough calories to burn for energy. So, they gave him the go-ahead to eat pretty well what ever he wanted again, so long as he did it in moderation. A healthy appetite meant that he was healing the remaining wounds, getting stronger every day. Misty could see that he had regained most of his normal strength in just a little under a month.

While amazed, she had to admit that she was surprised. She didn't think that after the incident following the garden he would bounce back so quickly—and while that childish gleam seemed to be forever gone, the innocent nature of his ignorance evaporated, he did look a little tougher.

Her first day back was spent in silence, waiting for Ash to speak, but he never did manage too. She often thought that her demeanor was simply over powering, and he looked so ashamed of what he had done. Yesterday was a little better, he greeted her with a smile, they talked for awhile—she brought the same second coffee she did, and would every time she visits. Unlike before, Misty also stuck around through the morning, and then would come back for the evening once his therapy sessions were over to see how his day went. She didn't leave as quickly as possible even though today was the first real exchange that they had. Misty bounced in her seat, remembering her news as she smiled.

Mouth full, he blinked at her, noticing that she had stopped eating in favor of staring at him; "What?" he asked, the smallest bit of food falling out of his mouth. Her mouth twitched as a vein popped.

"Don't talk with your mouth full!" She yelled suddenly, a crack in her anger. Red-faced, Ash swallowed, nearly choked, and then looked down embarrassingly at her command. She flicked her wrist and then they ate in silence for a moment before he twisted his fingers up and around his food, sparing brief glances at her with beady, dull eyes.

"...You don't have to keep coming here, you know? I'm not going to do anything stupid." He offered awkwardly, glancing down at the floor. Misty, however, did not miss a beat.

"We're friends, aren't we?" She asked, looking up at him as she rest her substance on the table and fished for her—his—coffee to take a sip. Her eyes were half covered from her bangs while she spoke, and Ash found that his throat felt itchy and dry and his heart rate quickened.

"...I guess." He managed, only to watch her eyes flicker back to her disposable coffee cup.

"Then as your friend, I should visit." Pursing her lips she looked up at the ceiling with a slight, mischievous grin. "Besides, I have nothing better to do, anyways."

Ash scoffed, "You're a gym leader. I'm sure you have a lot to do."

Then a deep, frightening chuckle erupted from her throat as she replied; "Yeah, but my _sisters_ are there right now." She flipped her bangs out of her face while she spoke, and at the movement, Ash could see the cascade earnings on her earlobe glisten in the sunlight. "Besides, I haven't had a vacation in years, and I don't have a lot of _real_ friends outside of the league—so, really, what better place to spend my time than at a hospital with some guy I barely know."

He smiled at that, grinning from ear to ear at her passive aggressive nature, before he could respond, however, she added thoughtfully:

"It's like being drunk at a bar, you don't know what you're doing there, but you're not drunk enough to leave." Ash's face fell as an eyebrow rose; completely confused. Noticing that the reference went over his head, she waved him off.

"Sorry, you don't get that reference." She mumbled while touching her hair gently, Ash offered a weak smile—he understood at least the underlying principle. She was here because she wanted to be, not because she felt guilty—or, at least she was damn good at hiding it.

"Thank you." Was all that Ash could muster, grateful for her presence. Even though the older, adult Misty was so unlike his own that he imagined; this one was nice too, and even better, because she was _real._

They finished up breakfast in silence. After Ash had devoured his own breakfast, Misty offered the second half of hers, which he took avariciously. He was a walking garbage disposal, she only hoped that he didn't make himself sick. Misty twisted back and forth in the seat, occupying her hands by tapping her nails against the plastic arm rest of the chair while racking her brain of a good time to bring _that_ subject up. _His mother_.

"Did you hear that I'm supposed to switch facilities?" He mused, licking his fingers. Her face fell while she watched him.

 _Yeah, and he said I had bad manners._ "Yeah, I did hear that. The nurse at the station mentioned it when I came in. You pretty excited?" She swiveled the chair to face him while kicking her ankle to her knee as she leaned to press her chin into the palm of her hand. In return, Ash sat backwards and rested his shoulders against the headboard once again.

"I am, but I don't know where they will send me... Do you think they'll send me to Pallet town?" He inquired, rubbing his hands against his blanket while he spoke. Misty twisted her lips and then smacked them together.

"No, there's an assisted living home just down the street from here. That's where you will most likely be transferred." Her callous remarks deflated him as he slouched forward and pouted. In turn, she rolled her eyes.

Ash scrunched up his face; "Isn't that where old people go...?" he murmured politely getting a nervous chuckle from Misty.

"It's for more than old people. Their physical therapy unit is for anyone who meets the requirements. People of all ages have to visit there for rehabilitation sometimes." Her polite nature and thoughtful tone brought Ash back to his eagerness. Glancing towards the window, he thought about the possibility of leaving the hospital, and gushed. Maybe he would even get to go outside on his own!

"Did they mention when the transfer could be?" He sighed bitter-sweet.

"The sooner the better." Misty replied automatically, and then looked at him with wide eyes.

He looked at her, puzzled. "Why?"  
"Ehh.. well..." She rubbed the back of her neck and then intertwined her fingers over her knee. "Truthfully? The hospital is, well... they're going to start charging _you_ here soon if they can't..."

"Find my mother?" He finished the sentence for her and she inhaled sharply as his eyes glanced downward to his sheets in worry. While he should have been the one being charged in the first place; the hospital wanted to try spare the coma patient some of the liability.. unfortunately, it didn't seem that was going to be successful. The humor and glee that was once so dominate in the room faded. Misty, trying to repair the moment cleared her throat.

"Which brings me to my next statement." She uttered quickly, fiddling with her phone uncomfortably as she rolled beside Ash's bed, pushing the table out of the way. He gazed at the picture that she presented him—it was a picture of his mom dated three years ago. His heart pounded back in his chest as a smile crept over his features while he stared at the familiar auburn haired woman that he remembered so genuinely. He exhaled, and Misty clasped her hands together nervously.

"There is no death certificate." She added shortly after, causing his eyes to go wide.

"What?" he asked spiritless, shocked by her words.

"Well since there is no record of death that I could find, and obituary and death certificates are typically posted online and there are none under her name.."

Ash's face brightened and he grinned up at her happily for the first time in days, truly believing that he was catching a break for once; "So since neither were found, she must be okay?"

"I can't say for certain." she said honestly, bursting his bubble. "But most likely, yes."

"Yes!" Ash yelled, feeling a weight lift off of his shoulders as he threw his arms up into the air, as well as nearly releasing Misty's phone to go flying as well. She panicked, standing upright to jar the phone from his fingers before it flew from excitement. Holding the expensive technology to her chest, she released a vehement sigh. However, Ash's excitement died as quickly as it started and his arms fell to his sides bitterly.

"...Then why isn't she here?"

Misty licked her lips, having already prepared for this question. "Your recovery hasn't gone regional yet. That means it's only in the Viridian City news papers and television networks; so, if she lives in Pallet Town, that would make sense why she doesn't know. It's not like she was expecting you." she mustered effortlessly while offering the boy a weak smile.

Ash nodded and inhaled, trying to remain positive. "She's probably still at home then."

He looked at his fingers while Misty cocked her jaw to one side. His skin tone, while not tan, was no longer pale, and his cheeks pertained a rosy color to them at all times. She felt bad for getting the boy's hopes up, but what's worse would be to tell him nothing at all. A little bit of hope wasn't a bad thing. Ash inhaled.

"I can't wait to get better. I'll travel to Pallet Town and surprise her." He muttered gently, catching Misty off guard. She blinked at him and then smiled softly.

"Yeah." She finished, a part of her knowing that his negligence to phone someone else, or even ask her to go was the slight, thickening fear that Delia may no longer be there. No, he would have to see with his own eyes, and until then, nothing was good enough. He would simply have to get better as soon as possible. He had to figure everything out, understand why this happened to him. His face scrunched up in thought; though Misty didn't seem to notice as she clicked mindlessly on her phone while he twisted his fingers into his bed sheets. When he was better, he would find her; he would apologize for making her wait so long for his return, and they would all be a family again.

Catching his intense gaze, Misty ran her tongue along her teeth and raised her eyebrows, posing a question.

"Misty," he started, breaking the pleating silence and her question. "I know I'm not supposed to...well the therapist says that I'm not supposed to..." he mumbled off, casting his eyes to the white floors beneath them. "Do you think that the other people that I dreamed about are real, too? Maybe..." he sputtered nervously, rubbing his fingers together as his breath hitched in his chest. Addressing his 'life' as a dream was still oddly painful and he exhaled to relieve the tension building. Misty shrugged in response, and then stood up, successfully startling him.

"I don't know, but it couldn't hurt to check, huh?" She pat his arm to indicate 'scoot over' though he didn't understand right away, and instead, stared at her with dopey eyes. She nudged him once more, a bit harsher and he clued in with an 'o' shape forming his lips.

Misty took a seat beside him, kicking her feet up onto the hospital bed while leaning her back against the headboard. It was the first time that Misty had really been in close proximity for Ash to see her carefully; though their shoulders rested the same place on the headboard, his feet nearly reached the end of the bed, and hers ended a few inches before his. Sweet! In this world, he was taller than her! Trying not to grin as she flicked her screen on and typed in her password, Ash looked over her shoulder.

"What do you mean 'check'?" He inquired, eyebrows raised

"Research." she said matter of fact. "The same way I found out about your mother." At her response, Ash's eyebrows knit together. He didn't understand how cellphones worked, in his mind, and ten years ago, he supposed, they were known as 'pokegear', but apparently, cellphones were just the upgraded versions of those. They had all of the abilities of a pokegear, but better, and more.

"Pokebook?" Ash asked while Misty nodded beside him, opening the application. Her upper arm brushed against his; while she didn't seem to notice, or even care, he stared at where their arms connected, and could feel the warmth of her bare arm pressed against his and blinked. Physical closeness, that was a very strange phenomena.

Ash forced his attention back to the task at hand, the observation of a screen about the size of his hand while an image with her face loaded onto one corner, with her contact information and name written beside the picture. Before he could clue in, she pressed a button and then raised the phone; he could see them staring back at him in the lens of the phone.

"What's that?" He asked, looking completely flabbergasted when the phone made a 'snap' of his bemused face, and her grinning one. Blinking once or twice, he quickly realized that his dopey appearance and her cheerful one was a permanent, unmoving feature on her phone.

Misty had taken a picture of them.

With a few flicks, the picture went from the screen she had taken the picture on, to a framed one on the website she had pulled up, and plastered to the title was "I'm having more fun than you" with her sisters names included into the description. Humming, she looked and sounded so proud of himself, stifling her laugh while it very slowly registered for Ash. His mouth dropped, evidently turning a deep scarlet.

"Delete that!" He shrieked embarrassingly, attempting to take the phone from her, but she had already fallen into a gleeful spit of laughter. She held the phone away from him, over the side of the bed, where he could not reach unless he tumbled over her.

"Misty!" he whined, squeezing his eyes shut as she spared him a wink and stuck her tongue out at him.

"No way! I'm keeping it forever!" She laughed joyously while he pouted in response; though, as a grown adult, the pout had no affect on her. A glaring match, the winner: Misty. Her leer forced his arms down into a fold at his chest, and she grinned victoriously while resting the phone back into her lap while clicking the search button at the top of the page.

"Enough goofing around. Do you remember any names?" She asked, cutting to the chase, though Ash still huffed in retaliation to the picture.

"Brock Harrison." he muttered, figuring he might as well start with the person who he met right after Misty; and was supposedly his 'repressed sexual frustrations', in the words of his therapist. Her phone was lowered in frustration, and she glared harshly at him.

"Really? The Brock you dreamed of is a Harrison?" She quipped angrily, her coarse tone causing his confidence to deflate.

"...yeah...?" He muttered worriedly while Misty exhaled and gestured her shoulders.

"Well, he exists. That's the Pewter City gym leader." She remarked carefully, turning her attention back to her phone to type his name into the search bar though she doubt if he would have one, most gym leaders tried to stay away from social media websites, especially after the last two years.

"He never left Pewter City?" Ash's voice pitched carefully as his heart ran aflutter.

"Not that I know of, he was at the last Pokemon League assembly in June, so, unless he resigned in the last month; I doubt it." She gnawed on her nail, apparently disturbed by the train of events. Her phone vibrated in her hand, notifications running rampant on her since uploading a picture of her and Ash. He, however, was none the wiser.

"That's strange. He hated being a gym leader." Ash murmured while tilting his head to the window, thoughtful of his old friend. Would Brock still be the same person? Or was that whole pokemon breeder thing...Ash turned a shade of red and covered his face with his palm.

"I never said he enjoyed it." Misty cracked. "The man has like a million brother and sisters to take care of after his family ran out on him. Even if he had dreams of his own—he had no way to pursue them."

Ash blinked at her response, "You seem to know a lot about him."

"He's a gym leader, I'm a gym leader. We have to know each other."

Ash blinked several times—this news being one of the first major differences from his world and this one. The gym leaders weren't unified in _his_ land, they were implied to be one...but, gym leaders didn't know each other—it would make sense that they would though, he figured. He gulped and looked at her, her look of frustration a automatic draw to end the subject.

"What about Tracey Sketchit?" He asked, watching as Misty typed in the name, snickering o herself about the pun.

"Orange islands. Famous artist." She showed Ash the page she was on, indicating his works and showing the many different pokemon. His display picture echoed one of professionalism, the dark haired boy wearing a headband held a sketchbook under his arm, standing near a beautiful painting of a rare bird emitting a rainbow. Ash pointed objectively

"I know that pokemon."

"I thought we were looking for people." Misty chimed in sarcastically.

Ash ignored her sarcasm, and replied eagerly; "What pokemon is that, Misty?"

"Do I look like a pokedex?" She grumbled and then took a closer look at the picture. "I don't know. Not all pokemon have been discovered, and besides, unless it's a water pokemon. I couldn't tell you anyways."

Ash withdrew, trying to recall from his own dreams what it was. Something about it was _very familiar_. He had seen it before. Several times. It had to mean something... He narrowed his eyes, wracking his brain for the answer. Watching his face curl thoughtfully, Misty exited out of Tracey's page, and then clicked the search bar again.

"So that's two that exist, do I hear a third?" She muttered, pulling Ash from his thoughts.

"Uhm, May and Max; they're brother and sister, but I don't know their family name..." He paused. "Their parents were the Petalburg gym leaders from Hoenn, if that helps..." he watched as Misty switched screens on her phone, pulling up the page that had his mother's face on it, and typed the information that Ash gave her into a engine at the top and submitted it. After a second, it came back positive.

"You're scarily specific." She mumbled, though Ash was impressed that she wasn't terrified of his notions. When he told her anything originally, she always had a look of terror wash over his face; now, she seemed to accept the idea that he wasn't exactly normal.

"So? Are they real?" He asked, trying to keep his eager tone at a neutral base. Misty tilted her head thoughtlessly.

"There is a May Maple from Hoenn region." Ash looked over to see the screen, but she tilted it away from him before he could look.

"Before you answer, what does she look like?" She muttered with a mischievous grin.

He sputtered unimpressed and lowered his eyebrows. Fine, he would play this game with her. "Light brown hair, blue eyes and wore a red or green bandana. First pokemon was a torchic.. Like you, she probably looks olde— _different_." Catching himself at the end there, he avoided the nasty glare from Misty who pursed her lips.

"Yeah, _different._ " She mocked while scoffing and rolling her coltish eyes. "but, you're right."

Turning the screen towards Ash, his face brightened up. That was May! Grown up, hair a little shorter and without a bandana, but it was May! She was real! She existed! He would have jumped had it not been for the fact that Misty was sitting on his blanket and he was still recovering. Misty didn't reflect the same excitement, her acceptance being replaced quickly with an expression of worry the more Ash's imaginary friends turned out to be real. She quickly typed Max's name in, using the same last name; only, he didn't have any profile on pokebook, but he had a few articles written about him in the Hoenn region. She didn't bother to read them; she didn't care who he was, just that he existed.

She grimaced, though Ash didn't reflect the same feeling. In fact, he was on a roll, that bubbling, childish excitement rising through the cracks of his broken and torn world.

"What about Dawn Matthews?" He chimed excitedly, only to have hit a very sore spot for Misty. She nearly winced and had to crack her neck.

"She's real." Was all she offered, "Next." She grumbled and Ash deflated slightly.

Ash blinked, "How do you know?"

"How could I not know? Everyone knows Dawn." Misty grumbled, mashing through her list of known people to pull up Dawn's profile. She clicked it, and there, smiling back at him was Dawn's blue eyes and dark brown hair pulled up into a pony-tail while she wore a bright pink dress.

"She's a top-coordinator in Sinnoh area, like her mother before her." Misty muttered unhappily.

"You know her...?" He questioned her hostile repertoire as he watched her eyes shift as she scrolled through the blue-haired girl's pictures.

"Sort of. I have ran into her a few times because of the pokemon league."

"Doesn't sound like you two got along very well..." he grimaced sadly. Impressed at his deductive reasoning she shrugged slightly.

"Coordinators and battlers sort of had a falling out a few years ago. I'm just a little bitter about it." She mumbled, exiting out of Dawn's pictures as her way of implying that she was both ready to move on, and didn't want any more questions asked. Ash could respect that, he was sure that when the time came, Misty would bring it up—and if she didn't, then that was fine, too.

"The next one would be Iris. She was a gym leader in Unova."

"Unova's gyms were shut down years ago. Do you have a last name?" Misty encouraged him, catching Ash off guard. He winked one eye and then crossed his arms.

"...No, but I have a hair color?"

"That doesn't help. There are too many Iris' to pick from." Misty held up her phone so that Ash could see the long list of over three thousand results. He could feel sweat drop and shifted uncomfortably.

"Well...is there another way?"

"Does it matter? The last five have been real, so we can only assume Iris is, as well." Misty muttered, albeit bitterly. Ash raised his eyebrows, feeling he was catching a nerve of hers, but decided against mentioning it.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to offend you." He muttered helplessly glancing sideways at her. Misty sighed.

"Don't apologize, who is next?" While it was wonderful that Ash was right about all of these people being real. He was still neglecting a very important detail. Misty wasn't ready to burst his bubble, however, so she continued.

"Cilan, he was a connoisseur from Unova."

"...a what?" Misty blinked at him, and he blushed furiously.

"...someone who rates how well a trainer and a pokemon get along." he twiddled his fingers during his response and shifted his eyes away from her.

Misty fought the urge to snort at such a silly thing; but she supposed _anything_ was technically possible. Other regions did have their own varying cultures. "Alright, but that's not enough information to find him." She mused while tapping her long nails against the flat screen.

Ash lowered his shoulders, his excitement dying a little more.

"Then how about..." he snapped his finger. "Serena from Vaniville, Kalos region. She was a pokemon performer. We... were uh... supposed to be childhood friends." He suggested calmly, thought he wasn't sure if 'childhood' friends was something he made up in his dream world, or an event that had actually occurred.

Misty's eyebrows to raised, she then snorted uncouth, "Sure do have a lot of girls traveling with you in those dreams." She grinned teasingly as Ash's face turned a shade of pink and his lips formed into a pout.

"Wow, she's pretty." Misty commented, alerting Ash who was once again warded away by Misty's palm.

"Description?" She grinned, and Ash squeezed his eyes shut again.

"Misty!" he whined and then exhaled. "Blonde, blue eyes, wears a hat; wore a lot of red?" He offered, causing Misty to shrug as she turned the phone to him.

"Close enough." She added, as the fan page devoted to _Princess Serena_ became visible to Ash, who's eyes lit up. Staring back at him was an image of a Serena, but a much older one. Her hair was long again, braided, and on top of her head she wore a tiara that matched her formal red dress as the profile picture of the fan page.

"What's a fan page?" Ash questioned and Misty's eyes bugged out.

"They're for famous people. Congratulations, you _traveled_ with a famous person." Misty giggled, supplying him a very skeptical grin.

"Nice sarcasm." he pressed, though he knew the list wasn't done yet. "There are only two more. Bonnie and Clemont, they're siblings from Lumiose City. Clemont was an inventor."

"Where?" Misty laughed nervously, while typing in the information.

"Lumiose city, it has that huge tower in the center of it."

Misty smiled, "You mean Paris?"

A frazzled Ash scratched his head, "Yeah, Paris...I guess."

"Lumiose is a street name in that city. Apparently a head engineer with Silph Co. is from there; a man named Clemont." She turned the article to Ash, who smiled at the glasses welding, jump-suit sporting, blonde haired inventor staring back at him.

"That's him." He said warmly while Misty clicked a few buttons and set her phone down.

"There you go, now we know that most of the people in your dreams were real people." She said confidently, watching Ash's dreamy gaze as he looked at his hands.

"Do you think I could meet up with them again?" He asked, awestricken.

Misty slipped her legs off the side of the bed and shook her head. She always had to be the giver of bad news. "You know they probably don't know you, right?" She sounded before slipping off the side, the click of her heels turning Ash's attention to her as his elated persona ended with a splash. He crossed his arms, and looked up at the ceiling while she stuffed her phone into her purse.

Misty didn't recall anything from his dreams, so they probably would not, either... So... why did it matter if he knew these people or not? They wouldn't know him. His shoulders fell, depression seeping in from every corner of his brain while he looked down pitifully at his sheets. Misty stood tall, shoulders broad as her fingers tapped against her waist.

"This is kind of scary, Ash." She confirmed finally, turning her head over her shoulder to look at him. He peered up at her with doe eyes and then looked away just as fast. He couldn't handle her expression of worry dancing across her face and so he exhaled, feeling a chill run down his spine from the separation of heat provided by her body on moments ago.

"At least we know I didn't make everything up..." He mumbled halfheartedly, rubbing his arm where she had been leaning against.

"I wonder what that means though. Seems pretty odd, doesn't it?" She reflected, looking out the window and into the garden as her heels tapped comfortingly on the floor while she paced.

"Should it? Mean something, I mean." he clarified, blinking up at her.

"I don't know." She laughed earnestly, shrugging her shoulders. "It's just weird is all."

"I'm weird." Ash mused pathetically, mostly joking—but it held a formation of truth.

"Well, maybe! But don't take my word for it. I'm not a doctor." She assured him, making eye contact with him from across the room. _If_ she was worried about this revelation, she didn't show it, at least not to him. Her smile twisting up her lips, he smiled back. Even if it meant something, it didn't mean something _now._ Ash first needed to focus on getting better, everything else would come after.

"Maybe I'm psychic?" he mused playfully, breaking the tension with a hammer. Misty slapped her forehead.

"Psychics don't exist, Ash." she groaned, defeated while he chuckled at his attempt to lighten the mood—happy that it had been successful. Ash wasn't ready to delve into the deeper question behind _how_ he managed to know all of these people in his convoluted world; no, he just wanted to take one step at a time. Otherwise, the pressure could crush him.

"I know." He laughed, but of course remembered Sabrina being psychic in his dream world.

"Do you want me to talk with your therapist about this?" Misty questioned while leaning up against the window sill, the warm sun on her back. Ash's eyes widened in retort and he shook his head profusely.

"No! It's okay. I have a session with him tonight and I'll bring it up then!" _plus I don't want you to get banned from the hospital again_. He added as an after thought, feeling his mouth twitch uncomfortably. If the transfer didn't go through, he was worried he would be stuck here by himself every day. While Misty could leave when ever she wanted, her appearance was always an enjoyable experience. It was nice to have a _friend_ around when no one else seemed to care.

Misty frowned. "Stop staring at me. It's weird." She grumbled, causing Ash to nearly fall out of his bed from embarrassment—having not realized himself that he had been staring. After a brief moment of silence, Ash collected himself, and glanced back at this magazines and news papers.

"Misty..." he muttered as his soft gaze met her hard one, tilting her head as if asking "What's up?"  
"Will you tell me about what I've missed the last ten years?" he gulped as she pushed off the wall and collapsed into the rolling chair beside his bed.

Concerned, she cocked an eyebrow. "Are you sure that you're ready to learn about it?"

He inhaled; "Yeah, I think so." he then added; "All the papers you've given me... they tell me about what's going on now, but it doesn't tell me about what happened before..." He swallowed, staring into her sea-green eyes with desperation.

"You mentioned coordinators and battlers having a falling out, and the news talked earlier about team rocket and..."

"You want to know more?" She inquired, crossing her legs neatly. Ash nodded.

"Well," Misty tapped her nails against the arm rest thoughtfully before smacking her lips and shrugging, "Where do you want to start? I'm not some magical guru, there is a lot that I don't know, either."

Ash smiled at her reply; "Then why don't we start at the gym, first then?" Misty glanced from him to the clock and then buckled down with a sigh.

"We don't have a lot of time before the nurses take you to physical therapy, but... I guess we can start." He followed Misty's gaze to the window as she started to talk about the Cerulean City gym.

Ash inhaled, listening carefully about the changes she made when returning. His turmoil was hidden pretty well, he thought. He still had a million different questions, but none of them could be answered right away; and quite frankly, he wasn't sure that he wanted an answer right now. Especially not if the answer was anything like the revelation that he was in a coma for ten years. His world had already been shaken and then turned upside down, and while he was managing, he was _only_ barely. He didn't think he could handle another bout of bad news.

Ash had to stay optimistic, and he couldn't let himself, or Misty, or the doctors who helped him, down. Simply knowing that the people he met in his dreams were real put his soul at ease enough for the day. Knowing his mom was alive, where he was beginning to have his doubts, was a weight lifted off of his shoulders. He glanced at Misty who had her nose turned up about an idea she was rambling on about. The fact that his _dreams_ had a substantial amount of reality to them was something he could hold onto bravely.

For now, that was good enough. He needed to focus on healing, so that where ever the future brought him, he would be there standing on two feet, and not laying in a bed.

 **Author's note:**

 **For those of you** worried about update speed vs quality, I will honestly say that my quality is not affected at all by the quick updates thus far. The the first 16 chapters, (yes, there's that many so far, long story will be long lol) are already in rough draft, and the whole story is outlined. I simply have to edit/remove/add to a chapter and then boom, it's done. Sometimes if I'm unsure about how I feel about a chapter/event, I will wait a day or two to think the chapter over (like this one, actually!) Most likely, the most deterring thing for you, the readers, will be the direction of the plot at some point in the story (which I find happens a lot in long stories) so if by some means down the line I lose your interest, pop in a review and let me know why. Though I can't do anything to avoid this, it helps me improve as a writer and perhaps I can share some clarity/justification for said deterrent plot point.

This chapter, _this fucking chapter,_ was difficult. I rewrote it three times, and I'm not doing it again. I _wanted_ there to be a big reveal about if the other characters were real or not... but logically speaking, and since this world is supposed to be more 'realistic' than what Ash was 'living' in previously, I decided that it wouldn't be uncommon to just search peoples names on a search engine (google/facebook) to find out if said people Ash dreamed of were real or not. I mean, it's sort of anti-climatic, and by no means flawless representation, but if you look at Misty's character, she's not the type to skim over this. I mean, naturally, if _you_ wanted to find someone; how would you do it? Personally, I would go to google/facebook right away and since most teenagers/young adults have profiles/contact information/etc online I think it's fairly easy to find people... Just saying. So again, yes, it's a little anti-climatic, but I stand by my decision to both make them exist (as directly opposed to traditional coma theory, in which none of them would exist) and easily accessible. I have my reasons which we won't go into in depth over for awhile, but, bare with me?

Again, thank you for all the wonderful reviews and I hope you all continue to enjoy the story. -toasts-


	7. Chapter 7: The Nursing Home

**Locked Away, Chapter 7: Lock up all of the gates**

Four days letter, he was off to a new and exciting journey: the assisted living home. While Misty told him earlier that week that the facility was not just for older people, Ash had to call her bluff. The only other people around him that morning were _elderly_ individuals, either in wheelchairs or walkers. Ash, who held onto the the railing against the wall of the white hospitals, watched the nurses around him gather other patients at the back entrance of the building in preparation for bus-vehicle transportation to the facility a few blocks away. Misty showed him pictures, it was inside of the Viridian Forest which was supposed to bring natural calmness to otherwise unruly patients. Something about nature was supposed to keep people calm. Ash could understand that.

Ash arrived at the back entrance nearly an hour before the rest of the patients were brought by wheelchair via nurse. He had decided to stand for as long as possible to work his leg muscles because on a good day, Ash was able to walk mostly on his own, but for short distances only. Remaining in one spot was otherwise acceptable to most of the staff, and they usually left him alone. For the last two days, Misty had walked with him around most of the hospital rather than a nurse, staying close to the railings and multiple waiting chairs, he was completely capable of walking on his own so long as he was allowed to sit when his knees would start to wobble.

Like now, for instance. With a huff, he collapsed back into the waiting chair beside him. In front of him, he watched an elderly woman, at least in her late seventies with her hair high in a gray bun, knit a pink sweater. Attached to her wheelchair was a backpack full of goodies; as most of the other wheelchair laden people had. Everyone but Ash seemed to have more items to take with them out of the hospital—he had only two paperback romance novels, and a medium blue vase—both supplied by the fiery red-head. A few days ago, some nurse in passing mentioned that his mother packed everything else he owned up shortly before removing him from life support. Subconsciously, he wiggled the small bag beside him—a bit anxious. Aside from Misty's gifts, he only had green hospital scrubs, which he was wearing, and plastic grocery bag to hold his items. It was slightly pathetic.

Shifting his gaze away, he crossed one of his legs over the other and watched the outside door. The left door swung open, whipping in a gust of fresh morning air; the sun had not risen yet, and so a shiver ran up his spine from the darkness. _A jacket would have been nice_ , he thought, but the hospital's only 'available' version of a jacket was a goofy looking white robe—so he would bare with the cold for now. It wasn't like the bus ride would be long, and there was probably heat in the vehicle.

He sighed loudly, shifting his feet and pressing his hands into his pockets while puffing his cheeks. While he was stoked to be leaving the hospital. He had a nagging, desolate feeling deep in his chest. Pestering him for one reason or another. For over ten years, whether he was aware of the time spent or not, he had _never_ left this hospital. He had not even been to the edges of the garden to view outside of the fence line. In the month and a half he had been awake, he hadn't even stepped foot out the front door—barely making pace to explore the hospital only a _day_ before he left; thanks to Misty. He was _terrified_ of what was lurking around the corner for him; what if he couldn't handle the real world?

Eyebrows lowered nervously, he watched as the transfer nurse walked towards the group of gathered patients, all four of them, holding a clipboard. He rocked his knees together and swallowed hard. She had an air of professionalism about her, the tap of her black heels reminding him very briefly that Misty, who had been with him this far through every experience, was no here this morning with that horrible cup of coffee and morning paper.

Apparently, 5:00am was even too early for her.

Wiggling out of his seat, he rose when the transfer nurse approached the group.

"Are we all ready to go?" She asked the otherwise less pleasant faces of the older generation, and then set her eyes on Ash.

"Since you seem to be able to walk, why don't we get you in first?" She hummed gently, approaching him the same way she had done with thousands of other patients before. Skilled hands wrapped up and around his upper arm as support and guided Ash to the exit doors.

His heart raced in his chest. The first real step into the real world that he was ever going to take. Really, it was his first time consciously walking into Viridian City in his _entire_ life. He gulped, squeezing the nurses hand for some much needed moral support, inwardly swearing at Misty. The Gym Leader promised to meet him at the new facility and only refused to see him off from the hospital because he, "Needed to start taking steps on his own."

Ash knew that was noble of her, but damn it, she just threw him to the dogs. When the rush of the morning wind caught him, he would have fallen over had it not been for the patient nurse beside him, who carefully goaded words of encouragement as they traced their way to the bus ramp.

The city smell hit him in the face like a train, and he inhaled sharply—taking in the distinct smell of rust and gasoline as he was funneled into the bus. He was sure that his pupils had dilated because he felt a sudden burst of adrenaline coarse through his veins, releasing the nurses hands and bounding into the bus on his own. Much to her surprise, he managed to wriggle his way out of her grasp and down the narrow bus path and into the farthest seat in the back where he scoot into the authentic, woodsy redolent leather seat. Standing with one knee on the seat, he jarred open the window, nearly breaking the latch. Fresh, yet polluted air hit him all at the same time, and while he couldn't see it yet because they were in a short over hang at the back of the hospital, he could feel the open world around him. Suddenly, it didn't feel so cold or scary.

Left to his own devices as the city came to life with the sound of bustling morning traffic, honking horns, the occasional person playing an instrument and the intense roar of morning construction. It all sounded so new. No, it _was_ new. To him, at least.

"You'll need to sit before I can get another patient in, please." she called effortlessly, ripping Ash out of his world. He spun at her, and then nodded sadly, flopping into his seat.

Still. He watched.

 **Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxo**

Ash was the first patient on the bus, but the last one to get off since he was in the very back. From his seat facing the new facility, he waved at an otherwise occupied Misty who wore dark sunglasses and cradled a disposable cup between her gloved fingers. September was a colder month, especially in the morning. Her breath was visible as she hopped silently in one spot to keep warm. She had on a large dark red scarf, and a tan coat that ended middle-thigh, and once again, a pair of blue jeans to match her knee high boots. Her hair, which had grown out to her shoulders in the last month was tied into a bun and she wore the same cascade earrings as the first day that he saw her.

Excitedly, having seen the city, albeit only a small portion, for the first time _in his entire life_ , was one of the most enthralling situations he had ever witnessed; not only that, he was _now_ in the Viridian Forest where they built infrastructure inside of the forest, instead of just around it like in his dream. Giddy and bursting with excitement, he almost forgot that he _wasn't_ one hundred percent as he bound out of the bus and directly towards Misty.

A sparkle in his eye, he pumped her fists up. "That was amazing." He cooed, recalling all the bright pre-sun rise lights, the different people; the cafe's the huge pokemon center... However, she didn't seem as impressed, and she frowned at him.

"That's wonderful but where's your jacket?" She asked heatedly, automatically ripping off her red scarf to throw it over Ash's neck. Having not noticed previously—since he rode the entire way to the facility with the window rolled down and face glued to the glass to peer outside-his skin was covered in gooseflesh. The transfer of warmth caused him to shudder though, and he nonchalantly cradled the warm scarf between his fingers and tucked his cold nose into the warmth. He could smell a hint of some kind of flower over the scarf while the nurse behind him wagged her finger.

"Ash Ketchum, you should be using a walker, you're not supposed to walk on your own, let alone jog." She warned him, at the notion Ash could feel his legs shaking, but was far too excited to give it any attention.

"It's fine, I grabbed him a wheelchair for the tour of the facility." Misty shot the nurse a sweet smile, dipping her leg slightly as a curtsy. Ash visibly flinched at Misty's words, looking and feeling betrayed by his friend who wheeled said locomotive around. He could feel his weak knees at that point, and released an audible sigh.

"Just when I thought I was done getting pushed around..." he grumbled.

"Can't have you falling down and getting injured, now can we?" Misty replied laughably and Ash climbed into the familiar motion of the wheelchair with a sigh. The transport nurse followed them inside of the building as Misty popped the disposable cup in front of Ash; the same she had been holding while she waited for him. He blinked at it.

"...err..." he started, unsure of what to think of the gesture. "I've been meaning to tell you that coffee is kind of..." he mumbled as the appearance of the facility took his words away. Looking around the tan walls and navy blue carpet of the facility—a more vibrant assortment of colors already, he slipped his fingers around the beverage thoughtlessly. They were greeted by an older woman with a cheery grin—the facility's administrator-and for the _first time_ since waking up, he saw a glimpse of a _real_ pokemon. A ratata ran across the hallway in front of him, and he had in hold in his shrill of excitement as Misty pat him on the shoulder slightly.

"It's hot chocolate, Ash." She mumbled gently, to which he looked down and smiled gratefully, chest bursting with more excitement than worry.

"Oh." he blushed sheepishly. "Thanks."

 **xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxo**

Two hours after the tour of the facility, Ash was 'unpacking' what little he had from the hospital; otherwise known as setting down his blue vase on the nightstand beside his bed and tossing the books into the drawer below that. With a loud exhale, he collapsed onto the stiff bedding and rubbed his palm against his face tiredly.

Ash was exhausted. Not only because of waking up at 4:00am, but because the excitement of the morning, the over use of his muscles-standing, walking, exploring—every bone ached beneath his flesh. He curled up slightly, and exhaled into the fresh scented pillow and wrapped his cold fingers into his borrowed scarf. He lucked out as far as rooms go—most patients were forced to share a room, but because Ash was a special case, younger than most of the other residents, he was placed into a private room in the physical therapy unit of the building. His room was across from the physical therapy room, and to the left of the open gym. Now, the room wasn't huge, it may have even been slightly smaller than the one he had at the hospital—but it had metallic blue walls and sandy brown office carpet. It felt more like an actual _bedroom_ than he had the chance to be in _for years._

A single window was at the far end of the room, beside a wooden wardrobe. His bed rested perpendicular to the window, with a reddish-pink couch beneath the lip of the window. White curtains fell in laps from the curtain rod, shading the morning sun from his otherwise tired eyes. He rolled over to look at the ceiling, which was painted boring white, and then finally to the right, at his private bathroom. The ability to shower _without_ a bunch of older women hovering over him was so tempting he almost stripped down and locked himself inside for the rest of the day. Aside from the sponge baths he was given daily, he hadn't been able to _shower_ since, well, since he was _ten_. He shuddered. It was humiliating, and he could only muse in excitement at the valuable upgrade. Ash would be able to enjoy the rising steam all on his own, without watchful, prying eyes.

Thinking of a shower made him feel grimy, an odd feeling. Aside from times when he was very obviously dirty, covered in mud, or some other substance; he never remembered enjoying showers, or ever _needing_ to have one when he dreamed. Going just a few weeks with only a sponge bath—long than that, technically-made him feel foul enough—he couldn't imagine going _weeks_ like had in his dreams without a shower. He opened his brown eyes with a disturbed grimace at the shuffle of Misty's clicking heels brushing against carpeted floors.

Ash watched her carry in a box of assorted goods and sat up in his bed, even though he didn't want to. _A nap would have been nice_ , he thought.

"What's all of this?" He asked, thumbing the edge of box as she dropped it onto the foot of his bed. Misty swat his hand away, to which he placed it against his chest, pouting.

"Supplies." She suggested objectively. Stepping back, she stripped off her tan jacket and tossed it over his short dresser across from his bed while he tucked one of his legs up underneath his thigh and snooped into the box. Her red, long sleeved shirt came into view as she maneuvered through the box to reveal a plastic kit with an assortment of bottles in it, as well as a mesh scrubber.

"What's that?" He questioned as Misty then took out a pair of scissors, and his stomach flipped at her awkward silence. She sniffled, calmly revealing a towel, and much to his surprise a few changes of clothes that _were not_ hospital scrubs.

"I already said it. Supplies." She reiterated and then snapped the scissors at him.

"...Okay, _those_ are supplies, but _what_ are those for?" he asked with a gulp while tugging on his collar. Misty grinned.

"Don't you want to cut your hair?" She murmured with quirked eyebrows. Ash brushed his hand against his short pony tail and shook his head very slowly.

"..err.." He _knew_ that at some point _this_ would come up, but he wasn't exactly sure that he wanted Misty to cut his hair. It was still messy but his bangs had long since grown out, and the natural poof of his hair was neatly wrapped into the tight wrap of the tie in his hair.

"I thought they said there was a salon here..." He grimaced worriedly, unable to look away from the silver sheers.

Misty pursed her lips; "Do _you_ have fifty dollars for a trim I could make in thirty seconds?" She muttered, and he cleared his throat awkwardly. That was the problem _thirty seconds_ was all she needed.

"Well, no...but.."

"Then it's decided." Misty grinned at him and his eyebrows lowered as she approached him, and then with one short snip; the pony tail separated from the rest of his hair. He eyed the dead hair once she wiggled it away from his shoulders, and dropped it flaccid into the palms of his hand. He could feel the weight off his head, and exhaled slightly, watching the strands of his black hair. Distracted, he didn't notice that she snatched up another lump of his hair and cut again.

He shuddered.

"Misty, what are you doing!?" he shrieked, hand rising to the knot she just cut out. She pouted her pink lips and blinked coldly at him.

"Cutting your hair." She said flatly.

"I thought you were just cutting the pony tail!" He panicked causing Misty's eyes to roll. She followed it with a subjective grin and lowered eyelashes as she ran her fingers over his scalp. He relaxed at the motion.

"Don't be a baby. Your hair will be easier to take care of when it's shorter." She brushed her hand through the long strands carefully and cut again, several times, this time without a fight from the boy below her.

"Besides-new place, new you." She said, "And I've cut your hair before. It's not a big issue." She added as an after thought. Ash blushed due to embarrassment as he listened to the careful snip of his hair.

"You've cut my hair before?" He questioned, speaking through tight lips.

"Yeah, when you first landed yourself into a coma, I cut it every time I visited." Speaking, she pulled on his scalp a little, lifting the top strands of his hair cutting them shorter, a messy, rough cut.

Ash chuckled nervously. "Why?"  
"Your mom said that I could," She grinned slightly, cutting his bangs into shape. "And, I was like thirteen, so you were just a glorified barbie doll back then."

His face turned scarlet. "You didn't dress me or anything, did you?"

"No, but I painted your nails occasionally." She chuckled lightly, watching as he pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb ad index finger.

"...Misty..." he grumbled hopelessly, rubbing his hot cheeks and shaking his head. The faintest smile still pressed over his lips.

In the mean time, she had heaped a neat pile of his jet black hair into the trash bin beside his night stand, having cut the hair into a spiky mess that fell above his shoulders. With his hair short, it had a natural volume to it, and aside from the lack of a good wash, it poked off his head a bit more naturally, and didn't look as stiff as a board as it had been the last few weeks. He looked like Ash Ketchum now, not Ash the coma patient. Misty rest the scissors on his bed, and dusted her hands off briefly before stalking off into his washroom to wash her hands wordlessly.

Seated on the bed, Ash touched his shortened hair, feeling where she had cut it shorter in the back—he probably needed a proper trim at some point but he thought this would work for now. Even though his face had taken on a permanent pinkish color, he felt more like himself when she reappeared, drying her hands on her jeans.

"Feel better?" She asked while returning her attention to the cardboard box she carried earlier. Her nonchalant nature once again pulled him back from his embarrassment, and he offered a weak smile.

"Yes, actually... so long as you didn't cut it into a bowl cut." He joked but she puckered her lips then smacked them before handing him the plastic container with bottles in it.

"It looks fine. You just need to wash it properly." She pointed at the kit, "That's yours." She added while fishing through the box once again. He held up the small container.

"Did the facility get me this?" He asked holding it up to her.

She shook her head, "No, I bought you that." She said while pulling out a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt from the box and dropped it over the towel she had set aside for the boy.

"The laundry department however, donated these." She started to empty out the box onto his bed, showing him several sets of sweat pants and jeans, a few flannel shirts, several plain white t-shirts and a few black and blue ones. She smiled at him and started to fold the pants and tuck them away into his dressers.

"All of those?" he asked, stunned.

"Yeah. I told them you didn't have anything to wear and the lady said that they had a box of donations." Misty grimaced while she folded a set of jeans in particular that had several rips in the knee and smiled weakly. "They're not the best... but it beats hospital scrubs, right?"  
Ash nodded vehemently and blinked up at her, turning his gaze back to the shower supplies she had bought him.

"But why did you buy this?" He questioned, popping open the lid of the container, immediately being blasted with the smell of musky, woody scents. He coughed slightly choking on the fragrance.

She pointed at him accusingly. "When you were in the hospital, you were _not_ responsible for the fact that you smelled awful, so I let it slide." Having snapped, she returned to her business of folding clothes.

"Now you don't have an excuse." she added sheepishly.  
"I did not smell awful." he denied, the rosy color returning to his cheeks. Misty raised her eyebrows and folded her arms as she leaned up against the dresser matter-of-fact.

"Really? You exercised everyday and how many times did you have a shower?" Her voice pitched in a way to emphasis her words.

Ash gnawed on his bottom lip and then shifted his gaze away from her awkwardly. The answer was few, and _very_ far in between; but like she had said, it wasn't _his_ fault.

"So," She approached him once more, taking out a spray from the kit she had given him. Twisting the bottle between her fingers while Ash watched skeptically, she eyed him deviously before quirking her eye brows.

"...what?" He asked, only she replied by squirting him a few times, much to his chagrin. Surprised, he fell backwards, covering his face while she sprayed him several more times for emphasis. Laughter bellowed from his chest as he wriggled under the heavy scent.

"Now that you have the opportunity to _shower_ I don't want to _smell_ your body odor!" She choked through laughter as he flailed his arms defenselessly.

"Stop, stop!" He wailed gleefully, holding back his roaring laughter as to peek open one eye to stare at her. He rocketed forward and snatched the spray bottle out of her hand and stuffed it back into the pack she bought him.

"I smell like I bathed in it." he groaned, lifting his scrub top to his nose.  
"But you smell _better_." She retorted wistfully. Ash cocked his jaw, but couldn't find it in himself to stay mad. Instead, he looked down at the hand me down clothes that she brought to him, and the kit and scrunched up his face uncomfortably—gratefully.

"I think I might go for that shower now, actually." Ash murmured, looking up to the bathroom.

"Yeah, probably not a bad idea." Misty added while pulling out a few hangers from the wardrobe by the window and quickly hanging up the five or six shirts that were donated to him.

 **xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox**

Ash felt more like himself with every passing day.

Arguably, one could suggest that Ash didn't really know _who_ he was, given that his entire _life_ and personality was make-believe; mostly a point made by his therapist, but Ash felt _human_ again. Within the first week of being at the facility, his body didn't creak every time he moved, sleep was mostly painless, and while exercise was still a daily routine, it didn't wind him quite like it used to. He had a ways to go, but he was there; constantly moving forward.

He exhaled, tugging on a red and black flannel shirt-tucking it into a pair of ripped jeans. His hair had taken a much more natural spike to it, one that suited his preferences much more than a pony tail—but the flannel was something he had to get used to. He tugged on the final button at his neck and shuddered. Ash looked like a cowboy; all he needed was the boots and a hat, and he could sell it to anyone.

According to Misty, it was a 'nice' look on him; though, he would argue with her until he was blue in the face. Up until today, Ash hadn't worn the flannel shirt the whole week he was in the assisted living home, he opted the sweat pants and t-shirts—things that were easy to run and exercise in, far more than the torn jeans and stiff fabric of the red and black shirt. His gaze shifted to the blue vase that rested on his nightstand—it had fresh yellow lilies on the inside, courtesy of Misty—and his eyes filled with an amount of sadness.

 _That_ was happening today.

Misty told him yesterday evening of her plans, and while he tried to play it off as indifference, he was quite the opposite. Ash should not have been surprised, _he_ knew at some point this would come up—it was not like he and Misty were anything more than friends-they were _barely_ that. She wasn't even family: she had her own home to get back to. That didn't curb his slump, though.

Ash did not need help everyday, or someone to watch his back anymore; he was allowed to go for walks on his own, had a satisfactory mental stability check that allowed for him to _be on his own_ without constant surveillance. He was simply in the process of regaining his basic strengths and perfecting his motor skills at this point—mixed with the weekly visit from his therapist. Misty did not _need_ to visit him anymore. He exhaled sharply, thinking about how he would be spending his days alone—or trying to talk with other residents of the facility—the latter of which was a challenge even on his best days. Caught up in his own thoughts, he had not noticed that Misty walked into his room after a faint knock.

Misty's eyebrows lifted upon seeing his attire and she could only scoff and shake her head. Very rarely had he made any attempt to look nice—so it was a bit flattering to know that he tried today of all days. Mischievously, she carefully took her phone out of her back pocket, and flipped over to the camera and pointed it at him.

"Hey, Ash." She said abruptly, cutting his attention short as he spun around with a look of alteration. A flash and bemused Ash later, Misty was left giggling.

"Really?" He questioned, rubbing his sore eyes clear of the bright white light of the flash.

"You look nice." She muttered, holding the phone up for him to see his image—in stark contrast with how he started, he looked a million times better—and taller. Had he always been so tall? He blinked and then before he could start building his own ego, Misty snapped the phone away and tucked it back into her pocket.

"Thanks." he offered awkwardly, unsure of how present himself.

"Well, I talked with the physical therapist." She said, catching his shifting gaze. "She said that you should be good to go in about a month if you keep at your current recovery pace."

His smile up-turned, and Misty sighed; this was the first reason she had to leave: he never asked questions himself, he always relied on her to ask them for him.

"Only a month? So that will be late October then?" He asked, glancing over at his calender; a wash of satisfaction, and then another of intense fear lapsed into his chest—he knew not to pester Misty with the latter, however.

"Yeah, right around Halloween." She peeled off her tan jacket and lapped it over the arm rest on a chair, and then raised her eyebrows playfully; "Hey, maybe you're not too old to go trick-or-treating." She joked while sliding into the blue chair that a nurse had lent to her to sit in Ash's room. She wore a blue tank-top beneath a sheer white, long sleeved blouse, and a pair of black tights, matched with her knee high boots. Ash blinked up at her appearance, recognizing it as the first outfit he saw her in, but chose not to say anything.

"I wasn't allowed to go trick-or-treating when I _was_ a kid, so I doubt it." He joked instead, sitting on his bed while Misty crossed one knee over the other.

With an eyebrow raise that matched the tilt of her head, she asked; "Your mom never let you go?"

"Pallet Town was really small back then—the mayor would throw a Halloween party that most of the town would attend. My mom always ran the buffet tables, so I spent my Halloweens helping out." He suggested sadly while curling his fingers into the bed sheets. Misty shot her gaze downward, and twisted her lips slightly.

"You really miss her, don't you?" Misty asked, touching on a subject that was otherwise left alone. Ash shifted uncomfortably.

"...It's a little weird, huh? I mean, I haven't seen her, not really, in over ten years and yet..." He stammered off, staring once again at the yellow lilies. White light poured in from the window, and pressed against his back to warm him, but he felt chilled.

"It's not weird Ash." Misty retorted confidently, reassuringly. "She's your mom, you're allowed to miss her... Besides, I'm sure that once you guys do meet again, it will be fine."

Ash looked up at her with beady, pathetic looking eyes and then exhaled painfully.

"I can't believe _your_ leaving, too." He accused with a playful tone and grin, but the underlying pain was there. Misty shot him a sad grin in return.

"I can't sleuth off my duties as a gym leader anymore, the league will start to get pissed at me." She grumbled, hooking her fingers around her purse and drawing the bag into her lap carefully.

"I suppose." Ash muttered, pursing his lips. "It's just going to be weird, is all."  
"You'll be better before you know it." Misty assured him, and then from her bag she removed an oval about the size of her head. Ash blinked seeing the pale egg and lowered his eyebrows.

"What's that?"

"A gift. Well, sort of." Misty muttered and tossed her bag against the floor and stood up, approaching Ash with her hands outstretched around the object. She took a seat beside him, the waft of woody scents rather than body odor placating her nose. She then then put the egg in front of him, offering it to him.

"An egg?" Ash questioned, looking from the egg to Misty, and then back at the egg with a tilt of his head.

"Yeah, a pokemon egg. It's for you." She wobbled the egg in front of Ash, and he very, very slowly scooped the egg from her touch and inhaled at the sudden weight of the life in his hands. Misty dusted her fingers together and he inhaled, bringing it slowly to his lap as he brushed his fingers along the rough patches.

"I figured that since I wont be around, and you haven't made any friends—this will give you something to do in your spare time when you're not 'reading'..." Misty suggested, thoughtfully. Ash inhaled and then glanced at her—she was always so brutally honest. 'that he hasn't made any friends'. He shifted his gaze away from her and inhaled slightly.

"That's very thoughtful, but..."

"No buts you're accepting it." She half demanded, crossing her arms.

"But why?" Ash laughed slightly, nervously.

"Because if you know you have the responsibility of something else, you won't do anything stupid." She confirmed harshly, staring into his eyes. Ash turned his gaze back around at her, his eyebrows lowered. So she still didn't _trust_ him alone. He looked away, he didn't exactly blame her, though.

He tried his best to grin, but the overwhelming depression hung over him; had she only stuck around because she thought that he would decide to give up? Over the last couple of days, she had been around less and less, and Ash could feel himself drain a little. However, he rubbed the top of the egg and exhaled.

"I'll take good care of it." he offered confidently, and Misty raised her eyes and smiled.

Misty shrugged positively and stood up. "Good, because you don't have a valid pokemon license so it's still technically mine, and I don't want it to be dead when I come to pick it up in a month."

"What?" he squeaked, seeing her devious grin for the first time, a pink blush covered his cheeks.

"I said, I'll be back for it in a month." She mused, placing her hands on her hips happily, and finally knocking out Ash's depression from his eyes. He stood up, albeit quickly, and Misty almost jumped out of her skin watching the way he nearly dropped the egg.

"Be careful!" She shrieked as he pulled it up into his arms. Misty was not used to Ash being so active—for the last two months, he was barely managing to walk, let alone stand up with a start.

"I will, don't freak out." He muttered through puffed cheeks as his eyes feel shut to smile.

"I swear to... If you..." She yammered but then sighed in defeat. Misty already gave it away, she couldn't very well take it back. Instead, she tramped back over to her purse, revealed a small, spiral note book and scribbled a few names and numbers onto the paper. Ash watched her with a questioning gaze as she spun back around and ripped the parchment out with one swoop.

"What's this?" He asked as she held out the names and numbers to him.

"That's my contact information. The first one is my cell number—which if you do call, call that one. The second one is the gym; only call that one if it is an emergency and you can't reach me—otherwise you will probably get one of my sisters and they're a bit..."

Ash grinned, "strange." He finished and Misty shrugged her shoulders amazingly.

"That's not the word I would use to describe them, but yes. _Strange_." She muttered watching as Ash tucked the note away into his back pocket.

An awkward silence filled the space between them, neither adult knowing exactly what to say to the other. Misty inhaled first, but Ash, as he ran his hand through his shortened hair, looked down at the egg, shifted his feet uneasily.

Beating her to the punching he opened his mouth first; "I know we weren't really close in this world, Mist." He spoke accidentally dropping her nickname which brought her attention directly his his eyes, which were cast downward, "and I know you didn't have to stick around—but..."

He closed his eyes happily, an earnest smile pulling on his lips as he faced her; "I really appreciate everything that you've done. Thank you."

Misty blushed, one of the first Ash caused the girl, and she smiled sweetly in return. "I'm sure if the roles were reversed, you would have done the same." She assured him, but Ash's deflated shoulders and scratch of his neck told her otherwise.

"I would have tried." He grumbled, a bit embarrassed—unsure if he could have the same patience and maturity as she did with him.

She pat him on the upper arm and shrugged slightly; "Don't sell yourself short."

He glanced down at her palm against his briefly, and then forced his eyes back to hers. Physical touch was still abnormal for Ash.

"So... what now?"

"Well, since you're settled in, I guess I'll see you in a month?" She offered, taking a few steps away from him. He inhaled slightly, his chest rising.

"I'm going to miss you." he paused, averting awkwardness by adding with a chuckle; "Who is going to bring my morning coffee, now?"

Misty slapped him hard on the chest for that, causing him to fumble backwards and hold tighter around the egg cradled in his left arm. They laughed.

"You never drank them anyways." She crooned through the bitter-sweet moment.

Worriedly, she looked up at his eyes, her sea-green ones reflected sincerity through them; "Are you sure you're going to be alright?"

"I'll be fine. I can take care of myself." He assured her, turning to place the egg gently against his pillow—he would need to find some blankets to wrap it in later.

"Says the boy who electrocuted himself." she said slyly, he rolled his eyes.

"I didn't do it on purpose." He muttered halfheartedly.

They turned at one another, breath hitching in his throat; Misty's was released in a sigh.

"So I guess this is goodbye?" Ash gloomily queried.

"I guess so, but I'll be back... and besides," She pointed at the wired telephone beside his bed. "If you ever get lonely, Psyduck is available all hours of the day."  
Ash smacked his lips assertively and shook his head with a grin forming around pink cheeks. His tan skin had returned, if only slightly, and he could only chuck at her forwardness.

"I'll remember that." He offered playfully, kicking his foot against his rug. Misty nodded slowly, looping her thumbs into her pockets before rolling her eyes and dashing forward at him. She threw out her arms briefly, and much to his astonishment, she brought them around his back.

Misty hugged him, and his arms went up in surprise. Such a brief motion, he could only smell the flowery perfume for a moment, and then the heat was gone and she was standing away from him with a cheery smile. He blinked at her.

"I guess we will see what you're like in a month." she pointed at him while slowly backing away. She scooped up her tan jacket and tossed it up over her shoulders, tying the knot around her waist lightly before shouldering her bag. Ash had not moved from his location, and Misty twisted her waist to smile back at him.

"See you around, Ash." She waved at him, turning to leave. He waved back only briefly with an awestruck gaze. The moment she was out of view, however, his entire body surged with life, and his heart pounded back in his chest like a racer; he jogged to his door and cupped his mouth.

"Thanks for everything!" he called, getting a very Misty toss-wave in return as she slipped on her sun glasses at the same time. Ash inhaled, letting his shoulders fall as a few nurses glanced at him as he returned to his bed. Taking a look around his otherwise empty room, he spotted her red scarf still hanging against his wardrobe, shifting very gently with the breeze provided by the cracked window. It was like a scar in his otherwise neutral colored room, and he came to it before his body knew what it was doing.

Carefully, his fingers touched the soft fabric, and then brought the scarf down into the palms of his hands where he eyed the outside world. He could see the patio dinning area from his bed room, where a few older women smoked cigarettes and gossiped about their jobs. Beyond that, the forest lumbered high around wooden fences, and he could see the path that led directly to the open road—A yellow taxi swooshed beyond the fence line, and if only for a moment, he could see the range of her red hair inside.

She was really gone.

He inhaled the clean forest air, and looked down once again at the scarf, thumbing the fabric until he stood up to bring it back to his bed. Seating himself beside the egg, he used the borrowed scarf to wrap the egg into a cocoon and then sighed.

Ash _knew_ he had to learn to cope with being alone, that a large part of her leaving—whether she would ever admit it to him or not—Ash relied too heavily on the girl. He was getting better everyday, but only within the confounds of her unintentional grasp. He didn't need to talk with his doctors, or nurses, or really anyone else at the facility, because he always managed to convince Misty to do it for him—not because he _couldn't_ but because he simply...

Wasn't ready to.

With her gone now, she was pushing him to take the next steps to independence. He had to be able to take care of himself; arguably, maybe that was what he needed the most—to be pushed. He inhaled, watching the deadening egg with confident eyes. He could do this. When they met again, he would be three hundred times better than he was today; he hoped. Ash would be ready to take on the world again—he would be able to answer all of the questions he had created for himself about this world, and he would start fresh.

"See you soon..." He added sullen, brushing the egg with his fingertips.

 **Author's Note:**

Wasn't going to ask this originally; but, ideas are most welcome—what should the egg be if/when it hatches? I had a few ideas, but its one of the few things up in the air for this story because there are _so_ many. So, I'm asking what you guys think! Since it came from Misty, it would only make sense that it would be a johto/kanto pokemon; but if you can provide a most excellent justification of your selection, maybe we will see.

Sorry for the sort-of-late chapter, I was sick. Thanks for all the reviews

NINT


	8. Chapter 8: Separation

**Locked Away, Chapter 8: I could not enter**

As Ash had suspected, Misty's departure had caused a brief conflict of interest. The day following her departure, he laid in bed through his morning exercises. Today was a struggle. Morning came the same way as it always had, the daunting morning rays blasting him in the face as they rose over the horizon. His room was in direct line with the sun rise, so he was never able to sleep in. Once the light hit his face, he was up. He was awake, living, breathing, thinking...

He just didn't _want_ to get up today.

It was already 8:00am, typically, Misty would have arrived around 7:00am and Ash would have woken at 6:00am, when the sun was first pouring forth from his window. However, today Ash had not touched his morning news paper, or even the magazines that Misty left him—no, he laid curled up in his bed, face meshed into a pillow. As a recovering coma patient, he was allowed _one_ day to vegetate, right? Even if it was pathetic. He tried to imagine what Misty would say to him—for the first time in weeks imagining _this_ Misty's voice instead of his.

"Get out of bed!" She would say, "We have a lot to do today!" She would yell, even if they didn't have anything to do. In reality, she had never needed to wake Ash; he was always a self starter. Why should today be any different?

So Ash pulled himself forward, allowing the blankets to fall around his waist; with a sigh, he rubbed his eyes and shifted his legs over the edge of the bed, letting his bare feet press against the tan office carpet. It was an improvement from tile, but he still didn't like the professional feel of it. He would much have preferred his mother's shag carpet back at home—the one he berated, and hated, most of his childhood.

It was funny how that worked; the longer he was awake, the less he could recall from his dream world, and the more he remembered about his _real_ life. Things that never mattered—the way that he and Gary were _never_ friends; how often they used to fight over _everything_. The way his mom had dressed up every morning spraying lilac perfumes before she would head into the market for work. He spent a lot of time alone as a child. With his mom working a normal five days a week job, eight hours a day; Ash would spend his time playing at Professor Oak's lab, or playing in the forest leading into route one, or by classic tradition, fighting with Gary.

Briefly he wondered about Professor Oak and Gary, if there was some way to get a hold of them? He hadn't thought about it before, but they would know where Delia was; they were the closet he had to a _real_ family, after all. Ash sucked in and exhaled. Perhaps his perception of his mother in his dreams was his way of giving the woman a break. She never seemed to work in his world; always had money for the house, and seemed to always have a green garden. In his world, his mother was on a perfect vacation all the time—he wondered now if she had to work twice as hard to pay for his hospital bills. Ash groaned as he shifted his gaze to the window, where he could see the highest leaves of the forest trees changing into a shade of yellow.

The seasons, he found, were the most absent of his dreams. While regions had places that were snow covered, hot deserts and muggy forests—the weather itself never seemed to change unless it rained, and even then, full seasons seemed to completely remain non existent. He didn't know when summer was, or winter, or fall; everything sort of just happened in nice weather, except when plot drove him otherwise. According to his therapist, his weather beliefs were a reflection of his life—sunny weather meant he was mentally happy, rain and discomfort reflected his body's depression.

Ash almost forgot how cold fall was in Kanto, the start of winter stripping the world of its green luster, and replacing the world with a hibernation. Wild pokemon hid in caves for the winter seasons, and those that could survive the cold, did so carefully. Ash couldn't remember it snowing very often in the southern region, but he remembered the frigid temperature drops.

Shivering, he had left his window open over night, and stalked over to push it closed before fetching an outfit from the wardrobe. Behind the wooden doors of the small closet, nestled in the warmth of Misty's scarf and a few of his shirts—including the one that he wore yesterday, was the egg that Misty had given him. Habitually, he brushed his fingers over the smooth surface to assure that the egg was staying warm. Feeling the heat press into his finger tips, he hummed gently to himself, trying to put the memory of pikachu out of his mind while he grabbed his clothes for the day. He missed the small mouse pokemon most of all. While Misty's gift was thoughtful and provoked him to take care of something other than himself, it was also a painful reminder that pikachu was not here and mostly likely—Ash swallowed—would never be again. Stiffing the thought, he ran the palm of his hand against the rough shell of the egg, and then covered it entirely with the scarf to keep it warm. He then pulled out a simple blue t-shirt, and black sweat pants. The days were much, much easier if he didn't think about pikachu.

That's what he missed the most about the undefinable red-head. When Misty was around, he had little time to think for himself, what time wasn't filled with routine was filled with her stories—specifically ones about how the world operated. When she wasn't talking about water pokemon and the students she handled at the gym, she was talking about politics; even though Ash didn't really seem to understand them. Without her persistent story telling, he would need to find something else to fill his spare time—and he wasn't sure burying himself in a book would entertain him an entire _month_.

Ash pushed towards the washroom, shuffling across his floor like a thoughtless zombie, and made his way into the small area, shutting the door behind him. He lapped his clean clothes off the hook behind the door and stretched as he removed his white pajama t-shirt. Ash found that the longer he slept, the more often his every solution became 'pokemon'; if he didn't understand how it worked, he made up a way in his head. The first was the exuberant ideals that there was no exceeding government; there were police, hospitals, banks—really everything that required a government, but his world seemed to work without politics. That wasn't the case in the _real_ world, as Misty had so eagerly told him a million times—mentioning not once, but twice, that raising pokemon without a license and before the age of ten was a felony housed by years in juvy or prison. In Ash's world, every other young person he met had a pokemon before the age of ten! He sighed.

Truthfully, Ash tried to stay out of politics as much as possible, as they not only confused him, he never knew who was being honest, and who was a liar. Worst of all, the regions ran sort of like an oligarchy—the elite-four of each region were like the senate—public figures in the media. The regional champion was like the governor—they made and enforced the rules via the police, and most of the regions services derived from their publicity, tournaments, jobs, farming etc. The Regional champion, working with the Elite-four, were the political power that manned and operated a regions government duties; supplying jobs, and opportunity. Above them was what Misty called "the higher ups", a group of known "Pokemon Masters" that have ran the League for years; they were the people in charge of all of the regions champions as well as Elite Fours, keeping all of the leagues and different regions unified under one figure head. Every once in awhile, a regional champion would campaign to replace a member of 'the higher-up' by advertising and challenging them to battle for the title of "Pokemon Master". Ash didn't think it was fair that only regional champions were allowed the position, and Misty couldn't disagree with him. Below the Elite-four were the gym leaders, or as Misty lovingly called them; the 'scapegoats'.

Ash turned the shower water on, running his fingers through his hair as he started to remove his pants. Misty's way of describing the election method was "idiocy at its best". When Ash asked her what she meant by that, she had only described the method of electing leaders of the regions was superficial and medieval. He could hear her voice in his head.

" _The best gym leaders become part of the Elite-Four— if a gym leader wants to become a member of the Elite-Four, replace a former member, they have to put in an application, go through a set of tests and then a silent vote is cast amongst said region's remaining gym leaders, other regions Elite-four members, and the regional champion. They decide who replaces an old member; but the whole situation is screwed because the only people eligible for the title are gym leaders; this means that the same people can have power for years. The only person who is subject to change whenever is the regional champion when a winner of the pokemon league, a 'league champion', challenges the Elite Four; and once he or she defeats them, they can then challenge the reigning regional champion for his position; and if they win, the title and power changes to this new person."_

Ash seemed amazed by her spiel the first time she said it; his only question he could think of being: _"What if someone bad beat the regional champion?"_

 _"Then the Elite-Four are allowed to technically over-throw them and kick him or her out, or, the 'higher ups' step in and remove the regional champion by any means necessary; for that to happen, though, the Elite-Four and the higher-ups have to be uncorrupted, and if you'd ask me; they're not. We base our beliefs of this system on the old-idea that a pokemon trainer can only win the title of regional champion if they share a true bond with their pokemon—and most people, stupid people, believe that to share a bond strong enough to beat the best—you have to be good and pure of heart. Like I said, it's a stupid set up that completely isolates other trainers who aren't battlers from ever being in a position of power—which make some walks of life—anyone who isn't a pokemon battler, per-say, very angry."_  
As Ash crawled into the steaming water, he remembered the look of complete detest over her features while she threw up her arms in aggravation—the can of worms he had opened was endless, and quite humorous. He pressed his head against the shower wall in memory, and squeezed his eyes shut as the liquid trailed down his back.

" _Gym leaders are supposed to be these leading officials in each large city to maintain the peace.. but it's to the point that being a gym leader is synonymous with being a police officer but instead of managing criminals we're supposed to manage ten year old kids and pissed off riots. With the exception of battlers, the community that used to revere and respect gym leaders now consider us corrupt and detrimental to society because we weren't voted in—we were given our positions from the Elite-Four, who also weren't voted in, and we are expected to...just..."_ She had exhaled, turning to face Ash as if she had just went off on a rampage and was embarrassed,

 _"Were just the whipping boys for the damn pokemon league. There's a problem? Send in a gym leader! Obviously they know what they're doing!_ "  
 _"..So why do you stay a gym leader?"  
"It's not exactly something you just abandon; besides, my sisters and I have been the gym leaders since my parents owned the gym before us, back when being a gym leader was simply that; helping trainers, taking in students, raising pokemon... to just up and leave would be like leaving home..."_ Ash could remember the way her face scrunched up heatedly, frustrated by even mentioning her position as a gym leader. Obviously, it wasn't everything she made it out to be—even if she said she loved it before.

 _"It doesn't matter who the gym leader is, we don't really have any authority or say in what happens; that's why it's so damn easy for me to 'vacation' like this. People hold us accountable like we're greater than the mayor of our towns, but we're no different than other trainers, we're just treated specially and it makes me sick. Acting for the league shouldn't be synonymous with running the rest of the world's operations-Especially since that incident with Giovanni._ "

" _..Incident with Giovanni?_ " Ash had questioned her; hearing only briefly about the incident via the news.

Misty's face fell automatically, _"That's a story for another time."_ Misty told Ash sadly, unable to make eye contact. Her rant died after that, as if he had opened a fresh wound at the mention of Giovanni. He knew that Giovanni was the Team Rocket leader from both his dreams, and the television; an oddity to recall such an event. Giovanni supposedly gave up after a short battle with the Kanto Elite Four, and was sentenced life in prison for a list longer than Ash could ever hope to remember. Ash grimaced while washing his dark hair, inhaling the woodsy scent of the shampoo Misty bought him.

Giovanni being a gym leader, he could only imagine how much scrutiny remaining gym leaders were put under—were they working along side him? Did they know? These were the questions Ash _knew_ Misty must have been pestered with because it wasn't something other gym leaders were shy about discussing on national television. Though, Ash thought that Misty seemed extra reclusive about the subject, trying extremely hard to keep Ash out of the loop. As he rinsed and washed his body, he couldn't help but think that maybe the reason Misty never wanted to talk about it was because she hadn't quite coped with it herself. From the way that she talked, she knew all of the gym leaders fairly decently, and if she and Giovanni were friends...

Turning off the water, Ash's fingers raked through his freshly cut hair—one of the most dominant reminders of Misty. When he pulled open the shower curtain, he looked at himself in the mirror for the first time that day and exhaled sharp. In the mist, he almost looked like his former ten year old self, albeit, slightly taller. Grabbing his blue towel off the rack, he wrapped his torso before stepping over the lip of the shower and onto the small bath rug. He was taller, yes, at least as tall, or slightly taller than Misty, depending on which shoes that she was wearing on that particular day. But that was only the second biggest change in his image—the first was _everything else_. His bone structure was different, his shoulders broader, his chest wider though, having been comatose for ten years, his physical therapist did mention that he might be stunted height wise, but he felt huge in comparison to what he _used_ to look like. His bones almost seemed to big for his skin. At the start of his recovery, he felt like a shambled mess—but now, he was beginning to feel more human, like a big human, but human none-the-less.

Along with physical attributes, there were the _scars_ that were growing more present as the days grew longer. Ash didn't notice them right away, he even neglected to mention them to anyone who did bring them up—but his arms and stomach around his abdomen were fitted with multiple scars.

While he never asked the specific reasons that they were there—he could only assume that the tiny pinpricks decorating his left arm were the reminder of how many IVs were pressed through his skin over the years, how his ill body couldn't produce the proper enzymes to heal the open wounds. Honestly, he thought he looked like a heroin addict upon closer examination of the marks. His right arm wasn't any better, he had tiny holes all along his veins—where they took blood. Only when his skin was transparent, it wasn't as much of an issue—now that the peach color returned, they were like unintentional bee stings. He hated needles, and he was sure that the reason why was because of the constant prodding they provided him when he was asleep. He always wondered what those small jots of pain were when he was in his dream world—now he knew.

His stomach was another matter—surgical scars: he could tell by the precision accuracy that they portrayed, the way that each line was sliced perfectly. Ash wasn't clear on the whole life support thing, but he was pretty sure that he had undergone some exploratory surgery at some point to make sure that nothing else was adhering his recovery aside from his own brain. Tracing his fingers along the neatly healed scars, he exhaled and flexed his abs. Before, his stomach was simply tissue holding together his organs, now, he felt something solid—muscle—when he pressed his fingers against his stomach. Sure, he wasn't anywhere _near_ a six pack, but he was far from the concave walking skeleton that he was at the start of this recovery process.

Ash was better. Much better. He let his towel drop carelessly to the floor as he pulled on his trousers, trying his hardest to forget _other_ parts of his body that had changed as well. There were still some things he couldn't even explain with words that confused him, and while the physical therapists tried to push the issue occasionally—Ash was perfectly comfortable never discussing anything of _that_ specific caliber _ever._ Pressing his face close to the mirror to view the z-shaped birth marks that were so prominent in his dreams were now only a faint reminder of his childhood—like all birth marks and scars, they seemed to mostly fade away, only visible in certain lights.

 _Twenty years old, huh_ Ash thought, doing a once over of his body—he looked older—so different—but himself. He didn't always look in the mirror in fear of what he would see there. The image staring back at him did not feel like _him_. Not yet, anyways.

 _Knock knock_

A tapping at the bathroom door pulled Ash from his thoughts. Most likely, a nursing assistant was rapping on his door to ask why he hadn't gone to breakfast that morning.

"Just a minute." Ash called quietly, unfamiliar with the nurse coming for him. Typically, Misty was here, so they would tell her, and she would relay the message to Ash once he was done with what ever he was doing at the time. Ash hummed slightly, tugging his blue t-shirt over his head all in one swift movement while pulling open the bathroom door. It swung open with a start, staring back at him was a yellow-haired woman with big brown eyes and her hair tied back in a bun. She wore a simple set of scrubs and sucked in air at the image before her.

Her face flushed as she spoke; "The therapist from the hospital, Dr. Sebastian, he is here to see you."

"Oh, wonderful." Ash remarked sarcastically with an eye roll. "That's today. I almost forgot."

"...yeah." She shifted her weight between her feet while Ash's eyes darted to the window, as if asking himself why the nurse was still here.

"I'm Mary. It's nice to meet you."

"Hi Mary." Ash muttered gawky, unsure if he should offer to shake her hand or awkwardly walk away. He chose the latter as he moved around her and towards his dresser for a pair of socks and his sweater.

"It's pretty cool how you know the Cerulean City gym leader..." She twiddled her fingers, eyes cast downward, though her interest in Misty perked his otherwise occupied attention.

"You mean Misty? What about it?" Ash asked gleefully, having almost forgotten that gym leaders were better known in this world than in his.

"Oh, you're on a first name basis." Her face flushed more and she partially fanned herself before bringing her fingers to her her chest and resting them there. "She's got a reputation, her and her sisters—she's really friendly in person, even though people say she has a mean streak."

Her words caused Ash to laugh while he pulled his sweater over his shoulders, shaking his head with disbelief. So she could be mean after all. He was almost starting to believe that wasn't possible in this world's Misty. She was always so friendly with him, and the staff—except his nosy therapist. Ash sighed while Mary pressed her palms together.

"Have you two been friends long?" She gestured towards him while his brows scrunched up and he pulled on his socks. That was right, the staff at the assisted living home didn't know Ash's predicament, that he was a coma patient—just that he was enrolled in physical therapy. He sighed, a breath of fresh air at the uncommon knowledge and grinned at Mary.

"Not really..." Ash replied honestly, albeit sadly.

"Then why did she stay so long" The girl suddenly snapped and Ash raised his eyebrows.

"...Are you a fan or something...?" Ash blinked in confusion at the suddenly very angry nurse, but he didn't have time to pester her as the cold clack of heels pressed against his doorway before walking in uninvited.

"Hmm, it's a bit smaller than I imagined." The therapist, in his cold, uncouth demeanor narrated as he entered Ash's room; he exhaled as Mary shuddered and bowed her way out of the room without needing to be told. Ash scowled at the appearance of the man. He always wore a black suit with a blue and red tie to match his already cold features. As if making him look more like a villain than his personality, he had a goatee to match his perfectly combed hair and beady, gleaming glasses.

"Hey Sebastian." Ash announced, finding it impossible to place 'doctor' before a man such as him. The improper association didn't seem to fluster the man, however. He ran his leather clad fingers against the surface of Ash's dresser and inhaled.

"I see the gym leader finally left." He responded coolly and Ash felt a pang of anger rise in his chest.

"You mean Misty." Ash corrected coldly, wishing that he hadn't needed to deal with his therapist.

"...of course." the man muttered in return, slapping out his chart and scribbling what ever nonsense down. "And have you had breakfast yet this morning?"

"No, I'm just getting up." Ash offered while tying his sneakers on.

Dr. Sebastian raised an eyebrow. "At a quarter after ten?"

Ash's eyes shifted. "Yeah, so? It's still technically morning."

"...hmmp." he suggested before sitting in the same seat that Misty usually sat him. Ash grit his teeth together as the therapist wrote more down on his list—the thing that basically would determine if and when Ash would be allowed to leave. Ash barely got an okay to leave the hospital from the man—and the constant presence of his scratching pencil made Ash want to snap it over his head. Ash felt like he was always being graded on a scale from one to basket level insane; Ash was neither of those things and he certainly wasn't unstable—opposed to what was written on Ash's last mental evaluation.

If Ash wanted to leave in a month, he would have to follow the silly man's pestering questions and answer as vaguely as possible without drawing too much attention to anything—that's the advice Misty gave him. Yes and no answers were better than elaborating because Dr. Sebastian didn't seem to like Ash very much; or really, any of his patients.

"Do you often skip breakfast?"

"What" Ash snapped out of his thoughts, slumping onto his bed. "No! Of course not. I just wanted to sleep in today."

"And why is that?" the therapist paused. "Is it because the gym leader left? Are you feeling depressed again?"

 _Her name is Misty, damn it_. Ash swore before cracking his neck and exhaling—all of his sessions went like this, being accused instead of being helped—it seemed so unjustifiably wrong.

"No, I was just tired today." Ash spoke earnestly, hoping that would suffice as an answer.

"Lying is a key sign of denial—which is an early sign of depression." The therapist called Ash out, smacking his lips while he once again jot a few notes down on his clipboard; Ash could feel sweat build on the back of his neck, trying to will himself nerves of steel.

"A little bit then." Ash broke and bit down on his lip. "But I'm not depressed. It's normal to miss people when they're not around." he subjected, but the therapist once again followed with a sharp 'hmm' and scribbled more information down.

"The nurses say that you haven't been making any friends."

"I've only been here a week!" Ash snapped, getting an eyebrow raise from the therapist who wrote down that reaction, for sure.

"Random bouts of anger still, I see..."

 _Are you here to help me or assess me because I can't tell the difference!_ Ash almost shouted, but bit down hard on his tongue, knowing that he couldn't afford another rise.

"Sorry." Ash apologized quickly. "I have just been getting used to the new environment and everything, trying to focus on my energy and exercise... I'm just a little exhausted at the end of the day."

"I see..." the doctor paused. "Tell me about your time here thus far?"  
Ash thought twice about about telling him about the egg that Misty put him in charge of, or about the freedom to walk around the forest however much he wanted.

"It's been nice, the staff is friendly and the food isn't bad. There is a lot more sun here and occasionally I get to sit on the deck when the sun is out." Ash grumbled, keeping his eyes trained on the yellow lilies poking out of his blue vase. The therapist jot all of this information down, carefully writing each word Ash uttered—only, Ash had no idea if anything he was writing was good or not; apparently, he wrote a lot of bad things about Ash.

"And what about those dreams?"

"What about them? They weren't real." Ash snapped and pursed his lips.

"Correct, but talking about them is a way to move past them; which was the last story we talked about? Something about a darkrai?"

Ash eyed the therapist who was always so keen to talk about the pokemon Ash found, but not the fact that Ash created imaginary people to spend time with—imaginary people who weren't really imaginary.

"Actually, I wanted to talk about the people I traveled with." Ash muttered awkwardly, remembering that he and Misty agreed to bring up that his dream friends were actually real. The therapist appeared slightly agitated, clucking his tongue against his teeth and smiling curtly. Ash wasn't sure whether or not to bring it up with the man, but regardless, he did.

"Misty and I discovered that those people I traveled with, they all really exist in this world." Ash stammered, looking carefully at the man, the way his hand paused as he wrote, his face mixed with slight abrasive anger, and then melted into frustration. He forced the emotions back with a smile.

"So she has been feeding into your sub conscious thoughts." He marked this down quickly, and Ash knew right away by the tone of his voice that it was a _very bad_ note. "This could be a very serious problem, enabling your insanity.."

"I'm not insane! What's so wrong with checking?" Ahh, he knew he shouldn't have brought this up with his therapist after all.

"Because how are you so sure that they are who you thought they were? There is no viable way to address this, is there? It's not like they remember you; so why enable the idea that your dreams could have meant anything more than a barrier to keep you unconscious?"

Ash inhaled and exhaled, upset. If the word _hate_ was properly engraved in Ash's vocabulary, he would have used that now. He _hated_ this man. His cocky, verbose attitude and unjust way that he treated people. He wondered if other patients had the same issue with the man as Ash did.

"I know they weren't real..." Ash tried, but it only seemed to grind on the therapist's nerves.

"But do you? You're willing to accept that the people so easily existed without proper background research, you're obviously pulling at all hopes and strings to realize that your dreams truly meant something. We may need to file a restraining order against..." _Misty_. Ash's eyes wet wide.

"Get out." Ash stood up and pointed automatically at his door, pressing his feet down on the ground, solid. The therapist obviously didn't believe that Ash was serious, so he raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips. He took his glasses off and cleaned them, an action that made Ash want to take his glasses and throw them into the hallway; but instead, Ash crossed his arms and kept a keen eye on the therapist. This had gone too far.

"It's very important that people don't enable you during this weakened state of mind that-"

"She's the only friend I have and you want to put a restraining order on her? How does that help?" Ash snapped, half-shouting. He clenched his fists tightly and exhaled. "You sit here and tell me to _talk_ about my adventures, constantly reminding me of them when in fact it's easier when I _forget_ about them. I don't think you actually have any idea what the hell you're doing! Misty has helped me a million times more than you have!" He shouted catching the attention of the nurses—Mary, the one Ash had been introduced to before walked in to check on the situation.

Dr. Sebastian's glasses gleamed as he licked his lips. "It's a process..."  
"Yeah? It's a process that isn't working for me!" Ash practically screamed and threw up his arms. He settled down once the yellow haired female turned the corner. "Ah, Mary. Can you alert security for me, please?" He asked with a chaste smile, one that made Mary nod, turn and dart into the hallway.

"No, that won't be necessary." The therapist called after the girl, rising from his seat and adjusting his glasses. He smoothed out the wrinkles in his suit, standing a few inches taller than Ash, who even in his weakened state didn't back down from his comments.

"You do know you'll need me to verify your mental stability before you can leave this place..." He offered, to which Ash smirked and cocked his jaw.

"Is that a threat?" because it sure as hell sounded like one.

The therapist smirked, "No, it's a suggestion."

"You know what else is a suggestion?" Ash chimed, stepping closer to the doctor, his chest puffed up and shoulders high. "That you need to leave."

"This won't turn up well on your report..." he tried, feeling that he had one the argument.

"That's fine. I'll get a new therapist. I heard there's a good one at this facility." Ash paused, as if to let the words sink in. "Maybe I'll get re-assessed after all."

Chewing on his words, the therapist's jaw clenched and unclenched before he took a step back and exhaled.

"Alright, I'll transfer your reports." He slithered, words toxic and full of venom as he nodded to Ash, and without speaking further, stepped out of Ash's room ad out.

Ash could breath a sigh of relief for the first time, collapsing back onto his bed while he wrapped his fingers over his stomach. He was shaking; the spat with the man hopefully didn't leave Ash with a longer wait period than he wanted. That being said, he felt good about himself. Every time he spoke with the therapist, after hearing about Ash's dreams—they turned from his complete disbelief and disassociation with his dream state the first week, to constantly wanting to talk about them every other session; if Ash wasn't talking about pokemon, he wasn't getting a good review—even when Ash remained silent for all of two weeks, the only prompt goal that Dr. Sebastian would speak about was Ash's dreams. No mention of the people he traveled with aside from what they probably represented—so why were the _pokemon_ in his dream so damn important? According to Misty, most of them didn't even exist.

Ash sighed, slapping himself on the forehead for his last thought. 'according to Misty', he echoed, he placed too much emphasis on the female. Even now, the real set off during his session was the implication that Misty wasn't holding Ash's best interests at heart. His eyes opened, looking up at his ceiling as a strange, pounding roared behind his chest; he felt winded all of a sudden, and needed to sit up to catch his breath. What in the world was _that_? He blinked, rubbing his chest painfully before hopping off of his bed to re-gather his thoughts. After the adrenaline rush, he was _starving_ again; and felt like he wanted, no, he neededto go for a run. Zipping up his sweater, he marched quickly from his bedroom, out into the halls where he stayed close to the railings, just to be safe.

Making his way to the dining room by himself for the first time was terrifying, but the polite nurses, and even the polite residents made the process easier. He got a late breakfast, and went to sit with some of the older men and woman playing cards at the back of the dinning hall.

"So, the recluse does come out and play after all?" An older woman with large, hoop earrings and groovy yellow and green glasses gleamed at him. Ash offered a weak smile as she waved at him to sit in the seat beside her.

"That pretty red-head finally left, did she?" A man who started to deal out the cards suggested.

"Don't worry son, they always come back." The groovy-shaded woman cooed while patting him on the shoulder Ash could feel heat rise to his cheeks at their absurd friendliness and shifted his gaze downward out of embarrassment.

"You ever played poker before boy?" A large, older man with a mustache asked Ash and he shook his head slightly, resting his tray on his lap and pulling on his sandwich wrap. Squeaking his wheelchair, he grinned and showed the lack of three teeth from the corners of his smile.

"Then pay attention, we'll show ya'."

Ash grinned at this, looking up to the table as they dealt cards out amongst each other, and divided a few blue, red, and white chips. At that moment, while Ash cracked open his sandwich and ate it gratefully, he thought that a month with this _kind_ of company couldn't be too bad. So long as they were always this friendly. Misty did tell him that the residents here seemed really nice—but Ash never made much time for them—she was usually out here when he was in physical therapy and his heart pounded again at the thought of her.

Maybe he was having a heart attack or something? The red on his cheeks warmed his face, and he picked at the bread while the older company talked him through the rules of having an 'affective' poker face. Apparently, the key was to administer sedatives before a game, according to the groovy-old woman.

"Oh, before we get started. I'm Agatha, that's Todd, and that Scott." the old woman counciled Ash while flipped easily through her cards; Ash smiled.

"I'm Ash." he replied happily.

"Oh, we know who you are. Being friends with a gym leader doesn't go entirely unnoticed to us older folks—" She nudged Ash and raised an eyebrow. "At least us folks with our heads on straight, anyways. We like to pretend we don't know what's going on so those nurses leave us alone."

Ash laughed loudly at that, sharing a chuckle with the rest of the group—that was the truth; whatever could be said or done to spend as little time being monitored was typically the best route—even he was finding that out as he stayed only a week here. He grinned, satisfied with his first time being out of his room. Maybe the _real_ world wasn't as scary as he thought that it was.

 **Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox**

Dr. Sebastian sat in his black impala across from the home Ash was residing in, scrolling through information on his laptop screen—messages full of trainer profiles and listings.

"Sir." The therapist echoed into the phone he held to his face, glancing once over the assisted living facility. "Apparently, the people are real, too."  
"...Interesting..."

"He's alert and awake enough to make his own choices now, sir. I've been retired as his primary therapist." the raven haired man spoke with a snarl.

"...I thought I told you not to screw up..." replied the man, whose voice was shrouded in static.

"There were some," his shielded eyes moved from windshield to his laptop screen and he groaned. Misty's profile echoed a reflection on the screen and his jaw clenched. "...unforeseen complications." he finished.

"I don't pay you to make excuses. I want the location of the _others._ " A nervous sound left Sebastian's throat and he sighed.

"I've got most of them—he doesn't seem to remember the rest." He lied, he knew that Ash remembered perfectly, but he was covering his own ass. He couldn't walk back in and apologize for his behavior; so getting anymore information from Ash was out of the question. They would simply have to learn the whereabouts of the others on their own.

A brief snarl from the other line made Sebastian swallow hard against the lump in his throat, until finally, the static replied; "Fine. Bring your information to me."

"Yes, sir."

A click ended the call. Dr. Sebastian glanced at the assisted living home and shook his head. What a way to go, at least he made progress on his mission. He grinned. Ash had been a huge success after all.

 **Author's note:**

 **Thanks for all the suggestions!** I've figured out what the egg will be—some ideas reinforced the original idea that I had (to surprising degrees!), but others really made me sway another direction entirely.., but over all, I think I've figured out which one I am going to lean for and when we get to the reveal chapter, I will let you all know why in an author's note; thank you for all of the wonderful ideas and reviews, they were amazing! I hadn't even _thought_ of _togepi!_ The first damn egg pokemon in the series! Regardless, I hope I don't disappoint with my decision; thank you all for the lovely feedback -hearts-.

Also, does anyone smell that? -stirs pot- the plot is thickening! (eight chapters in isn't bad, right?). I see adventures and drama in the near future, you have been warned.


	9. Chapter 9: Agatha

**Locked Away, Chapter 9: Walked into the waves**

A week into the last month he would spend in recovery, his request to be assessed by the Viridian City Assisted Living Home's therapist, Dr. Abby, was accepted. She was a woman who had only recently moved to Viridian City after getting married, though, Ash's only care was that she wouldn't pester him with tiresome questions and make him feel worse than he already was.

It was the end of the day already, the sun fading fast behind the horizon of storm clouds as the painful woes of daylight savings time squeezed the long days to a short close; bringing with it the draw of winter winds lapping at his window and cutting in through his shutters. It was cold, so after physical therapy, rather than going for his normal jog, he opted for a warm shower and blankets.

The nice old lady he played cards with after breakfast, Agatha, had knit him a proper winter sweater, but it still didn't provide enough warmth for the hailing weather. Glancing outside the sprayed window, he wondered where the freak thunderstorm came from. He shuddered, wrapping his arms around the egg that Misty had given him, holding it under the blanket to keep it warm as he did in the evenings. Whether the information was correct or not, he wasn't sure, but he thought that the eggs needed some heat provided everyday—or something like that. He glanced down at the egg, feeling the embodiment of something growing inside and sighed. Maybe he would ask Agatha tomorrow? She seemed to know a lot about pokemon.

Shifting in his bed, he leaned against his headboard, listening to the howl of the wind outside, and the turbulent whip of the storm. His muscled ached the most when it rained, and his body felt every ache and turn in the shifting clouds above the facility; remembering once how Dr. Sebastian suggested rainy days were a reflection of Ash's mental depression. Surely Ash was no longer asleep, but during the thick of the storm, he questioned it. Maybe he should not have put any emphasis on the therapist's advice—but at least some of what the twisted man had told Ash made sense. Some of his earlier input on Ash's condition was thoughtful, and dominantly helpful—it was only after Ash's two weeks of abrupt silence did the therapist take a deep, dark turn into uncanny resentment. Somewhere, Ash felt like he knew the man, but couldn't place his finger on where. Possibly his dreams?

Ash licked his teeth, rubbing his thumbs in circles over the surface of the egg. To be honest, the longer he was awake, the more foggy his mind became about details; the strongest inputs—his companions, his pokemon, a few battles, those were unforgettable; but everything else was... Lightning cracked outside of his window and he could feel a jolt shoot through him at the sight. Startled, he hunched over in his bed and exhaled. He was finding he was twitchy during thunderstorms—to the point of avoiding them completely if possible. It was like needles. Ash brushed his hands over his arms habitually, he couldn't explain it, but something about the unconscious affects of his disability- thunderstorms that caused it, needles that induced it- hung over him like a cloud.

For the first time in a week, he glanced at the phone beside his bed, as well as the numbers left there by Misty; her bubbly writing causing shivers to run down his spine. Earlier that week, he made a pack with himself that he would not call her unless he had to—he had already bothered her enough as it was, he didn't want her to feel more pressure. Swallowing, he could feel the familiar rapid beat of his heart thinking about the red-head. A part of him felt like he was only a nuisance. Thunder roared outside, and Ash had to inhale deeply to calm his nerves. Another part of him felt like the part of him that leaned on her was entirely justified; Ash had no other friends.

After the departure of Dr. Sebastian, Ash made a few 'friends' at the home; mostly in Agatha who would follow him around and force him to attend gatherings with her. If there was an activity going on, she would find him, where ever he was, and invite him. If Ash told her no, she would insist until he buckled—in a lot of ways, it was like having Misty around again. Ash chuckled, forgetting the storm for a moment. A much wrinklier, gray-haired version; but none-the-less, it was nice to have someone to talk to.

That did not, however, open the door to talk about his therapist; he had kicked out quite possibly his only hope at leaving in a month. If Sebastian wrote a bad review for Ash to the home's doctor, he might be spending longer than he wanted between these four walls. Not that he minded the metallic blues—but he wanted to find his mom, and pikachu as soon as possible.

His drive to find his family was quite possibly his innate force of recovery; what if something bad _had_ happened to her, and he did not know? After Misty left, he questioned a million times if he should have asked Misty to go to Pallet Town, just to check on her—but inwardly, he knew that he had no right to make such a request of the gym leader. Finding his mother was something he would need to do on his own.

Again, his face flushed hot, and he glanced at the phone once again. Eyes shifting to the bare wall across the room from him, the sheets of rain increased outside. Since when was a phone call supposed to be this difficult? He had spent a little over a month talking with her everyday. A phone call should have been the _easiest_ thing for him to complete after all of the mundane, intense training he was worked through over the last two months.

Yet, he found his fingers twiddling around the egg, and his lips pursing at the idea. Maybe he didn't want to call her until he was better—one hundred percent better—another part of him was worried she would be mad about him throwing his therapist out on his ass. That, or she would be extremely happy; he knew that she was not fond of the therapist, but he wasn't sure how far that escalated.

In the end, he wound up dangling his legs off the side of his bed, resting his egg on his pillow, and picking up the corded phone. Exhaling very slowly, he dialed the number of her cell phone as she suggested, and held the phone up to his ear; finding his breath hitched in his throat.

It rang twice, then a third and fourth time-by the fifth time, Ash was about to chicken out and slam the phone on the receiver when her voice cracked the hum.

"Hello?" Her voice sounded different over the phone, slightly deeper—maybe a bit scratchier; but it was differently her, his voice caught at the tip of his tongue, and he ended up forcing out some type of throaty-squawk.

He could hear the confusion inflicted in her voice; "Err... Hello?" She tried again, and this time Ash inhaled.

"Hey!" he nearly shouted, and then covered his mouth with the palm of his hand. A short pause followed, as if she was trying to deduce the voice.

"Ash?" She pegged finally, and Ash let out a very loud, elated sigh.

"Yeah, it's me." He offered shyly, hearing her chuckle from her end of the conversation.

"Lonely already?" Misty joked, causing Ash to sputter nervously.

"No." he half-denied. "I made a friend."

"Did you?" her voice pitched eagerly, and Ash could hear the splash of water. "With who?" She questioned honestly, and Ash couldn't believe the level of calmness in her voice—was he the only one who was freaked out over the phone call? Surely it was weird for her as well.

"A lady named Agatha."

"Hah!" he heard her chirp, followed by a low chuckle. "You sure know how to pick friends, Ash."

He scowled, shoulders relaxing slightly at the sound of her laugh. He leaned beside his egg, propping his feet up onto his bed, crossing his ankles.

"What do you mean?" he whined, partially insulted.

"Agatha is a retired Elite-Four member, Ash. She was one of the best, right after Lorelei, of course." Misty gushed, and once again he heard the splash of water; the breathless nature of her words. Ash blinked—she must have been swimming; but that wasn't the most important knowledge he had been given that day.

"She's what?" Ash mused, shocked by the revelation; that old woman was a former elite-four?

"A former member of the Elite-Four." She confirmed Ash's question once again, flustered slightly. "Her specialty was ghost pokemon..." Misty paused. "She left almost nine years ago, though."

Ash gawked slightly, "She said that you talked with her? Didn't you recognize her when you were here?"  
"Well, obviously or I wouldn't believe you that she was there. She's way to spry to be in an assisted living home." He could hear the eye roll in her voice and he shook his head with a slight chuckle.

"Why is she here, then?" He asked quickly.

Misty paused, taking a deep breath; "I'm not sure. I didn't ask." she whisked truthfully.

"Hey, how's my egg?" She asked quickly, changing the subject. Ash stumbled over his words while glancing down at the egg he has been unconsciously stroking.

"The egg? It's still in one piece." he muttered and then could feel a trace of his immature side leak out; "Thanks for instructions, by the way." he said sarcastically, getting a chuckle in return.

"I thought you could figure it out. It's not rocket science." she mocked.

"You do know I was in a coma for ten years, right?" He pressed playfully, feeling his cheeks flush once again.

She scoffed, "So you have the mindset of a ten year old, what else is new?"

"Gee, thanks, Mist."

"Ahaha." She laughed awkwardly, fumbling the way she did every time her nickname was used. He knew it bothered her to some extent, but she hadn't yelled at him about it; so he would continue to use it. Shifting, he pressed his hand to one side of the egg and clucked his tongue.

"...So. I sort of fired my therapist.." He admit for the first time since the incident, feeling a weight lift off his shoulders, the rafters slammed against the window and drew his attention to the storm once again; he almost missed her reply.

"Sebastian? That loon? It's about damn time. I don't even know how he got a medical license."

"You seem to say that about a lot of people." Ash scoffed teasingly and once again, he could almost hear the sound of her eyes roll.

"Well, if so many people wouldn't suck..." She winced. "I wouldn't have to." she added confidently, causing Ash to chuckle.

A brief silence followed before Ash wiggled his toes and glanced back down at the egg. "So do you know what kind of pokemon the egg will hatch into?"

"Nope." she said flatly.

"No?" Ash echoed, sounding alarmed.

"No. I didn't ask." She managed.

Ash's eyebrows lowered as he glanced down at the egg beside him—what if it turned into an electorb? He shuddered, that was all he needed; to be blow into pieces by a surprise visit from the exploding pokemon.

"Why didn't you ask?"

"...It's not like it will hatch in a month, anyways." She added, sounding slightly deflated.

"You don't know that!" Ash shrieked picking the egg up with his hands and placing it back into his lap.

"Well, have you been taking it on walks with you?" Misty Asked.

Ash scoffed, "No. Am I supposed to?"

"See, that's why it's not going to hatch. You have to take it on walks with you." She coached him and he could feel his face flush.

"...Why?" His eyebrows knit together slowly, as if framing the question.

"I don't know, that's just what the researchers suggest—it's in that trainer magazine I left you." she scolded matter of fact. "Haven't you been reading those?"

 _No,_ he thought while shamefully looking at the small stack of papers that she left him. He was guilty of sitting with Agatha and Scott during the later part of the evenings, catching up on news and headlines rather than locking himself in his room. A part of him craved social structure—quite possibly because he was away from it for _ten damn years_.

"I must have missed that part." He lied, hearing Misty chortle—apparently, even though he was a few hundred miles away, she still saw right through him.

"Of _course_ you did." She muttered sarcastically. "Been slacking off since I've been gone, have you?"

"No." he denied, his face heating up at the allegation. "I've just been... busy."

"Mhm. I bet you have been." She mocked in that confident voice that brought upon him once again that unfamiliar pounding behind his ribcage, and robbed him of both his thought process and breath.

"I miss you." He uttered before he could reel in the words; it sounded as pathetic as he felt and he turned a very deep shade of red at the admittance. Misty mentioned before that missing people was normal but... Misty was...well...

"Aww," She cooed with a tsk, and Ash could feel his body turn to stone—how endearing; almost like his _mother_ was saying it back to him; that, or she was belittling him, and if Ash knew this Misty well enough—she was most definitely not belittling him.

"Thank you." She replied, as if adding insult to injury, she pressed salt into the wound—completely negating to say that she missed him back; and Ash realized, she probably didn't!

Oh no, what was he doing? He made this completely strange; but at the same time questioned if it was supposed to be strange.

"Anyways I have to go." Ash stammered quickly, fumbling to kick his feet back over the bed, nearly dropping the egg in the process so that he could properly slam the phone down. He could hear Misty shift on her end.

"I need to shut down the gym anyways." She murmured, and Ash could hear the fleeting tone of her voice.

"'kay." He managed embarrassingly, slapping his palm against his face and running it down to his chin.

Ash could hear the grin in her voice; "Don't be a stranger, Ash, I hope you're feeling better."

"Thank you." He offered, remembering his manners, _barely_. "I'll see you around then."

"Yeah. Talk to you later." She responded nonchalantly.

Then with that, she hung up before Ash could drop the phone down onto the night stand beside his bed. His hands were shaking worse now than they were before the storm started. What in the world was wrong with him? This wasn't a long-term effect of the coma, was it? The rapid pulsing of his chest pushed him into over-drive, and he kicked off from his bed, checked his black sweat pants and red-shirt and stormed out of his room in a huff.

He needed to run. A very, _very_ long run.

 **Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox**

Ash did not get the nerve to call Misty again the following week; when he tried, some nagging, persistent force kept his fingers from mashing the correct buttons and he found himself dawdling, holding the phone with his mouth hung open like a damn magikarp. Twice, a nurse had walked in on him in this position and embarrassed him. Once by the strange nurse known as Mary who compulsively seemed to rummage through his things on occasion. Typically, Ash might have brought this behavior up to the head nurse, but he had no lasting evidence to prove that the girl was. Instead; Ash started taking his little secret—the egg—that Misty gave him every with him in a small book-tote he wore over his back. It wasn't that he thought Mary would steal it—he just felt overly protective of it the longer he was forced into taking care of it.

Today, he was going for a walk on the forest path outside of the assisted living home, one that led in a semi-circle for a quarter mile through the forest. It was the only one he was allowed on, because it would only take him a few minutes to walk it, and if he didn't return in that time frame, people were supposed to look for him.

The fresh morning air crisped the dew covered leaves in a bile of frost. Even with two sweaters on, Ash felt chilled to the bone. Worried about the egg he forced it over his shoulder and brought it into a cradle in his arms. He still used the scarf Misty left him—he hoped that she wouldn't mind—to wrap the egg, and himself on the coldest of days. Ash nudged the scarf off from around his neck to wrap the egg and then heaved a short sigh; if the temperature kept the steady decline he wasn't sure how much longer he would be able to take morning walks.

While it wasn't _really_ that cold, it was _freezing_ to Ash. His body hadn't adapted to the vicious elements of the world yet—sure he was gaining muscles and strength, but the pressure of running on a treadmill versus the path of the forest were like day and night. The forest path was hard mode and the tread mill was easy mode—even if he intentionally neglected to tell his physical therapist this. Ash thought that if he mentioned the differences, they might inquire to push his therapy for another month; and Ash _did not_ want to stay another month.

This wasn't _home_. It was far from it. He needed out as much as he needed recovery.

"If you don't look forward when you walk, you could trip and smash that egg, you know." The familiar, scratchy voice drew his attention forward to a woman in a pink dress siting on the bench facing the small stream along the path. Ash smiled at her.

"Good morning, Agatha." He mused politely, approaching the bench.

"It's good to see you've started taking it with you everywhere. If someone saw that you had it, they might not react so nicely." She coached him—probably the only person who knew that Ash carried an egg around with him—if anyone else knew, they didn't make a comment about it. Most recovering hospital patients didn't just walk around with an egg, after all.  
"Yeah... I figured that out." Ash murmured, recalling Mary's frantic spiel around his room. She was only looking for "an earring" that she misplaced, but Ash wasn't that stupid. In the last two weeks he learned one very, large, comical feature about the yellow-haired nursing assistant: she could easily be classified as a rapid Misty fan girl. Ash tried his darnedest to steer clear of her.

"Come, sit, sit. Enjoy the brisk morning with me." Agatha waved him forward, and Ash did as he was told. Shuddering at the feeling of the cold, metallic bench seeping through his pants as he took a seat beside her to face the partially frosted over stream. He shivered compulsively. Agatha tapped her cane slightly against her knee.

"Do you know what kind of pokemon it is yet?"

"I haven't got a clue."

"The red-head didn't tell you?" Ash raised an eyebrow at her, slightly peeved by the reference to Misty as anything other than her name, knowing well now that Agatha knew the gym leader previously. Then again, Ash was "the recluse", so at least she wasn't titling Misty among those lines.

"She said she didn't know, either."

"Hah," The older woman mused crossing her knee over the other. "That's doubtful."

"You think so?" Ash pressed.

"Ahh, I know so." Agatha recalled, licking her lips as if recalling a memory. "The red-head was always the crafty one; she's was already a lot smarter back _then_ than she gave herself credit for; that doesn't seem to be an issue now." The gray haired woman seethed with a chipper smile; referencing the time nine years ago when she was apart of the Elite-Four and quite possibly, Misty's former 'boss'.

Ash blinked curiously. "What do you mean?" He asked, having never heard about Misty, aside from the fact that she was considered the "tomboyish mermaid" and had "A little bit of a mean streak".

"It doesn't matter. It was a long time ago. People change." Agatha motioned to Ash, as if emphasizing him. Ash flushed and looked down to the wrapped egg in his lap.

"So you were the boy in the coma for years, were you?" She deduced finally.

"That's me." Ash admit, _this_ conversation finally coming up.

"You were quite the talk of the region for awhile; Ash Ketchum, the boy who survived an otherwise lethal electrocution from an over-powered pikachu." Agatha quipped, as if she were reciting from a new article. Ash eyed her.

"It's funny how people were more concerned about you when you were unconscious than they are now that you're awake, don't you think?" She nodded to him.  
Ash's shoulders rose and then fell. "...I haven't thought about it much, truthfully."  
"So simplistic." Agatha taunted, crossing her arms.

"What do you mean by that?" Ash scowled, furrowing his eyebrows.

"You should ask more questions; you've been asleep for ten years and you don't question _everything?_ " She winced. "What if someone was lying to you?"

Ash's head spun, "Well...I do ask questions..."

"But _who_ do you ask? Yourself, or someone else?"

Misty flashed through his mind and Ash blinked up at Agatha, catching onto her meaning. He was supposed to ask himself the hard questions; find answers himself. She was essentially making the same point that Misty made—was it that painfully obvious that he was drifting? A frown tugged at his lips. He _was_ doing that. Slowly, but he was managing.

"I have a meeting with a new therapist today." Ash admit, tracing his fingers along the egg. The new therapist was his first step in the right direction. Agatha grinned.

"That's good; perhaps you should ask yourself questions that _you_ want the answers to, and then relay them to a proper therapist?" she gestured with her hand to some invisible force.

Inhaling, he nodded. The distant chirp of waking birds filled his ears, and he sucked in his lips and looked forward. "Agatha... if I told you that I knew you from somewhere else; what would you say to that?"

The old woman smiled, standing up from the bench and beginning to fluff out her skirt as she pulled on her groovy glasses once more. "I would say that anything is possible."

As if a light bulb turned on in Ash's head his eyes took a desperate gleam to them that brought an overwhelming heat to all of his joints and muscles as he stood up, and smiled at the woman.

"Thank you!" He beamed, but, in a passive fashion, she waved her hand and exhaled; showing her age.

"We ought to get back before they send in the search party." She motioned to the trail Ash followed to reach the bench. "Care to walk an old woman home?" She motioned to her elbow, and Ash let out a paunch laugh as he hooked his arm around hers gently.

"Of course." He muttered gratefully, guiding her back to the facility.

 **Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo**

The room was bright, excessively so—but not in the white wall fashion.

Each wall was painted a different color. Behind him, red, to the left, blue, to the right green, and in front of him, yellow. The decor was not any better; between the egg-shaped chair she was siting in, the bright orange couch he was sitting on, the metallic sheen of the coffee table and then in one corner between the left and red wall, a jumbled mess of a desk. He wasn't sure how the word 'loud' worked really, but this was past that. Borderline _screaming_. The only normal aspect of the entire room was the dark wooden shelf lumbering over her maroon curtains, which held a single, gold trophy, and several pictures of his new therapist with an older looking man with brown hair. They looked oddly familiar, but Ash couldn't place his finger on what or why. After a moment, he could recognize the trophy as the ribbon cup—one that May hoped to win when he 'traveled' with her. How strange.

It took a few moments for Ash's eyes to focus on the blue-green haired woman sitting across from him with a large plump belly. While Ash was no expert, and he would sooner cut off his own tongue before asking—he could only assume she was pregnant.

"Hello, Ash. It's nice to meet you." She gushed, holding onto a clipboard that seemed much less threatening than Dr. Sebastian's. Ash clawed his fingers into his pants legs.

"Hi..." He muttered nervously, unsure of himself or what to say. He had done like Agatha suggested and developed a set of his own questions, but he wasn't sure how well this new therapist would be; her bubbly personality almost swallowed him up.

"Oh please, relax, relax." Dr. Abby gestured waving her hand and sitting forward to slap the clipboard on the table. "I believe in honesty up front; so I'm going to let you read what Dr. Sebastian wrote about you, and if you feel that he was unfair anywhere; I want you to tell me." She handed Ash the papers—there were six or seven of them and Ash's breathing stilled.

"Don't be nervous, but please wait to say anything until after you've read through the _entire_ material. Okay?" She smiled sweetly at him, and Ash grimaced as he recoiled into the loud orange sofa, and started the begrudged task of Dr. Sebastian's heartless nature.

Thanks to all the magazines and news papers he had read over the last two months his reading capabilities had improved seven fold—Dr. Sebastian's words were no different, and aside from a few medical terms, Ash followed along decently. As he suspected, the man started off by saying that Ash was delusional, followed quickly by calling him 'unstable' a term that he used frequently. The portion classifying Ash's mute nature for two weeks was constantly accusing Misty of being a terrible influence on Ash's recovery, followed quickly by referring to her as 'detrimental' to his continuing health; thus the result in suspension after telling Ash the truth—apparently, Dr. Sebastian's effective way of removing her was by accusing her of seeking Ash's assets...

Ash rolled his eyes and Dr. Abby made note of that. Joke was on him. Ash didn't _own_ anything. If anything, he was going to be in _debt_ for the rest of his life over his doctor bills; and he was sure Misty wasn't after debt.

As he continued to read, his notes became less detailed, and inaccurate, jumbled full of lies—Ash had never raised his voice to the therapist aside from the time he arrived at the assisted living home. Ash's eyebrows scrunched up. Ash had also never talked to the therapist about hearing voices, or about being abused by the hospital staff—or really, about anything following the information that Misty was suspended. It was all _lies._ In fact, Ash remembered very clearly his pressure to talk to Ash about his dreams; but _none_ of that was in the report after the initial start of recovery.

"These are lies." Ash summarized, reading the last line which accused Ash of being hostile in the new facility, borderline psychotic and mentally unstable—he was even advised to be 'locked up' until Ash could make a full recovery.

Dr. Abby smiled; "I've been watching you for a week." She admit gleefully, earning a flustered look from Ash. "And I concur. His reports start off thorough as if he is really assessing you and somewhere in the middle, they break off into constant accusations that you are not mentally sound, demanding longer hours of therapy—yet here you are." She gestured to Ash and he looked down at himself, and then back at her. He was wearing the same jeans and flannel shirt he saw Misty off in; as it was his most decent attire.

"Mentally sound. Well, at least I think so. You haven't.." She paused, looked at the report and quoted the other doctor. "Attempted to cut me with the razor blade you stole from the nurses station."

"I never did any of those things." Ash admit quickly, a nervous look forming in his eye. Dr. Abby gracefully raised her hand and inhaled.

"I won't say I believe you, because we have not gotten to know each other yet—but I sincerely doubt that someone who will cradle an egg and carry it around all day and help out the elderly is someone with psychopathic tendencies."

 _So they do know about the egg..._ Ash blushed, having been found out. In fact, he brought the egg with him in his book-tote, but willed himself not to touch it.

"That being said, I can't simply throw out his report. I will need to re-assess you to fix the damage; this is a process that could take months with the information stacked up against you." She said earnestly and Ash's shoulders fell—his breath leaving him.

"...months?" he echoed, as if he couldn't believe the words himself. "But I..."

"I know, you've been making a very swift recovery—but is there some place else you needed to be?" she said with a cheer that was meant to be helpful, but only made Ash shudder of sadness.

"My mom..." He grimaced, crossing his arms and leaning forward. "I don't know where she is..." He admit honestly, the raw emotion of his voice pressing hard against Dr. Abby's heart.

"Oh no... I'm so sorry. That must be extremely difficult." She paused, and took her clipboard out. "Would you care to talk about it?"

Ash blinked up at her, before a wistful grin tugged at his lips. "Dr. Sebastian never asked that question." He admit and Dr. Abby grinned, pressing a button on a tape-recorder, another thing that was absent from Dr. Sebastian's lessons. She would be recording everything—which would only add to prove Ash wasn't crazy.

"Then I suggest you mention the contrasts in his lessons, and we may be able to get you out of here at the end of the month, after all." She purred sweetly, and Ash could feel his heart swell with joy.

She changed gears, her face taking on that of pure professionalism, yet the sweet tone coating her words again as she sat back relaxed Ash. She rest the clipboard against her pregnant belly. "So tell me about your mother, do you miss her?"

"More than I think I could say correctly." he confirmed looking downward.

"I see." she scratched down his reply. "Has anyone attempted to reach her?"

"Several times. The hospital and Misty both tried to reach her but we think her phone number was changed..."

"And where did you get that information?"  
"That her phone number changed? Well it's not a guarantee but Misty looked online if my mother had an record of-" he stammered, "...death, but since she didn't. We figured she may have simply moved... and hasn't heard that I've woken up."  
 _It's not like she was expecting me to._ He echoed Misty's words in his head, remembering the day she talked with him about this. As the days grew longer, he found it harder to believe in her words—but he had to be hopeful the same way that Misty was hopeful. He had to believe that at the very least, his mother was still around.

"Misty Waterflower?" The therapist pursed her lips. "Did you ever feel pressured by her in any way?"

"By Misty?" Ash blinked, "No. Why?" he said, almost defensively.

"Don't worry, I'm not attacking her." She assured Ash, catching onto his defensive nature right away. This allowed his shoulders to fall; amazed in the absolute change of disposition between her and his former therapist. They were night and day, if he had no better reference to lean on.

"But can you tell me about her?"

Ash's face flushed only slightly, and he scratched his cheek. "Well, she was the one who carried me out of Viridian City forest and admitted me into the hospital." He said matter-of-fact. "She stuck around because a nice, older nurse, I don't remember her name, unfortunately, asked her to witness my recovery to make sure I wasn't being abused by the hospital."

"Do you feel like the reason Dr. Sebastian rated her so harshly was because she was doing exactly that; making sure you weren't being abused?"  
A light clicked in Ash's head, and he nodded; "Yeah, actually." he snapped his finger at the realization. "She used to fight with the therapist when I was still in the hospital; he adamantly refused to let her sit in on any sessions even if I asked for her to be there. She also felt that his advice was harming my potential recovery because he would only pressure me to repeat the same stories but would not talk with me about my recovery or what happened to me, or what I'm supposed to do after..."

"...Pressured you? What exactly did he pressure you into?"

Ash flushed a little, growing more embarrassed about is dream world the more aware he was about how abnormal they were. He rubbed his neck awkwardly. "He constantly asked for information about the dream world I was in when I was comatose-the world he dubbed make-believe; if I didn't want to talk about it, he would scratch on his clipboard whatever, and I would sit silently. He refused to answer any of my questions or beliefs unless I was talking about pokemon."

Dr. Abby blinked at this, her eyebrows knitting together; "That's... really odd. None of that was written in his report."  
"Yeah, that's because the stuff he did write down is a lie. You can ask any of the nursing staff I've been around; I'm not psychotic. Not even the slightest." Ash muttered, leaning back in the couch defeated.

Dr. Abby answered with a sincere, sweet smile. "What argument did he make to have you talk about the world? Did he say?"

"He said that it was a process... but he only let me talk about pokemon; the parts about my dream world that bothered me the most was the fact that the people I traveled with and grew attached to never existed." Ash mused angrily, building confidence as he spoke.

"How do you feel that they don't exist?"  
Ash froze at that comment, and shuffled; her perceptive eyes blinked twice and she tilted her head.

"...They don't, do they?"

"Well... I'm not sure." Ash said, and looked at her—noticing how familiar she looked. "Misty and I looked up my traveling companions, and they-at least people who looked like them and shared their names-were real." He gulped worried that Dr. Abby would think he was crazy, but instead she appeared dumbfounded, and set her clipboard down on her stomach. He worried that she would proclaim, as Dr. Sebastian had, that Misty was enabling his insanity.

Instead, she ripped out a piece of paper from her notebook on the coffee table and handed Ash her clipboard and pen to write on the paper with.

"What's this?" he gawked, eyes wide.

"If you remember those names, write them down." She suggested, and Ash shook his head oddly.

"Why?"

"Because it's worth checking out." She paused, sharing a knowing smile with him that went right over his head. "Misty isn't a doctor, I hope you know, so I have to verify the things you said with my own research." Ash's eyes lit up at her response, gleeful that he was finally catching a break for once—something _good_ was finally happening outside of Misty.

"So you believe me?"

"I believe that we have seen a lot of strange things in the world, and sometimes, the most radical oddities require a logical resolution to find peace for a patient." She smiled at Ash sweetly. "I hope that I can find that solution for you."

Ash beamed; "Thank you!"

Dr. Abby laughed slightly in response; how cute; he truly did have the innocence of a ten-year old.

"Don't thank me yet." She cooed. "About your dreams, talking about them is a process-but you need to talk about all of it. Not just parts."

Ash shifted uncomfortably and twisted his lips into a pout. "If it's not real why does it matter?"

"Because it was real to you, dear." She said sweetly, and then revealed a purple and blue journal from beneath a small stack of papers that she handed to Ash.

"Dr. Sebastian was correct in having you talk about your dreams; being able to talk about them is a way of moving past that trauma; but, if you find talking about them is too difficult now—take the time to write about them in a journal; it will clear your mind hopefully."

Ash's face scrunched up as he thumbed the cover of the journal and then inhaled sharply. "I will give it a try."

"That's the spirit." She encouraged him with an arm pump. "But I think that is all I needed to discuss with you today. I have to, of course, send in a claim to the hospital to oppose Dr. Sebastian's work, and if they approve we will have to move from there—okay?"

Ash nodded.

"Can we meet here again, the same time tomorrow?" She asked cloying, and once again, Ash nodded confidently.

"I will be here, I swear." he said with confidence, handing her back the list of names that he had with the descriptions he made of each person so that she could find them the same way that Misty did. Dr. Abby took them with a smile before standing up, having to waddle to the door as Ash let himself out.

"...Thank you again." He said turning to look at her one last time before shuffling down the hallway, back towards the dinning hall with his book-tote slung over his shoulder.

He wanted to call Misty now; to tell her the good news he finally received after _months_ of constant degrading. How exciting was it to know that his therapist was not a complete ass-hat, but a real functional human being? Instead, he thought wistfully, he would surprise Misty when she returned in a month. He could have danced, if he knew how, or even sang, if he didn't sound so horrible when he did it. He jumped slightly instead as he turned the corner that would bring him to his room with the journal Dr. Abby had given him.

Maybe things were finally looking up for him!


	10. Chapter 10: Reunited

_**Edit:**_ _02.23.16:_ __I did not proof-read this well enough. What did I learn?

 **Locked Away, Chapter 10: Called out your name**

A month was not long enough! Misty swore while she kicked on her winter boots as opposed to the heeled variation she wore months prior. She stood with her hands brushing over her hips. Beside her front door, her packed traveling bag was disregarded. She was getting ready to leave the small house beside the Cerulean City gym, to head back into Viridian City to pick up Ash. It was a little before sun rise, and the chill hadn't even left the air yet.

She rolled her eyes with an excessive sigh. Combing her fingers through her short hair as she pulled and tugged it into a off-center, messy pony tail. She opted for more convenient clothes, abandoning her cascade earrings and necklace entirely during her morning routine. Rather she wore a simple red and yellow t-shirt, and dark blue skinny jeans. Misty refused to wear pencil skirts and heeled boots in the late fall, especially if she was going to be walking a lot again. After her last trip visiting Ash, her feet were _still_ sore. Thinking about the raven-haired boy, she sighed as she stood up and stomped her boots gently against the ground; her feet had to adjust because she spent most of her time home wearing sandals.

"How long are you going to be gone _this time_ sissy?" She heard her oldest sister Daisy shout from inside of their shared living room. Misty huffed, removing her phone from her pocket and puckering her lips gently. She glanced at the date and grimaced.

"Three days, at the most. I have a tournament to monitor on the 29th." Misty replied loudly, stepping over a discarded blanket to reach the coat rack. The house was a disaster—while she managed to save the gym, their house was _another_ story entirely. Her coat of choice was her black athletics jacket—otherwise known as her league jacket-the Kanto Pokemon League logo was sprayed on the back as she straightened her collar."

"You said you would only be gone a week last time." Lily ridiculed her younger sister, smacking her lips as if she had gum in her mouth. Her pink hair was lightened into a nearly soft pink hue, and she sat in the recliner near the television. Misty rubbed her eyes.

"Yeah, well circumstances..." Misty began but Violet cut in. Her sisters _never_ let her finish.

"Circumstances or not, you can't just up and leave the gym for over a month again, sissy."

Misty snapped, "And _why_ not? You guys are technically gym leaders, too, you know. Help out!" She groaned throwing her arms up as she gathered her supplies together.

"Because you do it so much better than us!" Daisy whined, turning the corner to see Misty off. Out of all of her sisters, Daisy was the only one that ever seemed sincere in her claims but Misty still had to fight the urge to scream.

"Thank you. I _know_. But it will only be for _three_ days at the most; please, for my sanity, do your chores." She whined. A month back at the gym was not nearly long enough to repair the damage left by her sisters when Misty returned. Apparently, they neglected to clean the filters systems, so most of the pools were _green_ when Misty returned. On top of that, mildew grew around the stands and scum build up framed the corners of the pool—it needed to be maintained daily, an her sisters _rarely_ maintained anything except for their hair and nails.

"I promise to try harder." Daisy swore, walking up to her sister holding the cascade necklace she left at the washroom sink. Daisy dropped the necklace over her sisters head, and Misty huffed.

"Daisy, you have school to worry about. Make Lily and Violet work, too." She warned, eying the two other girls suspiciously; they stuck out there tongues with a goofy grin while Daisy swiped her index finger knuckle against Misty's chin in a motherly-fashion.

"We will be fine. It won't be perfect like an OCD Misty rendition; but we will manage." Daisy told her, knocking on Misty's insane routine. Misty tried to accept that; she _had_ to learn to share the responsibility, but it irked her to no end that her sisters only worked half as hard as she did.

"Thanks Daisy." Misty coughed, tossing her pack over her shoulders while Daisy grinned happily.

"And don't forget to introduce us to your _boyfriend_ soon!" They mock-cheered in unison, garnering a dramatic, deep embodied sigh from Misty. Of course, they would not let that go. Ash was clearly _not_ her boyfriend; just an accidental problem. Misty rolled her eyes, dismissing the claim without further emotional draw and then smiled chipper at her sisters.

"I will see you girls in three days." She budged the door open, knowing if she stayed longer she would miss the train. She paused at the the door to glare evilly at them. "Don't burn anything down while I'm gone."

 **xoxoxoxoxoxoxox**

Arriving in Viridian City in the same fashion she had the first time, she exited the train station, got her ticket stamped, yelled at a few immature teens, and hailed a taxi. She preferred to take a taxi to the assisted living home rather than walking there this morning. She would arrive much faster, and with any luck would beat the afternoon traffic. She lifted her sleeve to spy her watch, the time was only a few minutes after eleven, so with any luck, she could be there, and be home again by the end of the day. With the official league matches starting again soon, she couldn't even _think_ about abandoning the gym longer than absolutely necessary. Sure, Ash needed help, but hopefully he found the ground to stand on his own two feet by now. A month wasn't very long—not really—but it was _long enough_ she hoped.

When the facility came into view, her breath left her body. She didn't think she would be back so soon. The days seemed to flash by, though, she bet they dragged on for Ash. He hadn't bothered to call her much; dissimilar to what she believed he would. Really, the only times he called her were during thunderstorms—but during the last week, the weather had been nice. For a few moments, she questioned if he still wanted her around—and would have called to verify this if she didn't already know that she _had_ to be here. Misty peered up to the clear sky above as she scoot out of the yellow taxi and onto the dirt road in front of the facility. She slammed the door shut after collecting her bag and dropping the man a twenty dollar bill.

Here she was again. Without missing a beat-because _Misty Waterflower_ never missed a step-she approached the large glass pained windows, and pressed them open with little force. The gush of heat that hit her face brought her to a shudder as she wiped her shoes on the entrance rug to avoid tracking in dirt and mud.

The roads were still slightly damp from the sudden rainfall that crashed through Viridian City and most of northern Kanto over the last couple of weeks, but the light surrounding the assisted living home was unchanged. The same, permanent smell of coffee hung in the air while Misty waved at the lady in the front office.

"Oh, Ms. Waterflower! You're back!" The administrator called rather excitedly, slapping her hands together as she bound from her desk where she had been reading over some papers to the door frame.

"Yeah, that new lady-therapist—Dr. Abby, called last night and said that he would be ready today." Misty reiterated, twisted her hands as a gesture. The administrator nodded gleefully.

"I believe that is right. I have a few papers that you need to sign after you get everything settled, okay? I'll have Pam ready to documents for you, and once you're ready just stop by here again."

Misty shot the woman a neat smile and nodded curtly; "Alright, will do." She mused halfheartedly while the administrator funneled back into her office.

Knowing her way around the building from her previous week of visitation, she wandered down the hall with her thumbs looped in her front pockets, walking past the dinning room which was preparing for lunch. Misty had half the mind to sneak in to grab a cup of coffee—as she missed her morning beverage today- but decided against it as she saw a group gathered at the end of the hall in the activity wing of the building.

Unnoticed, she made her way there, pulling her arms against her chest. The echo of laughter framed the otherwise bare hallways. She exhaled while moving past a nurses station, on the far opposite end of the physical therapy wing; but she could hear his laugh echoed down the hall from the wooden-floored area. As she suspected, sitting at the table with Agatha, and two older men, was Ash; holding a large sum of... Misty pinched the bridge of her nose, poker chips.

She approached swiftly, clearing her throat to make her presence known to the small group. "Jeeze, Agatha, did you introduce him to hookers and booze, too?" Misty played while knocking the older woman very gently on the arm. Ash nearly bound out of his seat upon looking up at her.

Right away, Ash noticed that her shoes no longer made the familiar tap that he so awkwardly associated with her presence; he didn't hear her approach the table.

"Misty!" Ash cheered, trying to drown his overbearing excitement. "You made it back safely." He added, letting his words fall flat. Misty watched him with a twinkle in her eye; he looked so much healthier. Agatha reeled away from the red-head.

"You've changed a lot." Misty pointed out, addressing his muscled shoulders, his bold jawline—which held little to no unhealthy bulging bones or sickly sunken cheeks—his skin was also far from pale, having returned to its chestnut color. He rubbed his nose; unfortunately, his clothes were still bored hand me downs that were patched in a few areas; most likely Agatha's doing.

Ash couldn't say the same to her. Aside from the change of clothes and her hair being tied messily, she looked mostly the same as she always did.

"Stop gawking at each other and just kiss already." Agatha groaned with a detrimental eye roll.

Ash's features went from pure happiness upon seeing his friend once again, to pure shock as his cheeks turned a violent red. He looked from the gray haired woman to Misty, ready to deny the accusations, but once again, Misty remained entirely unaffected by Agatha's claim.

"Good to know you still have some kick in you." Misty laughed, letting the comment slip as if she was not bothered by it. Ash's face regained some of it's normal color as his heart rate lowered—perhaps...she was unaffected by it? She was older now so maybe it wasn't normal to freak out like he did anymore. He supposed, at least according to Agatha's horrible drama shows, that people Ash's age weren't supposed to be scared of girls anymore.

"Of course I do. I bet I could still beat you too." Agatha taunted with her eyebrows raised. Misty grinned in retort.

"Only if the competition was based on amount of wrinkles." Misty added with a snarl and lowered eyelashes. Ash's mouth fell ajar—and then he realized that this wasn't uncommon for the two—in fact, it made perfect sense. Two dominant females in one room, there was bound to be a few jokes heard.

Misty cracked first, leaning down to hug the woman, much to Ash's surprise.

"It's good to see you again. I hope he wasn't too much trouble." Misty cooed, shooting a mischievous look at Ash whose face fell.

"What?" Ash yelped, eyebrows narrowed. They ignored him.

"Quite contrary! He was very sweet." Agatha motioned to Ash, and he puffed out his cheeks and folded his arms aimlessly. He should have been insulted, or even known that this was some type of ploy by Misty, but he wasn't. In fact, he was a little honored by the fact that she left _someone_ in the facility that knew about him. At least it made sense why Agatha was so friendly, when she had no reason to be at the start.

"You asked her to watch me?" Ash muttered, feeling a bit like a dog. Misty stood up once again, crossing her arms behind her back, allowing him to see the full pokemon league jacket that she wore zipped up right past her chest, leaving just enough room for the collar to remain popped.

"No, it was coincidence; but when you mentioned that you met her, I did call to catch up with her." Misty admit and Agatha nodded her approval. Ash folded his arms. He would never understand females and why they _talked_ about him.

"Anyways, Ash. I believe you're leaving today!" Agatha chirped. "Misty, why don't you go wait in his room so I can say my good byes?"

"He's not leaving yet-"

"They have bingo down at the bingo hall today and the bus leaves at noon." Ash said pointedly, raising his index finger as he approached Misty, who was easily three inches shorter than him; finally deducing that without her heels, he was taller than her after all. He grinned inwardly at that.

Unimpressed, Misty pursed her lips at the woman. "You'd rather go to bingo than say goodbye to him?" She mocked and the woman shrugged.

"The pot is up to ten grand. Could you imagine winning that?" She poised the question so that Misty would snort and roll her eyebrows.

"Alright, Agatha." Misty mused effortlessly, patting Ash on the shoulder as she turned to walk back to the opposite end of the facility to Ash's room on the physical therapy wing. "Don't be a stranger, old bird." Misty chirped without turning to face them.

The veins of anger that appeared over the woman's face made her lips curl over her teeth and her fingers tighten around her cane.

"I'm not _that_ old yet." She muttered under her breath, though Ash wanted to say she lived in an assisted living home; and only old people did that—well, except for him. He was an exception. He looked down at his feet. A damn good exception.

"C'mon, don't space out again. I have a gift of my own for you." She wagered, swatting him on the back of the head to draw him away from his deep thoughts. He grimaced, following her from the activities room, sparing a short goodbye to the old men they were playing with as they left. Quickly, he spared a single glance in Misty's direction; he noticed right away she carried a full backpack rather than her large white purse, and normal shoes rather than her tapping ones. Ash inhaled boldly, forcing his eyes away from the sway of her red-hair as she pranced down the hall and returned his gaze to the old woman before him.

She lived in the hall closest to the garden, in the very last room that she shared with a woman named Rose—a crazy old bird who never seemed to stay in one spot for very long. The room was void of other people when they arrived. Aside from Rose's plethora of flowers and decorations Agatha's part of the room was empty.

"You didn't have to get me anything." Ash cooed, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Nonsense. I have to bribe you with something so that you come back to visit." Snickering at her words, he shook his head. That was most definitely not unlike her.

"Here. This is for you." She handed him a small bag, large enough for a small item only. He pursed his lips, pulling it up only to have his hands slapped. "Don't open it here! Open it after you leave! I don't want any thank yous." She whipped, getting a confused blink in return.

"Why? You've been so nice to me that.."

"I said no! If you're thankful, come back and visit later and let me know what you thought about the gift." Agatha scolded him, getting a smile in return, followed by an abrupt hug.

"Thank you for being my friend." Ash whispered, separating only to see for once, her harsh look replaced with one of motherly-affection and smiled up at the boy.

"You're a good kid. Don't ever change that, no matter what happens. Alright?" Agatha warned him and Ash nodded with a skip a turn, and then a hop out of her door.

"Don't forget to visit." Agatha called after him as he waved at her with a smile, and then collapsed onto her bed to rest her tired feet. The home would be boring without his beaming face.

 **Xoxoxoxoxoxoxxo**

Having gained back his confidence after ridding his life of Dr. Sebastian and attending a normal therapy session where he talked about the next steps he would need to take, rather than his dreamed up past. Ash was more than ready to take on the world; still nervous, still worried, and still petrified of what could happen to him after the assisted living home, he at least now had the mindset to know what he would need to do come the worst case scenario. Dr. Abby helped him understand just how dire his situation would be if for some reason he could not find his mother; however, she also helped him understand ow he would need to work through those processes in case of an emergency.

The last few weeks at the facility were spent helping other patients, still learning as much about the world as he possibly could—and learning to ask and answer his own questions. Unfortunately because of the horrible assessment Dr. Sebastian left him with, he was only allowed to leave the facility on a day trip once and that was to the library where he spent some time trying to learn how to operate the new-age computers. The world was at his finger tips, he found, but the experience was a short lived on. He checked out a few books about training and one about coma-recovery. The later of the books he didn't manage to get into; medical terminology was still painfully boring to read, and while he found discovering the world through books was beneficial—he was more of a hands-on kind of boy. He shook his head, correcting his thought. _Man_. He wanted to see the world for himself, not through the screens of a television, or the images in a book. Ash was ready to experience his own life again, living a month in a home dedicated to helping people who were at the end of their lives pressed Ash to understand that even though he lost ten years—he still had a lot going for him.

Such as, he wasn't _dead_.

With that thought, he reached his door with a slow crawl, remembering that Misty returned only after he took a step into the bedroom to discover that she had cracked open the journal left on his bed earlier and was skimming through it.

His face turned red and he bound for her, ripping the purple and blue book out of her hands, much to her surprise. She grinned sheepishly, as if being caught red-handed.

"Sorry." She beamed, and Ash tucked—slammed-the journal into his top dresser drawer and fighting the heat over his cheeks, he looked at her.

"I _know_ you know that's rude." he scolded her embarrassingly.

Misty scoffed and rolled her eyes at the same time as kicking away from his bed. "I'm sorry. Dr. Abby mentioned you started a medical journal."

"You've already talked with Dr. Abby?" he asked, deflated. Misty nodded.

"Who do you think called me?" She argued with knit eyebrows. "It's not like _you_ ever called."

Ash's face fell and he shifted uncomfortably. "I didn't want to be a bother." He chimed dreadfully, though his worry was washed away by a flipped smile of her own.

"Don't worry about it. I was really busy but you shouldn't be nervous about calling." She grumbled quickly, shifting through the bag she brought with her. It was green, a bit more boy-like than he had seen her ever wear previously, but decided not to mention it as she rummaged through the pack.

"I wasn't nervous." He denied, though she missed his obvious lie by instead revealing a red cap from her bag. He blinked once, seeing the familiar shape. "What's that?" He asked suddenly, the words falling from his lips.

She grinned at him. "A hat." She placed the item at the foot of his bed and gestured towards it.

"For me?" he asked skeptically having not seen a hat in _years_ , technically.

"No, for your imaginary friend." She quipped sarcastically, pulling out next a blue light coat with yellow trip down the sides that she dropped on the bed beside the hat, following it with a black, long sleeved shirt, and a pair of blue-gray jeans, a brown belt, and a pair of black and red sneakers. Ash, who hadn't moved from his slouch against the dresser, stood astonished at the new clothes she revealed.

"...Misty, what are those?" He asked and she shook her head.

"Clothes?" His look of defeat made he lose the sarcasm though and she thumbed the green bag before pulling out her own white purse from the bottom of it.

"A gift from my sisters and I, actually." She admit, a faint blush crossed her cheeks. Ash felt his own grin tug at his cheeks as he wiggled the unopened gift from Agatha.

"Man, I'm getting spoiled today." he laughed, watching as Misty scooped up the vase which now had garden roses tucked inside. Watching her maneuver familiarly, he walked over to his wardrobe which had been emptied out, aside from his jacket, egg, and Misty's scarf. He plucked the later two into his hands and juggled them awkwardly as he reached the foot of his bed.

"My egg." Misty cooed happily, taking it from his fingers the moment she saw it. She examined all sides, making sure that it hadn't cracked anywhere before bringing it in to a slight, infatuated hug.

"You didn't break it." She emitted and Ash choked on the air, pressing his hand again his chest and sucking in his lips.

"No, I didn't." he pout before earnestly snatching the egg from her and dropping the scarf back into her hands. She didn't recognize it at first, blinking at the slightly dirtied scarf and tilting her head before she realized what it was with a very distinct "o" being pressed from her lips.

"I was wondering where I misplaced this." She admit sheepishly, looking up to him as she quickly tossed it over and behind her neck. "Now c'mon, try on your new clothes." She egged him on getting a distressed look from him.

"I can't accept that Misty. You've already done so much..." He whined, but Misty put up her hands.

"You're not going to meet your mom dressed like that, are you?" She gestured to his jeans which had holes where the patches were, and were faded in several spots—that didn't include his worn shirt which had a few faded spots, and holes around the collar and sleeves. He pulled on his outfit and pursed his lips pathetically. Misty didn't tear her sea-green eyes off him as he made the decision to put on the clothes.

"Fine." he muttered, though he didn't like the idea of taking more handouts from Misty. He snatched the clothes and bundled them in his arm while leaving the egg near the pillow on his bed. Misty whistled and handed him the green bag to take as well. Her face was pink at the notion.

"Daisy and I bought you some underwear, too, because we doubted that you had any." she coughed awkwardly.

With that, his face drew into such a heated state that he nearly tripped on his way into the bathroom, slamming the door shut after her confession. He looked into the bag, and there staring back at him was indeed his unmentionables. He slapped his face. embarrassed; the last person in the world to purchase any for him was his mother, and that was over ten years ago. His entire face contorted awkwardly. Was it more weird that he hadn't gotten any, or that he was free-balling it for the last month after the hospital?

Ash winced visibly and shuddered as he removed the washed and delicately folded black and gray garments. _How_ thoughtful, and how _embarrassing_. He pressed his hand against his face, feeling the heat radiating off of his features while Misty whistled from behind the door and brushed the heels of her feet against the carpet. She was sitting on his bed, waiting for him to come out while cradling the egg between her fingers.

It shouldn't have been weird. He peeled off his shirt and pants in a matter of seconds. Misty was just trying to help him out—as were most of the people in the facility, but perhaps, they forgot sometimes Ash's largest dilemma: he may have _looked_ twenty, but he had the mentality of a ten year old—at the most a twelve year old by this point. Aside from the information he heard on late-night news, he was still really weird about a lot situations that should have been _normal._ People buying him undergarments was one of these situations. His face blushed scarlet as he tugged on the boxers without looking and then the jeans she purchased for him shortly after.

"Do they fit?" Misty called from his room and his lungs shriveled in his chest.

"Does what fit?" he stammered and he could hear her huff.

"The clothes!" she shrieked with less patience than she intended. Ash grimaced, wrapping the belt around his waist, fitted with slots for pokeballs—if he ever got them again- before pulling on the black long sleeved shirt and then tucked it into his jeans before following with the blue jacket with short sleeves, and pushed open the door as he began buttoning it up.

"Leave the last one unbuttoned." she said quickly, stealing his words as she referenced her own top. "It lets the collar remain popped." She winked at him and he fought the urge to smile.

"'kay..." He stammered awkwardly while following her advice. He looked at himself in the mirror in the bathroom, dressed in blues and blacks while she approached him from behind to drop the red hat onto his head, the front engraved with the Kanto league symbol; the same as the one decorating the back of her black coat and his whole body swayed.

For the first time, even though he was taller, his chest wider, his shoulders broader and his face older—he looked _just_ like himself; and to make it better; he felt like himself too. His appearance took his breath away, and he spun on his heels to thank Misty properly but she was already back at the foot of his bed rummaging through her purse.

"Thank you." He said confidently.

"You're welcome."

Silence funneled through the room, and Ash briefly felt like he wanted to ask her what she had been up to the last few days but she beat him to the jolt.

"Are you ready to leave?" She asked and Ash shook his head clear of thoughts. He maneuvered over to the vase and removed the dying roses from it before taking it into the bathroom to wash it out and dry it. From there, she eyed him as he set the face down beside the green bag, and then marched over to the small plastic bag he had folded up on the chair she used to sit in all the time—filled with a few scrap papers, the washroom supplies she purchased and the books she had given to him.

"Yep." he said while tucking the two items, as well as Agatha's gift into his bag and looking up confidently at Misty. Her face scrunched in return.

"You can just throw those out, Ash." She justified, pointing to the books and vase. He shook his head vehemently, unable to part with a gift that easily. He then scooped up the egg, and before she could deny him, tucked it into the backpack after laying his discarded clothes at the bottom of the bag for a cushion.

"It's fine." He assured her with a confident smile as he zipped from one corner to the other. Misty rapped her fingers on her bag and shrugged.

"I just need to stop by to talk with Dr. Abby, and sign off on the payment plan they said that they would create for me, and then we're good to go." As he spoke, his words to a less and less enthusiastic turn, especially nearing the payment plan method. He was going to have to work to pay for all of this treatment, he found out, it wasn't free. Unfortunately, he had no idea how he would pay—seeing as recovering coma patients with no experience and young mentalities didn't exactly scream 'hire me' on the job market. Ash's only skills consisted of understand pokemon and being slightly crazy. He wasn't exactly the most available for work.

Lost in his own thoughts, he almost missed the small up-turn of Misty's lips as she licked them.

"Well, then let's get that over with, shall we?"  
 **xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo**

Dr. Abby's loud room was only a few steps away from the physical therapy wing. She was housed between the dining room and the nurses station on the east wing, and classic music always filled the halls near her room. Misty didn't actually think she sounded strange on the phone...but after seeing the woman in person, she had her doubts. Ash knocked on the door frame to alert the pregnant woman of his presence. She turned, slightly swollen around her cheeks from her long pregnancy and smiled at the duo.

"Oh no! Is that today?" She whined, eyebrows lowering as she forced herself up from the seat, wrapping her left arm around her belly.

"Yep. Today's the day." Ash assured her, propping out his hand to assist with her standing; a motion that surprised Misty—a month ago, Ash didn't know he wasn't supposed to talk with his mouth full, now, he was helping women up from their seats. She wiggled here eyebrow with a coy smirk.

"Hi Dr. Abigail." Misty confirmed, shaking the woman's hand. "When are you due?" Misty asked after.

"Oh, soon. Very soon." She wavered, feeling light headed at the question. She waddled over to her desk where she revealed a paper and then smiled at the two of them.

"Goodbyes are always so difficult." She mustered and shook her head, "but may I have a few words with you Ms. Waterflower?"

Misty blinked curiously, unprepared for such a question. Since she left, she didn't think _anyone_ would be asking her for any more assistance—especially since Ash seemed so entirely capable on his won. He seemed stunned by the request as well and shared a brief glance with Misty.

"Yeah, I guess so." Misty gestured. "Go for it."  
"Oh," The doctor paused and looked at Ash. "I meant alone." She corrected, and Ash's face fell as he blinked worriedly.

"Oh." The duo said in unison, and Misty steps into the room so that Ash could step out. He lowered his eyebrows worriedly, and as usual the therapist waved him off.

"Nothing to worry about, we'll only be a few minutes." She said while Misty shrugged, offered a small smile of confidence, and then shut the door on Ash; leaving him to stand in the hallway like a stranger.

His eyes cast to the floor, trying to listen in on the conversation that they were having, only to remember that the large doors were fire-safety and practically sound proof when shut. He scowled wondering what in the world the therapist could need to talk with Misty about. She said that Ash made great progress, so much that he was even allowed to leave as planned and has his named cleared of Dr. Sebastian's nonsense—a task they found easier than expected since Dr. Sebastian's comments were thrown out because he had gone missing only a couple of days after Ash saw him.

Ash wiggled his hips slightly, still trying to adjust to the new clothes—they fit him nearly perfect. The pants legs were a little on the longer side, so he pulled them up a little bit higher as he took his bag and fell into the seat across the from the office. He wasn't sure how girls managed to do it, but they, at least Misty, seemed to know how to dress people with little effort. She did come strolling in wearing... _Whoa, weird thoughts, Ash._ Ash thought to himself while clapping his hands together and blowing out air. He glanced down at his watch—Agatha would be off and away on the bus to the bingo hall already, so he had nothing better to do than wait as he watched the other residents in wheelchairs be shuffled from their rooms to dining hall. He would be missing lunch today—hopefully he could swing by to grab a bite to eat at that burrito place Misty mentioned; he was tired of pre-made mush. It wasn't that the food was bad, it was just marketed to older people, so it was both really bland and typically really mushy.

He would have killed for a burger. Even though he hadn't had one in _years_ he could still not forget the greasy flavors mashed between fluffy white bread with a mixture of onions and dressings... He licked his lips staring up at the light at the top of the hallway. Man, he was hungry.

When the door clicked open again, Ash jumped from his seat at full attention, watching as Misty heaved a loud sigh, listening to a last comment from Dr. Abby as she shook her head slightly. She looked a little downtrodden, confused by whatever they talked about; possibly even a bit sad.

"Misty?" Ash called to her, catching her off guard. The look passed, and she stuck up her shoulders and forced a smile for him, clearing her throat.

"She said to send you in once we were done." She tugged her lips up, revealing her white teeth and Ash furrowed his brows slightly.

"Are you okay?"

After a very brief, barely there hesitation, she nodded confidently, but Ash could tell she didn't like how quickly he had caught on. He grinned at that while she moved to allow him to walk into the bright room.

"I'll just be out here when you're done, alright?" Misty said while wheeling away from him. Ash smiled briefly, watching her leave before shutting the door behind him as he walked into the familiar brightly colored room.

"What's up Dr. Abby?" he suggested calmly, slipping into his seat on the orange couch he had grown so familiar with. The woman smiled.

"You seem to be in a rather good mood." She observed and Ash nodded. Why wouldn't he be?

"Of course, I get to leave today, and on top of that I got to see Misty again." He said matter-of-fact, missing a very aware eyebrow raise from the doctor.

"I see..." She suggested calmly flattening out the folds of her skirt as she leaned forward. "Before I can let you leave, I need to make sure that you're okay."

"I am. I'm better than okay." he paused thoughtfully. "I'm ready." He added, feeling anxious as he palmed his blue-gray jeans, familiarizing himself with the fabric.

"So you admit that regardless of the truth about your dreams, you will continue to be okay?"

Ash nodded confidently. "Why, did you find something out?"  
"Well, yes and no. It's only a hypothesis." She said calmly, twisting her wedding band around her finger. Ash watched the action carefully as she swiped her hand through her blue-green hair.

"Do you remember when I said we would find a logical solution for some radical oddities?" She paused and he nodded. "I have some news that may come as bit of a shock—so I hope you're prepared." Ash's face scrunched up at the notion, and she offered him a soft smile. "If I didn't think you were prepared I wouldn't be tell you." She swore, watching Ash relax.

"What is it?" He asked, trying to remain confident.

"To start, I took the information you gave me a few weeks ago, as well as some of the things we have talked about since; and with the help of some nurses and doctors from Viridian City Hospital.. I believe I have pieced together a solution for you." She revealed a paper to Ash as she spoke, and he took it with gazing eyes. Reading over some of her suggestions before looking up at her worriedly.

"As you mentioned before the first person you traveled with was Misty." Ash nodded his confirmation. "She's the one who saved you from the forest; she is also the one who visited the most for the first three years of your coma—she was there as a cushion—the way your mind justified your irrational world."

Ash swallowed, "Okay?"

"So, after research, and my own studies, I believe that the reason you know so much about her is because during those three years when she would visit you every week she probably told you all of those things that you know about her. She was speaking to your subconscious and while we can't remember everything when we're awake, sometimes little comments remain the most important in a subconscious memory. She was speaking to your subconscious thoughts so you retained the information and even transformed the information from what she said, into your own dream world. You were essentially absorbing your surrounding areas and using them to fuel your own mind."

With the completion of her explanation, Ash exhaled; he had been told that once from Dr. Sebastian before he flew off the handle; thought, Ash thought that didn't answer how he knew the rest of the people; because Dr. Abby didn't say they weren't real.

"In regards to the _rest_ of the people you developed in your dream; they're all people that left a lasting impact on your unconscious state, it seems; your body, whether you realized it or not, acknowledged and related to something that they stood for, and so you brought them to live in your mind." She handed Ash a picture next, a piece of security footage that showed a picture of this-world's Brock walking into the hospital. Ash's breath hitched.

"Brock Harrison, the Pewter City gym leader was a frequent visitor to Viridian City hospital as well. He visited in the room beside of yours for almost two years after your coma initially started. I'm not obliged to tell you why he was visiting, but something about him reflected inside of you, and so you created him in your mind as a friend—possibly even an out for the fact that you would never age." Ash's face flushed when she referenced the idea that Brock represented his repressed sexuality. It was an idea he was not unfamiliar with; but as he was no, he wasn't really surprised. There was a lot about _that_ has didn't know, and _didn't want_ to know.

"Further on," She skipped, down the list. "Tracey Sketchit was a famous artist from the orange islands. He had a reality TV show that your mom used to watch in the room with you when she would visit."

"So my unconscious mind thought that I related to him in some way and I brought him in, too?" Ash paused, "Why wouldn't I just bring everyone in all at once?"

"Because you were constantly looking for a way to prove to yourself that you were moving forward without putting up alarms. Your mind knew that if things didn't change, you might have figured something was wrong and woken up. That's why when someone became too mature; you pressed the reset button."  
"Which is why my mind replaced Misty..?"

"Correct. The information she fed you was no longer current, so you had to start pulling from other sources; such is the case of May Maple a young girl from Hoenn. You were correct that she is the daughter of the Petalburg gym leaders..." She paused eying him. "But can you tell me what her profession is?"

"She competed in pokemon contests."

Dr. Abby shook her head confidently. "She's not even a pokemon trainer." She said while handing Ash a print out of the girl who looked like May holding a camera and walking through the safari zone, or what Ash thought was the safari zone.

"So why did I recreate May and her brother?" Ash asked.

"Aside from having to reset your mind periodically, she was headlining news about three years after your coma started. She got into a very serious accident during one of the early riots in Petalburg city and her and her family front-lined the papers as a symbol to represent an unjust government."

Ash's breath hitched; "is she okay?" he asked quickly and Dr. Abby nodded.

"Yes. She's fine now. But back then, her family, her brother, Max, included were activists against Team Rocket. According to your primary doctor; your mother watched the news station they were on when she visited."

"So, like Tracey, I found something in them that I reflected and dragged them into my world?"

Dr. Abby nodded; "Now you're getting it." She confirmed.

"As for Dawn, her mother was a famous top-coordinator, as is Dawn. She became famous around the time you were fifteen, taking the world by storm she was loved and advertised on nearly every news network."

"Fair enough..." Ash mused, a little deflated to know that his dreams were well.. just fabrications of reality after all. "What about Iris and Cilan?"

At the mention of those two, Dr. Abby rubbed her eyes and revealed a more recent picture of the Unova region to Ash; he had seen it a couple of times. _What was left_ of the region. It was a burnt, broken mess; and no matter how often he saw it, it still made his stomach churn.

"Iris, the only one I can assume you're talking about, was a tan, wild girl with large purple hair who raised dragon pokemon, right?"

"Right." Ash confirmed, setting the pictures on the coffee table, unable to look at them.

"We knew her as the Dragon Master; the last Champion from the Unova region before it was swarmed by Team Rocket three years ago. Her closest political partner? A green haired man named Cilan." Finishing her spiel, she presented Ash with a picture of what looked exactly like Iris, but older and with her hair tied up. She had the same determined look in her eyes as she stood at the top of a tower of sorts with none-other than Cilan standing beside her. The article below the picture however, made Ash's chest sink.

"They were pronounced dead, even though their bodies were never uncovered after the mini-war that Team Rocket ran on Unova during their attempt to capture rare dragon pokemon. In the end, the region was left in ruins, only being picked up my Kanto region in the most recent years—but the incident put Team Rocket and Giovanni behind bars."

Tears tugged at the back of Ash's eyes, but he wouldn't cry over it. It wasn't as if he really knew the duo. "But... I don't understand. She became a gym leader and Cilan pursued his dreams..."

"Ash, do you know what all of your dreams have in common, yet?" she asked sweetly, though Ash could only shake his head vehemently and drop the article as if it were on fire.

"Everyone that you fabricated gets a happy ending. Pokemon, people, the bad guys." Ash looked up at her with sad eyes. She continued. "Your mind pulled in people of great value that you felt you could relate to because that was your subconscious' way of making you believe that people were _real_ in your mind." She paused. "Your mind was so busy making sure that everyone was happy because if it told you the truth, you might have realized you stasis and woken up; correct?"

Ash shifted. "But I always lost..."

"But you somehow always managed to pick yourself back up, didn't you?"

Ash nodded, while the news should have come to no surprise to him, it was like getting punched.

"Finally, Serena, Clemont and Bonnie were pegged pretty accurately by Misty. Serena is a very famous ryhorn racer and actress in Kalos region known as "Princess Serena". Clemont is the head engineer of Silph Co. and Bonnie, while not amazingly interesting as the other two, has continued to be in news by her brother's famous nature, as well as her continued support of battling and attending tournaments."

"But Serena was a..." His eyebrows shifted and the woman shook her head.

"Show cases don't exist in this world, Ash. It's another one of those situations where when presented with something you didn't understand..." she trailed off.

"I made pokemon the answer." Ash finished for her with an abrupt sigh. "So you're trying to tell me that the reason I brought in these people were because I was influenced by them in some way?" He asked and Dr. Abby nodded.

"As I said it is most likely only a hypothesis, but it makes sense. You _know them_ because you do _know_ them. Your dream counterparts were based off of real world versions of those people." She suggested, getting a twitched from Ash.

He knew this. He had it drilled in his head over and over again that his dreams weren't real; that they didn't mean anything... and yet here he was—at the truth, he was still disappointed.

The corners of his mouth twitched. "So, the dreams didn't mean anything?"

"They meant something _to you_. But there doesn't seem to be a higher meaning—I'm sorry." She said sadly, watching him shift and glance to the door.

"So I'm just a victim of circumstance after all." He paused. "I'm totally normal?" He asked, looking at her with doe eyes.

"As normal as you want to be." She offered and Ash gave her an innocent smile, wrapped in slight devastation. He sighed.

"I just thought that if there was some higher meaning for why I was in a coma it would be easier to cope." He admit disappointingly, but the doctor clasped her hands together slowly and offered him a soft sigh.

"Was it helpful? Believing in that?"

Ash scoffed. "No, actually." he paused. "Still sucks knowing that I'll never get those ten years back." He admit sadly, one of the most honest replies he had given to Dr. Abby since her turn. She smiled.

"But you still have years to make up that lost time. Remember, things will get better. They always do." She suggested, standing up from her seat to grasp his shoulder. He nodded slightly.

"I guess I will just have to take it day by day and find out." he murmured, also rising. He shared a brief handshake with the therapist before she happily clapped him on the shoulder, her enthusiastic nature transferring through his skin.

"Get out there and be something, Ash." She suggested, and Ash found himself grinning.

"Thank you."

After a short goodbye with the woman, who gave him a small goody-bag full of candy, Ash shuffled from the therapist room to the end of the hallway towards the entrance doors where he saw Misty talking with the administrator. Wondering if what she said was true, about all of those people he rubbed his hands together. Logically, what she suggested made the most sense—but still, something felt off about the accusation. It wasn't wrong, he knew, she was only trying to help...but a part of him. He neared Misty who handed a clipboard with a mixture of signatures to the administrator. She shared a brief smile with him before he walked in to go over his own paperwork.

A part of him _knew_ there had to be more.

"So, I just need you to sign here, and here." The administrator pointed to the signature lines of three papers. Ash glanced over the remaining work. They were simply release papers—one of the them was his therapist check, signed by Dr. Abby that he checked out mentally, the other paper was his physical therapist who assured that he was physically capable of taking care of himself; and the last one was his acceptance that he was ready to leave the facility, and that he felt his time was spent well and he understood the rules and regulations he was leaving on. He signed each paper and then looked up at the woman with wide eyes.

"I thought Pam drew up a payment plan?" Ash suggested, not catching the brief glance that the administrator shared with Misty who shook her head.

"It was already paid for. Don't worry about it?"

"Paid for?" Ash gasped. "By who?" His heart raced, he could only assume his mother!

"By an anonymous donor. Sh-they wanted to remain unknown." The administrator suggested while taking the paper work from Ash. Flabbergasted, he wasn't sure what to say.

"I don't even get a hint?" He asked, practically being pushed out of the office by the woman. Misty was standing at the front door, waiting for Ash to pull on his winter jacket as the administrator shared a brief goodbye.

"I only want to see you again as a visitor. And I mean that." She told him sternly, getting Ash to smile as he and Misty walked out of the facility together. A brief silence passed between the two of them as they pranced from the entrance and down to the sidewalk path that would take them into the city. Misty watched his dopey expression with amusement.

"Did Dr. Abby tell you?" She asked awkwardly, cutting through the silence. She also pulled him out of his list of people that would pay for his bills.

"That everything I knew was because of subconscious thought?" He noded albeit sadly.

Misty reached out, grasping his shoulder gently. "Are you okay?" She asked, and he looked up at her, noticing how she had wrapped the scarf neatly around her neck. He made a face.

"I'm alive." he said sarcastically, unable to stop himself from adding; "I guess I know that I'm not crazy, so that's good." _and I'm not special_ he added as an after thought. He stuffed his hands into his new jean pockets and sighed.

"I suppose so." Misty pursed her lips as she let her hand fall off of his shoulder. They walked in relative silence for about a quarter mile before Misty spoke again.

"So you're not special after all."

"I guess not." he looked down, and for a short moment, Misty felt bad for him. "There goes my plan to become a famous fortune teller..." He joked. His phrase catching her by surprise, she let out a bellowing laugh—an honest laugh.

"Oh well, what's so great about being special anyways?" She asked with a grin, crossing her arms confidently. "Perfectly average people accomplish amazing feats everyday." She said, almost heroically.

Ash pursed his lips, eyelids lowering slightly; "Like paying for a stranger's medical bills?"

Misty stumbled and choked, raising her fist to her mouth as she coughed. Ash watched as her reaction felt so insincere and his face scrunched up.

"Who would do that?" She wheezed, trying to deny her position but Ash threw up his arms.

"So it was you!" he yelped, slapping his forehead.

"Was not!" She argued right away, walking a pace ahead of him, but he kept up.

"Then why were _you signing_ papers when I saw you?" he argued back, nudging her on the arm. She scoffed, but couldn't find a viable excuse.

She whistled; "I liked it better when you _didn't_ know anything going on around you."  
"What's what supposed to mean?" he fumbled, "Hey, wait a minute! Why did you pay?" He ran to catch up with her, becoming slightly winded at such a jarring, uphill motion. Misty wrapped her fingers on her bag as they started on to the paved roads.

"Did you look at those bills? You wouldn't have been able to pay them off and they would have probably taken you to court and you would be spending time in jail trying to pay for something you _needed._ "

"Yeah but that's _my responsibility_."

"But it shouldn't have been. You were only ten when you went down. It wasn't fair that you should be hammered with all these bills right after." She argued, causing that familiar thump to form in Ash's chest. His hands shook, too.

He pursed his lips, they were almost sprinting by this point; "So you were the one that put in my application to leave the hospital, too?"

She shouted back, "Yeah. There was no way I was going to be able to afford what the hospital was charging."

"You've been looking at the price since back then?" He whined, grabbing her wrist to bring her to a winded stop.

"Well, were _you_ going to make a payment plan to cover sixty grand in medical bills in over two years? It's not like someone with your experience can get a decent job." She snapped the hard truth at him, watching him like a hawk. His face lowered, and he sucked in.

"Thank you, Misty." He said, lowering his gaze to the sidewalk and then slapped his face, running his land down his orifices. "At this point, though, I think I owe you my life; I don't know how I could ever repay you."

She snorted and smacked her lips releasing her wrist from his grasp with one swift motion; "First off by repaying _me_." She warned him, feeling his body go limp beside hers.

"I paid so you wouldn't have to be stuck in Viridian City or charged with a million dollars of interest leading to twenty years of hospital fees!" She said while flicking her dark sunglasses on to shade the bright sun. "That doesn't mean _you are not_ paying me back!" She half-shouted and Ash could feel his soul leave his body.

Why did this moment in particular feel so ungodly familiar? He inhaled, feeling a bead of sweat down his back, suddenly her once so placid, timid eyes seemed like demons—and he understood the nickname.

"So on our way to Pallet Town we should have plenty of time to discuss what you _owe_ me." She said nonchalantly while revealing a receipt book. Ash suddenly felt like the very clothes on his back were made of fire and and he wanted to flee. But his attention was drawn else where.

"You're coming with me?" he squeaked feeling a slight smile tug at his lips. "Misty, that's..."

Misty blushed for only a moment at the dazed appearance of his eyes, but covered it effortlessly by snapping at him; "Don't get all mushy! I'm only going so when we find your mom I can explain the situation."

Ash could feel pinpricks on his back; "What?" He shouted, unsure of if he should laugh, or scream.

"Don't think I won't ask her for money, Ketchum." She addressed him sternly raising her index finger for emphasis, and Ash followed after her heatedly.

"I hope you're joking..." he groaned, rubbing his temples.

Misty snort-laughed as she started towards the forest path to avoid the major city which would be bustling with traffic and take hours to get through.

"I never joke about these things." She admit flicking her hair at him and Ash could only slap his forehead once again. What happened to the sweet, nice Misty from before? He looked at her back right as she looked back at him, grinning ear to ear with an adorning twinkle in her eye. His heart skipped.

 _Oh._

 **Author's Note:**

I write a chapter like this one, and I want to explain some themes but then I have to stop myself because I will ruin a later chapter if I do. If you have questions; don't be scared to ask! I wanted to get this chapter up fast because yesterdays update seemed so blah (At least to me).

Thank you all once again for all the lovely reviews -hearts-


	11. Chapter 11: Road to Pallet Town

**Locked Away, Chapter 11: but there was no answer.**

Ash and Misty stopped only very briefly at the sandwich shop on the outskirts of Viridian City. Ash complained a little that he did not get to see much of the city, but Misty insisted they go around it; less they be unfortunate enough to spend the rest of the day there. Viridian City was busy, especially during the noon lunch rush; and Misty was not in the mood to fight off crowds, especially with a former coma patient.

During the first part of their walk, they ate their lunch in momentary silence, choosing to walk and eat rather than sit. Other than the moderate scuffle of their shoes pressing against the dirt path leading into route one forest, they were surrounded by the open air and sounds of pokemon. Ash ate everything relatively quickly, having still needed the food for the extra force he exerted on his body, while Misty tucked and wrapped the rest of her sandwich and packed it away into her purse for later. Along with food, they purchased to water bottles which Misty shoved into Ash's bag. Pallet Town was only a two and a half hour walk from Viridian City, but it was still a walk, and Ash was still out of shape—if only a little.

He wheezed behind her. _A lot_. The raven-haired boy had not realized yet how much his body did not agree with the natural weather and slope of the land. Ahead of him a few paces, Misty walked with her hands on her hips, as if she were counting her steps; she was perfectly fine during their walk. Which meant it was only _Ash_ who was having a hard time. The wind cut through him, and his jacket, sending uncomfortable chills down his entire body. He wrapped his arms around his chest and shuddered, trying to pull warmth from his body as he was borderline freezing in the winter weather. Along side the sweeping motions of going up and down on the winding path, trying to keep up with Misty, his entire body threatened to collapse in on itself. Perhaps lying about how his outside walks affected him was a poor decision, because now, he nearly collapsed by the time he hunched over to hack and press his hands against his knees.

Ash came to an abrupt stop, hacking on his own lungs while he tried to press the cold air out of his body. His throat felt like fire, but his everything else felt like ice; what a horrible feeling. Preoccupied by trying to keep up with Misty, he didn't realize just how much his body ached and twisted which each pounding step against the dirt path. Focused on placing one foot in front of the other, he nearly forgot to breath—and was suffering the repercussions now.

The gym leader noticed right away that he was wheezing behind her, and came to a sudden stop at the quarter mile marker while she traced back to check on him. Arm outstretched to sooth the wrinkles over his back; she could feel his muscles spasms with each heave.

Her face scrunched up; "Are you okay?" She asked gracefully.

His best attempt was to raise his fist and nod his head. Up close, Misty could see ow clammy his skin was, the beads of cold sweat forming on his brow and how pale his colorful cheeks where. He wheezed again.

"I'm fine." Ash choked, forcing himself to rise. Misty grimaced, he sounded worse than he looked, and so she eyed him skeptically for a moment before fishing for their water bottles in his backpack.

"I thought the physical therapist checked you out?" She grumbled aggravatingly while placing the water into Ash's clenched fingers. He exhaled, smacked his dry lips and sipped the water—though not too quickly. He didn't feel like throwing up all of that food and liquid.

"She did...it's just..." He coughed while shaking his head. "Short bursts..." He added pathetically, looking at her from the corner of his eyes. Misty huffed.

"Thanks for letting me know." Misty grunted sarcastically, watching him shiver in discomfort. "We should rest for awhile."

Ash snapped up, trying to steady his wobbling feet; "No, I'm fine." he assured her, but she very carefully followed his assurance with a swift kick in the knee.

"No you're not. You're wheezing. Go sit down." She warned him, nearly grabbing him by his collar and dragging him to a tree off the path. Ash did not fight her, instead, he limped, holding his knee while she pointed him to the ground. He did sit. He fell.

"What was that _for_?" He grimaced, stroking his sore shin while she plopped into the grass beside him, tucking her knees up to her chest and resting her elbows on them.

"You shouldn't push yourself so hard. You're going to hurt yourself." She scolded him with an evil glare, stunting any complaints he might have had about the situation.

Ash chuckled at the irony as Misty's eyes turned to the forest opposite them thoughtfully. "You don't want me to hurt myself, yet, you hit me?" He grinned, getting an eye roll in return.

Once again occupied with something other than catching his breath or walking, the harsh gust of wind shrieked through his clothes, and he shuddered. The worst thing about adapting to the new world was adjusting to the climate change. He spend on average about two hours outside during his time at the facility, he had no time to adjust to the atmospheric condition and was in turn frozen from the inside because of it. Catching onto this, Misty hummed silently, and unwrapped the red scarf she had been returned, and before he could object, draped it around his collar.

"I don't know why you bothered returning that. You're like a human icicle." she crooned.

"I am not." He shuddered in his defense, though he did not have the strength to reject the searing heat that poured forth from the scarf. Ash wrapped it around his lower mouth and chest and grimaced uncomfortably. At some point, he _was_ going to need to pay all of this back to her. The felt into the song of the forest, the gust of the wind whipping above head as Misty sucked in air and then pursed her lips.

"So... This is where I found you." She said suddenly, taking Ash by surprise.

He looked forward, seeing no resemblance of the forest he could narrate to his past. Instead, he offered her a side glance and rubbed his hands together as she spoke again.

"Would be a little ironic if you passed out here again. So, when you need a break. Say so. There is nothing wrong with going a bit slower when you're not one hundred percent." She murmured tiredly, and Ash folded his arms around his chest, tucking his hands into his sleeves as he cris-crossed his legs.

"I know." he muttered but hunched forward slightly. "But I need to get to Pallet Town."

Misty was not sure what to respond. In respect, she knew the feeling of trying to search for someone that he may never find, but she did not understand why he would push himself so hard. Possibly, she did not understand what he was going through—she hadn't lost ten years of her life. After spending so long waiting to see his family, and then what felt like forever 'recovering' to a point he could finally take action, Ash could not, would not stop. He had to keep going.

However, no matter how bold his mind was; his body was simply not ready for the task, he heaved slightly, letting his shoulders droop and then looked at Misty from the corner of his eye holding his head up with his hand while his elbow rested on his knee.

"How do you know this is the place?" He asked, and Misty could only shrug, and raise her finger to point at a tree across from them which had a huge gash in the middle.

"That tree caught on fire. It was the only one that didn't burn up after the explosion." Misty offered with a twist of her head and a soft smile. Ash hadn't even noticed, he turned his gaze to the tree and his face faltered and his eye lids lifted.

The trees around Route one were as lush this time of year as they ever would be. Early fall always turned the leaves yellow but out here; the colors in the rainbow were multiplied. Gorgeous reds met in the center with howling yellows, encrusted together with feathers of bright orange and peach. Greens stung the most promising pictures, delicate flowers had long since passed, leaving room for the yellow weed creations and forcing grass pokemon into hibernation. Winter was coming, and would be here soon.

Misty followed his gaze, and tilted her head. Route one, no matter what the conditions were, remained untouched. Storms were like brief periods time stood still. It pleased all four seasons, elegantly dodged all severe weather storms, and carefully created a world of its own. That was the primary reason Viridian City never branched out towards Pallet Town. Route one in of itself was a tourist escape, everyone wanted to be here; because they said when a person least expected it, they would see rainbows in the sky as high as they eye could see; granting ever lasting happiness.

"I remember..." Ash muttered suddenly, looking up at the clear sky. Misty pursed her lips and blinked.

"Remember what?" she inquired.

His eyebrows knit together, trying to frame the memory but could not. He laughed earnestly. "I don't know." He rubbed his scalp beneath his hat, but felt a bit warmer than he had at the start—maybe it was the scarf he was given that blocked the wind from reaching his chest—or maybe it was something else.

Abruptly, worry flashed over his eyes and he jumped to his feet, staggering only faintly.

"I forgot my journal at the home." He said timidly, facing the direction of Viridian City; which was already a good thirty minutes away. Misty followed him to his feet and lowered her eyebrows.

"...Does it matter?" She asked abrasively though Ash could not argue a valid reason for the journal to suddenly be important—or why he remembered it so.

His shoulders fell, and then rose. "...No, actually." offering her a sad, accepting look. She smiled at him and wrapped her arm around his shoulder in a quick, sloppy side hug that pressed new chills down his back. He didn't need it; he knew that. He needed to move on from the empty pages of hollow dreams...but something tugged at him.

"You'll be okay Ash. Just take one step at a time." She assured him, and then pointed to the direction of Pallet town. "Preferably in that direction, because I'm sort of hoping to take the train home and the station closes at 10:00pm there." She added with a snark smirk.

Ash could not help but roll his eyes, but then quickly replaced his tantrum with a grin. "It's not going to take ten hours to get there, Misty."

"With the rate you're going. It just might." She gestured to his sluggish movements as he pouted his lips and glared at her.

"This is why I don't want to tell you when I'm tired." he puffed his cheeks. "You make fun of me." He argued earning a hysterical laugh from Misty who grabbed her stomach in glee. Ash found himself chuckling as well.

"I just might have to leave you at some point—but you can make camp on your own, can't you?" She joked, nudging him in the upper arm, his pout returned full force.

"Probably not." he gestured with his hands as if saying 'I technically have no real life experience with anything', following his statement with: "The wolves would eat me."

With that, they both chuckled to one another, tossing empty insults to one another to pass the time; as well as following up with Misty's rather intense lecture on how he better pay her back—or else.

 **Xoxoxoxoxoxooooxoxo**

Dr. Abby twisted in her seat, pressing her well manicured fingers against her belly and sighing compulsively. She hadn't taken on anymore patients since Ash left, and didn't plan to. She would be on maternity leave in less than two weeks; and would just have to pass her time until then.

A light knock came to the door; without being heard, she knew who was there.

"Come in Mary." Dr. Abby called to the woman nurse; and needless to say, yellow hair poked into the vibrantly colored room.

"I found the journal. I didn't even need to steal it. He left it." Mary grimaced, handing Dr. Abby the journal. "I don't know why you needed it though." The yellow haired woman tossed, getting a sad smile in respect.

"It's just for follow up in case anything ever happens. Don't worry about it." Dr. Abby waved her hand to send Mary off but then paused short, "Thank you, by the way."

"No problem! Just remember you owe me a picture with the Cerulean City Gym Leader!" Mary sang before excusing herself from the therapists office.

Left to herself, Dr. Abby brushed her fingers over the creases of the book, and then flipped it open to scan the haphazard hand-writing that was Ash Ketchum. Where his words started off short, messy, and almost illegible, they grew into exaggerated, long journal entries. Talking often about how he missed his mom and pikachu, and wondering why his chest hurt so much when he thought about Misty. Written through all the pages mixed with confessions of his dreams—how he had reoccurring nightmares he never told anyone; ones where he never wakes up and sits in a black abyss, titled with ones about his world. How he was upset sometimes that the people he knew weren't real and 'didn't remember him'. Frequently, he mentions inside jokes he shared with Misty that are no longer relevant, and then writes on about how technically they were just inside jokes with himself. Amongst writing about his feelings and over all struggles with recovery; he wrote in great detail about the people he knew and met, written with fine detail that no-normal person should have known, as well about their pokemon and about _legendary_ pokemon. Legendary pokemon were mentioned seldom but when they were; they were written with great class, listing names; and locations.

...Doing Ash a favor, Dr. Abby tore out a few pages about his traveling companions and any connections that they had with unknown pokemon and legendary pokemon; as well as any page that indicated Misty what so ever. The gym leader was already on _their_ bad side, and Dr. Abby would hate to ever see something happen to the young woman.

After securing the torn pages, she spun to drop them into her shredder before picking up, not her office land-line, but her cellphone which had been tucked away in her back pocket. Dialing a horribly familiar number, she placed the phone up to her ear to listen to the ring echo back at her.

"Did you receive the package?" The voice echoed from the other side. Dr. Abby smacked her lips.

"Yes, I have the journal." She muttered; flipping through its pages once more. "It has all the information that you wanted."

"You sound _disappointed_ , Abigail, should I be worried?"

"No." She said quickly, glancing at the pictures of her family hanging above the window on her shelf, she choked and stumbled on her words for a second. "It's all taken care of. I'll drop the journal off tonight."  
"Good girl. Did he suspect anything?"

"No sir." She responded quickly, tugging on the hems of her shirt.

"Good. Then I'll see you tonight."

"See you, Sebastian." Abigail muttered before clicking the phone call off. She exhaled once again and glared down at the purple bound journal and ran her fingers through her blue-green hair one last time before standing, and preparing her leave.

 **Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo**

"Well, at least now we know that route one can take five and a half hours to travel if you stop every thirty minutes." Misty whistled while putting her hand over her eyes to block the view of the fading sun in the distance. Ash grimaced in response, having drank all of his water; and most of Misty's. She was enjoying this too much, poking fun at his misfortune—it was almost like having _his_ Misty back. Guess whatever she told him in his sleep created a spot-on replica of her real life personality; aside from the pretty, girl features. Ash smacked his face at the thought and she crossed her arms, standing at the hill facing southern Pallet Town.

She looked back at him, as he had no yet been aware of the transition of forest into town as he clung to the shade of the trees. His entire body felt like it would collapse on itself; physical therapy did _not_ prepare him for this incline. At this point in his life, wheezing and chest rising and falling deep, he was sure he hated hills. They were the evil reincarnations of hell. On several occasions Misty offered him a helping hand, but he refused it every time. He had to do this on his own.

As he stood up, backing straightening while he gleamed at the city, a wave of nostalgia and angst washed over his features—and he was petrified. The houses were all different shades than he remembered, the leaves were all falling to the winter season and the entire town had grown at least by a few thousand, as the edge of the town could no longer be seen from the hill top where he stood. Maybe they finally perfected the harbor? Built that radio tower? He wasn't sure, but he could see the stream that ran through the center of town, and his breath hitched at the back of his throat.

He was homesick. So _damn_ homesick his entire time at the facility, but now that he was facing it; the intense smell of farms and grassland petrified him. He had not been home in _ten years_. Was this really even his home now? Technically, he spent more time in Viridian City now than he had his home town.

"Do you remember which one is your house?" Misty asked, standing beside him as she glanced over the fullness of the city—spotting dominantly the pokemon laboratory at the top of the hill on the south eastern part of town; an odd, lumbering facility that seemed so foreign in the small town of Pallet.

"Yes." Ash choked, in disbelief that he was really standing here. Finally.

He could go home.

"Well, why don't you rest for a minute and then we'll-" He exploded into a full sprint down the hill, interrupting and catching Misty by surprise as she kicked her own feet out to follow him instinctively.

"Ash, don't run!" She shouted after him.

In a sprint like this, their height became a dominant player; his legs were longer than hers, thus his strides were bolder, his motions smoother. For every step Misty took, he two took. However, stamina wise, Misty had him beat by leaps and bounds. His recovery speed was phenomenal, however, skipping time to process what he has seen entirely, and breaking into a full run. She just didn't understand this guy!

Truthfully, Ash wasn't entirely sure _what_ he was doing. He was acting before thinking, something that he most definitely needed, otherwise, he might not have been able to move. At the mention of his house growing up—the white, slightly pink tint siding of the house with a bold red roof—a white picket fence. His heart nearly bound out of his chest. He was so close he could _feel_ it. The ache in his shoulders, the twists in his knees—nothing could stop him now.

Ash swung around the corner onto the dirt road to his house, one that faced the forest on one side, with a beautiful open country meadow surrounding the house. He paused only briefly, allotting Misty just enough time to call after him before he broke out into another spring. In the distance, he could see the house, no longer lumbering at the end of the street on its own. Two more houses perched beside it, and the large meadow was more of a neighborhood, but his _house_ was untouched. The same.

He passed a single field on his way down the hill, taking in the familiar scent of wild flowers and he was a kid again, running home from Professor Oak's lab with a jump in his step and a whistle in his heart.

The excitement faded quickly, however, as his plethora of mixed emotions fell into a catatonic state that could only be classified as beaming horror. He lurched to a sudden stop, his feet grinding into the dirt as he nearly plummeted into the group before his house.

Everything was the same the garden, the apple tree, the shrubs; even the color was the same. What was not, however, was the name painted on the mail box.

"Ketchum" was missing.

At the time he realized this, Misty had finally caught up breaking harshly as she approached him slowly. She reached forward, prepared to scold him until she saw the look of devastation written across his face. Her gaze moved nonchalantly to follow his, and she looked up at the house which had probably been Ash's entire world growing up; and grimaced.

Not knowing any better, she raised her finger. "Is that your dad?" She asked, pointing to an older man with brown hair who they could see from outside the kitchen window.

Swallowing down a lump, limbs having gone numb, Ash shook his head timidly and lowered his gaze. Misty glanced from his sad disposition, where he seemed to fade into the back ground and looked up once again at the house.

Carefully, she clicked the gate open.

"What are you doing?" He snapped, but Misty pressed forward.

"We came all the way here; we're going to knock." She growled gently, maneuvering over the steps to arrive at the front door. Sparing a short glance at Ash, who hadn't moved from his scowling position at the end of the walk, Misty looked forward herself. Looks like she would do this on her own.

She knocked.

At first, no reply came, and so she knocked again; knowing that someone was living there because they saw him only seconds ago. Misty was about to knock again, raising her fist impatiently to the door when it swung open with click. Standing before her was a burly man with brown hair, cradling a young girl in his right arm, and had another, an older boy hiding behind his right leg.

"Hello, what can I do for you?" he asked, his calm voice a surprise for his other wise burly appearance. Misty gulped, stammered, even.

"Ah, well... Uhm." She started, but remembering that Ash was standing behind her, riding on this, she shook her confusion and fear away. She gestured to Ash. "He used to live here. I was wondering if you could let him look around..." She asked, clearing her throat. The man, who had a golden band around his left finger so Misty could only assume he was married quirked his eyebrows.

"And why doesn't he ask himself?"

"He's a little shell-shocked. He was expecting his mother to be here." Misty admit honestly, though she could hear Ash exhale from behind her.

"His mother?" The married man grinned, "Delia's boy?"

From behind Misty, Ash looked forward, his chocolate eyes twinkling gently at the mention of his mother; the look, however, did not last.

"Yes, is she here?" Misty questioned eagerly.

"I thought he was dead?" The man followed up with, "Delia moved years ago."

Ash felt his soul leave his body. He hunched forward slightly, but kept his feet firmly planted on the ground and his chest tightened up. Misty's jaw cocked.

"No. He was comatose." Misty corrected, albeit harshly.

The married man didn't seem to believe her. "But news here said she pulled the plug."

 _So news had gotten back to Pallet Town_. Ash thought, running his shaking hand over his face. Misty inhaled, standing firm in spite of herself.

"He woke up. His name is Ash Ketchum. He won't bother you for long he just-"

"No...it's fine, Misty." Ash muttered from behind, looking down just far enough to have his eyes become hidden by the shade of his hat. In the fading light of the sun, Misty could see the cracks in his aged demeanor, but it didn't last long; because unable to handle the truth of the moment, he fled. Fast.

"Ash wait!" Misty called, but he was already gone down the road.

"I'm really so-" but as per usual, Misty didn't give the man time to finish his comment before she bound after Ash ripping through the white fence, pumping blood into her legs to propel herself forward.

Ash's heart pounded in his head, his flesh burned like someone had thrown a torch at him and his entire body thrived in agony. Ash's entire world was spinning out of control by the time he came to a roaring, stumble of a stop where he slid down a damn hill, and right near the river bank where he spent most of his childhood days. Watching the crystal stream flowing around rocks and plants, his heart shattered. Slipping his backpack off his shoulders, he fell to his knees and pressed his palms into the soil.

For the second time since he woke up—he wished that he had not.

"Ash!?" He could hear Misty call for him from the road, but it was doubtful she would find him here, especially now that the sun was setting. It would be dark soon, and not only would he be cold, and wet; he would be isolated and in the dark. Like the rest of his life, only he would be facing the truth of it. This had to be a nightmare, every time he picked himself up, he got kicked down harder; first with his adventures, then with his life, now with his mother. She was _supposed_ to be here!

Ash pinched his arm finally, subjecting himself to a short bout of pain as salty tears formed in the corners of his eye. This had to be a dream. A terrible, horrible dream. For months since he woke up, he accepting one foot fall after another, pushing himself forward one step at a time. He moved forward. Ash was a fighter, he never gave up—but what was left of his world?

Nothing he could remember. He pinched himself again, breaking into a full sob as he tugged on his backpack, the latch falling open and the contents spilling out. Swiping at his tears, he fell over on his back, not minding the swish of the mud beneath his jacket, or even the uncomfortable, stinging pressure of the sharp rock that prodded his lower back. Pain was a good indicator, a good reminder; he wasn't dreaming.

Obviously, he was in hell. Somewhere along the way, he pissed someone off real well; and this was his punishment. That had to be the only reason he could think that he would go through this. His brown eyes traced the top of the forest as his salty tears crashed against his skin.

Misty called to him once more; "Ash...?" She stammered following the sound of his sobbing. Having slipped behind one of the shrubbery where if he looked he could have seen her; but he was occupied with the yellows and oranges of the damning sky. He laid sprawled out on the ground, his hands meshed beside his head in a fitful orientation. Misty moved towards him slowly, thinking twice to get near him in case he truly did snap, and instead, she found her way to the bag that had fallen, and scooped up the egg that laid forgotten.

"Ash?" She called to him again, cradling the warm egg building confidence to stand beside him with each step she drew closer. Until finally, she squat beside him, and brushed her hand gently against his shoulder, indicating her presence, and finally garnering his attention.

Blankly, he looked up at her. For the first time in months his raw, detrimental emotion casting over every bone in his body. Where was he supposed to start? He had been in a coma for ten years, he lost his best friends, his entire life was made up—he neglected his family, his friends his journey, his life; in favor of imagination land that had no somnolence of reality except for what he pulled into it. On top of that, he worried everyday that he would mess up; that he would slip up and fall back into a coma. It was unheard of, but so were capable, fully functional adults after ten years of being in a coma. Already, Ash was more than an oddity, he was a legend in his own right.

His face screwed up as he looked at her patient, sea-green eyes. Ash lost yen years of his life he would never get back, and now, his pokemon, and his mother was gone fro the house he grew up in—and instead some stranger lived there who believed Ash was dead. Maybe he was dead? Maybe this was some kind of purgatory and he was stuck in the midst of hell. Tears still pouring from his eyes, his mouth moved without his permission.

"This is hell." Was all he managed before turning his gaze up at the dying light.

His comment struck a chord in Misty, and she sucked in her lips feeling her own tears swell. This wasn't how today was supposed to be. For once, Ash was supposed to find his mom, find anything; and yet, here they were. Right back where he started.

"Sure, it's hard now, Ash...but..." She tried, but it fell on deaf ears. Ash did not want to be told how it was going to 'get better' because 'it always did'. No, he wanted to stare up at the sky, and wallow in his misery for awhile-forever; though, he could not tell Misty this. Not after everything she did for him.

Actually, Ash was surprised when her hand found perch in his own and squeezed his fingers tightly. It almost brought his eyes back down to hers, but he couldn't face her at the moment while she brushed her thumb along his comfortingly. The way her sisters did for her when their parents left so many years ago.

Nevertheless, Misty did not have the heart to tell Ash that it was going to be okay because she did not know that it would be. She didn't know what to say, so instead, she offered her condolences with a physical touch. If she had any inkling that Delia would not be here anymore when they arrived, she wouldn't have been bothered to get his hopes up. And boy, Misty felt like shit over it. This ordeal seemed like the end of a bad adventure; like Delia should have been here to enjoy the fact that her son was now finally wake for the first time in years, and yet she was gone. Moved away somewhere. Poof. This feeling reflected in Ash's eyes without him having to say it.

"This isn't hell, Ash." Misty tried to reassure him, but he could not hear her; he shook his head viciously.

"How can you say that?" He suddenly rocketed forward, sitting up and almost knocking her backwards. She landed firm on her knees, kneeling beside him as his face whipped around. As if it would help, she squeezed his hand harder.

"I've been _trying_ for months Misty. That's all I've been doing; but... damn it. I woke up from an adventure where it's fun and lighthearted and everyone is happy to _this_! This is a nightmare, Misty. First I lost my best friends, and now my mom, not to mention ten years." His tone was not one of anger as she thought it was at first. No, as he leaned his forehead against the palm of his hand, she could see the bewildering sadness. His voice was shaking, borderline timid like he would scream if his vocal cords would let him. Misty squeezed his hand in response, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Ash, I'm sorry...it's just... sometimes the world is a bad place, and a scary one; but that's what makes it life. You couldn't live in a dream world for the rest of your life, Ash. That's not living. It's playing make-believe." Misty tried to offer her support logically, but he was too far away to hear.

"I just can't believe this... I'm just... done." He muttered with a shake of his head, slipping his hands away from hers to hold his stomach and lean forward, bringing his knees up to his face. His hat popped up off his hair slightly, and having heard his explanation she bit her lip and then growled.

 _Thump_

"Ow!" He winced in pain, when Misty's fist made absolute contact with his shoulder. His eyes glared at her, full of terror and confusion. "What in the world was that for?!"

Her face turned into one of fury. "We've already played this game, Ash. You know it's going to be hard from here. I can't pity you if you just give up, especially not after how hard you've worked! So what there are a few bumps in the road and it's hard and miserable and _nothing_ is like it was! But that's life!" She threw up her arms for emphasis, gesturing to the great world above them. Her voice causing pidgey's to escape their perch on branches. "It sucks right now but eventually it _will_ get better!"

Ash snapped back at her. "You don't understand! I've been essentially dead for ten years and you expect me to be all accepting and ready to face the world in under two months?!"

"Yes!" Misty shouted. "According to what you've said about yourself, you can get past this!" She yelled quickly adding.

"You're alive, doesn't that count for anything? So you're alone, you'll manage, that's what people do." She whined, shedding a tear for only a second before she wiped it away avoiding his gaze.

"It's not fair..." Ash grimaced, shoulders falling. Misty shook her head, and grabbed his shoulder firmly.

"Sometimes life isn't fair, but I believe that everything happens for a reason—you're strong enough to get through this." She encouraged him, gripping his shoulder to comfort him. He shuddered, drooping his head.

"I..." He started painfully, and she could see the tears start once again in the corner of his eyes. "I'm not ready for this, Mist..."

Before he could fall into another relapse, Misty hugged him—not the most sentimental person herself-it was a bit rough around the edges. They sat at an awkward position, so the egg pressed against Ash's beating heart as she pulled his face into the crook of her neck and pat the back of his neck. Shortly after, his tears soaked the collar of her shirt and she breathed onto his head comfortingly.

"It'll be alright." She cooed motherly. Unlike their normal two second embraces, where Ash would bounce, unsure of what to do with himself, his hands clawed at her back; wrapping the fabrics of her coat into balls. Once again, his age, his stunted mentality played so importantly in her mind. As a twenty year old, he should have long outgrown bursts of tears—but who he was right now. This was just the tip of the iceberg.

So she let him cry. His sobs filled the silent forest once the sun died behind the horizon, the gentle shudder of his body slowing with each passing pidgey. Misty's hand even grew tired stroking the damp fabric on his back, but she didn't budge. He needed this, and so if she could do nothing else for the boy; she would do this.

Nearly thirty minutes had passed when Ash finally found the courage to release the folds of her jacket and reel backwards, sniffling just enough to throw a wrench into Misty's heart. His eyes were puffy and blood shot, but he looked better. His eyes didn't look as dead as they had previously. She nudged him gently, and slipped the egg into his hands before tossing off her purse.

"I have a handkerchief in my bag, just give me one..." the moment the egg was placed into Ash's lap, a strange heat radiated from the surface of the shell. The sad trainer startled by the sudden change could feel the intense vibrations as he blinked down, gazing upon the egg with otherwise great surprise as it changed shape.

"It's hatching!" Misty gasped, dropping her bag into the dirt below and leaning forward beside Ash to watch with eager eyes the transformation of the egg as a short light abbreviated from its cracks. Looking away they both covered their eyes, Ash with his hat and Misty with her hands, as the small pokemon cracked forth.

Seconds later, they heard a slight squeal echo through the forest, a painfully familiar, yet pleasant sound as Ash spun his head around to glare at the small pokemon which remained relatively the same size as it had previously. Misty's eyes grew wide, and her head tilted.

"What kind of weird pokemon is that?" Misty fumbled through her bag, but a slight edge in Ash's eyes formed, and he grinned happily—knowingly. Before she could reach to find the answer herself—Ash knew what it was without a second glance—and so he grinned down through swollen eyes at the small egg-shaped pokemon.

"It's a togepi."

 **Author's Note:**

Who's that pokemon?

It is a...

TOGEPI

I was not going to make it Togepi. Up until about ten seconds ago it was something different, and then I was like "I'M DOING IT." it's not the most original idea, but I'm doing it. It was supposed to be a magikarp because of the whole gyarados thing where the magikarp represents Ash who was weak, and eventually turn into Gyarados which would symbolize Ash's growth. That being said, thank you for all the wonderful suggestions—the running also consisted of an eevee or a poliwag (coincidentally, all pokemon Ash has never had before)

But. I. Just. Couldn't. Stop. Myself.

I hope I don't hate myself for this later.

Thank you for all the reviews. :) Sorry for all the drama. Crying Ash makes me cry. -tears-

wth Delia, where are you. :L also, plotplotplot and adult Misty advice. Weee.


	12. Chapter 12: The New Professor

_**Edit 02.29.2016**_ Double post: I realized I accidentally uploaded the unedited version; the corrected version is much longer and has key plot points you'll be confused about later if you don't catch up? Sorry about that.

 **Locked Away, chapter 12: Now I know**

Misty's face scrunched up; knees soaked from the damp grass beside the stream. She looked at the egg pokemon which looked between her and Ash with wide, dopey eyes, and grimaced.

"What's a togepi?" her concerned tone echoing the name for emphasis. Carefully, she then removed her cell phone to click the pokedex feature and brought it around to the front of her person. Pointing the object directly at the pokemon in Ash's outstretched arms, the built in feature of her phone started to chime.

"Togepi, the egg pokemon: the shell seems to be filled with joy. It is said that it will share good luck when treated kindly." Misty's eyebrow quirked at this, but Ash didn't seem alarmed by the description, instead, he held the pokemon up, getting a better look at it as it chirped and yawned. Misty's face messed up.

"I don't know how I managed to get that pokemon. I could have sworn it was a magikarp egg." she murmured, tapping her chin with her index finger. Ash grimaced slightly, looking at her with squinted, troubled eyes.

"You were going to give me a fish that turns into a gyarados?" He uttered worriedly.  
"Hey, you never know. You might have been a great trainer for it." Misty shrugged her reply, grinning at him—glad to see his tears had ended and his normal charm had returned.

Ash looked back at the egg pokemon in thought. Pursing his lips. That was right, this Misty had no idea about the trouble Ash had controlling charizard in his dreams—he could not imagine trying to control a gyarados which was known to be twice as difficult. His lips pout cutely as he brought the egg pokemon to his chest and hugged it warmly. This version of Misty also had no idea of her relationship with togepi. Briefly, he wondered if that meant anything at all as the egg pokemon shrilled at him in glee once more. He eyed Misty carefully, eyelids lowered dashingly while she went to poke at the pokemons shell. The red-head was truly oblivious.

"It's kind of cute." Misty smiled, patting the egg on the head to get a shrill of joy once again. "It also seems really happy." She pointed out, retracting her fingers as Ash grinned, rocking the baby pokemon.

"You said that last time, too." he managed inconsiderately.

Misty's eyebrows knit worriedly. "What?" she asked, where Ash's eyes shift from the egg pokemon to her; wide eyed as he snapped his jaw shut with a chestier grin.

"Nothing." he offered her with a slight not, adjusting his legs so that he was squatting. Misty seemed engrossed, staring at the pokemon in his arms—either confused by how she somehow wound up with it, or because of how Ash naturally realized what it was—he wad not sure.

"What happens now?" he asked after a brief silence, pulling her away from her dizzy thoughts. She blinked wide eyed and Ash and then relaxed with a gentle exhale.

"Well," She pinched the bridge of her nose with her index finger and thumb and then clasp him on the shoulder briefly. "We can't stay here; the temperature is going to drop soon and our clothes are wet." She gestured to herself, and then to Ash whose entire back was damp because of the soiled grass beside the creek.

Having not noticed until Misty pointed it out, he felt a chill run up his spin and shuddered because of it. However, the overbearing iciness in his bones seemed to fade as he held the togepi close, and so he found himself instinctively shuffling the pokemon into the zipper of his jacket so that it would stay warm. Upon unzipping the jacket, it seemed rather joyous to be pressed up against Misty's red-scarf tucked away against his chest. Togepi gasped happily. Ash pointed at the pokemon while zipping his jacket.

"Look Misty, it likes your scarf." Ash said facetiously, though Misty could only roll her eyes playfully.

"Great, now I'm never getting that scarf back." As she spoke, she rose from the ground, dusting off her dirtied knees the best that she could while Ash followed suit—otherwise occupied with playing with the first living pokemon he actually held since waking up. It was...endearing, in a very weird way to see him acting like that. Also a bit frightening that he seemed to switch mindsets so quickly—going from complete angst, to relatively happy. Though, she wondered just how much of that was honest or not, she did not question it.

"I guess we will head back into town, then, yeah?" She suggested, pointing back up the small incline that they had come down from the road to reach this spot. Ash blinked up at her as she directed and lead the path; Ash inhaled.

"Misty." He called to her, unmoving. She paused to look at him, glancing over her shoulder, standing above him like some type of guardian. He inhaled, feeling heat rush to his cheeks, turning them pink.

"Thank you." he uttered nervously with a bright smile, causing her to wag her hand at him in reply; underplaying the value of his appreciation.

"Yeah, yeah, let's just get out of here. I don't want to be here when the night bugs come out." Ash smiled at her retreating back for a moment longer, following her shortly after.

Ash wondered why she did that: disparage any of his gratitude. She never accepted any thanks that he gave her directly; always playing it off as if it was not an issue; but was. It had to have been.

He could not help himself. "You're scared of little bugs, Misty?" He cooed after her, catching up rather quickly, even though his muscles ached terrible from his fleeing motion. Misty shuddered visibly at his accusation.

"I'm not scared. I just don't like them." She groaned, eyebrows knit furiously.

"Really?" he pressed knowingly. "Then what's that?" he pointed to a dark spot on the ground in front of her. Her eyes shifted to it instantly, an automatic shriek rose form her lungs as she threw up her arms and ducked behind Ash; who started to laugh hysterically.

Almost immediately realizing he was joking, Misty twitched angrily and swat him over the head. Cursing his name before climbing the rest of the way up, and leaving him behind in a fit of her grumbles, mostly swearing at him.

"Misty, you can't use that language in front of the baby pokemon." Ash whined, though togepi seemed to share in his laughter as it chirped at Ash's antics. Holding the pokemon close so it wouldn't fall, he dipped out of the trees and onto the dirt path, following Misty with a slow trot.

"I'm glad you're feeling well enough to make jokes." She hissed, not quite over the near-death experience. "I hope you know I _will_ get you back." She warned, clenching her fists furiously. Ash grinned.

"I'm counting on it." Misty found his gentle and honest reply a bit deterring, her anger lopping off the side of her head as she glanced over at the grinning boy. One of her eyebrows lowered.

"You bounce back, quickly. You're sure that you're okay?" She asked skeptically, though her concern effectively killed his excitement and smile.

Of course he was not okay—but, he wasn't dead either; and Misty _was_ right. He couldn't just stop after everything that he has been through. Even if it was hard, and excruciatingly painful at the start, he had to keep going.

"Yes. I'm fine." He murmured halfheartedly. Misty seemed to recover quickly, returning to her spiteful nature of having been tricked by Ash.

"Good. Because I was going to say, if you didn't freak out earlier, we could have asked that man if he knew where your mom moved." She pursed her lips haphazardly, and Ash's eyes grew wide—he hadn't even thought about that.

"I didn't even think about that." He echoed his thoughts, eyebrows knitting together thoughtlessly. Misty sighed. Of course he did not—he did only have the mind of a ten year old. She winced slightly, bothered by her own hostility all of a sudden; something about him managed to just claw under the surface of her skin just enough to bring up emotions she would rather forget; specially her spitfire nature.

"Do you think we should go try and ask them again?" Misty asked, dropping the subtle anger that had been lacing her voice; so easily returning it to the less passionate, nonchalant one that made Ash frown sportively. Just like that, the Misty he remembered was gone, and the adult, somber Misty returned.

"I think so. I'll actually go to the door this time to see if that will convince who ever that guy was." He said matter-of-fact with a borderline confident nod. Misty nodded her approval as well.

"Just...don't get your hopes up." Misty inferred and Ash nodded once again, albeit slower and less enthusiastic. When they heels stopped at the white picket fence once again, staring into the lit-up house with a bright porch light, Misty exhaled. Ash mimicked her pose; steeling his back for anything as he followed Misty up the walk.

She extended her fist to the door and tapped gently. The scattering of silverware could be heard behind the protection of the wooden door; they had probably just sat down for supper, and here they were again. Ash tried to put this out of his mind—how disturbing it was that someone else was living in his house. It _was_ just a house, after all... the house he grew up in. He inhaled and closed his eyes for a moment, counting back in his head the way that Dr. Abby had taught him.

After a few moments, the door swung open; this time a dapper young woman with auburn hair stared at the duo, wearing an apron with flowers and a red mom-dress.

"Can I help you?" She asked happily and Misty and Ash looked at one another. His eyes pleading for assistance.

"...hi." Misty started. "We were here earlier... I think we talked to your husband." Misty gestured with her hands as she spoke. "This is Ash Ketchum, he used to live here ten years ago. His mother was Delia; we were just wondering if by any chance you know where she moved to...?" Misty questioned, phrasing the iteration much more professionally than Ash would have managed. He nodded his head in agreement, squeezing the pokemon in his arms for comfort.

"Delia? She was so sweet growing up." The woman chirped and looked at Ash skeptically. "But...I could have sworn that her son was dead?"

Ash flinched visibly at this—obviously he was not _dead_!

"He was in a coma; Delia recently took him off of life support but he recovered. It was a misunderstanding?"

"And who are you?" The mother asked gleefully, "The girlfriend?"

Misty grimaced uncomfortably, but Ash blushed several shades of red at the inquiry and his mouth fell open.

"Caretaker." Misty corrected the woman, clasping her hands together in front of her body. "Anyways; did you know or not?" She accidently snapped while Ash fumbled through his brain to get ahold of himself. He was an adult. Adults did not get embarrassed over untrue accusations; at least Misty did not, and she was really his leading poster child of adulthood; so he followed by example and inhaled.

"I'm sorry. We wouldn't bother you if it wasn't important. We can't get a hold of my mom since I've woken up, and I'm worried about her. If you have a number or something..." He muttered, eyebrows knitting together; the mother looked away from the slightly irritable Misty, to Ash, whose honest face was hard to turn down—Misty only knew this because of experience.

"Well... certainly. Why don't you two come inside?" The woman pulled open the door for the two few them, and Misty made a mental note to ask Ash later how he always managed to get people to listen to him with those doe eyes. She supposed it had something to do with having chocolate brown eyes; because people _never_ treated her like that.

"Just wait here a moment and I'll go get my husband." The woman said cheerfully and walked away. Misty took her chance to lean over close to Ash's ear while he watched the woman leave.

"How do you do that? People look at you and swoon." Misty glowered, only partially upset and jealous. Ash had to fight down his bolstering grin.

"I think I read in a magazine that 'resting bitch face' is a treatable illness, Mist." He tried not to laugh at his own poorly contrived joke; or at her heated reaction. He watched from the corner of his eye how her entire face turned red from her neck to her forehead in a matter of seconds and she had to bite down on her lip to stop herself from screaming and pounding him into a bloody mess on the carpet.

"At least I don't have the mentality of a toddler." She growled quietly in her defense, fingers twitching nervously. Yet, the sweet smile he imposed on her deflated her brief anger—reminding her that he was only only joking. She sighed, and crossed her arms, ending the challenge right as the father from before rounded the corner from Ash's old kitchen. If one looked closely, they would have seen that Ash was shaking and his snark replies were a symbolism of facetious worry over legitimate humor.

She would let it slide while they were here; but the second they left, she was hitting him in the shoulder for that comment; she didn't are at all that he was still recovering or not.

"Hey there, I'm the one that knew Delia. Glad to see you made your way back...but unfortunately, I don't know where your ma' could be." The man said with a soft look at Ash, who visibly flinched; the humor in his eyes dying out.

"However, my wife found a box of things with your name on it in the basement. She just ran to get those things—if that helps in any way." At his comment, Ash's face brightened up just a little and he nodded.

"Yes. Thank you." Ash smiled innocently, listening to the quiet approval of togepi at his small amount of happiness.

"Do you by any chance know anyone that might know where we could find her?" Misty asked suddenly, all eyes on her. The man twisted his lips in thought.

"The new professor might know." He suggested pointing down the road to where the saw the laboratory on the hill.

Ash snapped his fingers thoughtfully. "That is professor Oak's lab. He was almost like my uncle when I was growing up." He said thoughtfully, though simultaneously both the husband and Misty flinched. More so from Misty who shook her head and ran the palm of her hand down her face.

"...is that a bad thing?" Ash asked, but Misty shook her head, a sullen look replacing her half-anger.

"It's... a... I'll tell you later." She suggested, seeing the mother appear back in the hallway carrying the small box of left overs from the basement. Ash winced; his hands were full carrying togepi, but he didn't want Misty to carry _his_ left overs; he removed the egg pokemon from his jacket, and awkwardly handed the pokemon off to Misty—praying that it wouldn't cry like it did in his dreams.

Misty took the pokemon awkwardly; having only handled a few baby pokemon in her life, she maneuvered it in her arms backwards at first, having to turn it slowly to face the people. It shrilled happily in her arms, and Misty fought the urge not to sigh in relief. Finally, a baby that didn't scream when she held it. Meanwhile, the woman passed off the closed box to Ash. Low and behold, written in the corner of the box was his full name written in his mother's hand writing. Ash had to stifle his gloomy sigh. Instead, he smiled at the woman and her husband.

"Really...thank you." He said, looking down and shuffling her feet.

The woman looked at her husband and then back to Ash; having made a wordless agreement. "Why don't you stay for dinner?" They asked, but Ash glanced at Misty who was occupied, and content with trying to juggle the baby pokemon and her purse and Ash shook his head slightly.

"No, thank you. She's kind of under a tight schedule." Ash said, pointing towards Misty who made it very clear she wanted to be on the train before they closed. Misty pursed her lips, having been mentioned and looked up at the couple.

"You look really familiar. Do we know you?" The husband asked suddenly, finally connecting the red-hair, the cascade pendant and the over-all tone of her egotistic nature.

"You're a gym leader, aren't you?" And his cheerful disposition fled quickly, as did the wife. Misty straightened her back and smiled.

"Yep. I'll be going." Misty nodded, having needed no more indication than what they provided to know that she was no longer welcome in the house. She turned quickly, and kicked with her boots out the ajar door. Ash watched her, though the couple seemed to return their soft gaze to Ash, offering their sympathy.

"It's best not to get mixed up with leaders." The woman warmed him, offering him a clasp on the shoulder. Ash's eyebrows furrowed—he was going to argue with her that Misty was not a crook or anything like that—but making one of the first mature decisions in the last twenty four hours, he only smiled.

"...err, thanks. I guess." He said, and slowly started to turn.

"If you don't find your mom, you're welcome to come back and see the place. We would understand." They offered and Ash smiled in return.

"Thank you." he nodded towards the box and saw himself outside the door by backing up. The waved briefly, but once the door was shut, he could immediately hear the judgment of Misty being passed between the 'nice' couple. Even going as far as pulling the curtains closed.

"Misty...what was all that about?" Ash asked, finally turning to see her standing outside of the white picket fence, looking rather tiffed off and lost in thought. He approached her once again, and blinked.

"Misty?" He called to her, ripping her gaze away from the house.

"I'm sorry, what?" She asked, blinking several times at him quickly and he gave her a very soft smile as she didn't hesitate to start down the road, cradling togepi naturally; Ash thought that looked more natural to him, as well; rather than him carrying the egg pokemon.

"I asked what that was about?" He questioned, only getting a sigh in return.

"Remember how I told you that gym leaders are the leagues scape goat?" Misty muttered and Ash nodded, which she saw and confirmed from the corner of her eye before continuing. "Well, not everybody approves of us, especially smaller towns like Pallet who don't have a gym leader."

His face scrunched up, juggling the box in his arms.

"Why?"

"Because people are... well, they're uninformed to start, and they blame us unfairly. We're not responsible for anything that happens but they see us, so they blame us because we can't 'fix' their problems." she groaned, and though Ash could tell she didn't want to talk about it; he pushed anyways.

"Problems? What kind of problems?" he asked worriedly as they made their way to the laboratory thoughtlessly.

"Higher taxes that the League keeps imposing. Not only that, the stupid list of ever-growing regulations they keep hashing out. We're the most vocal figure head, so people blame us." Misty muttered tiredly. "Can we not talk about this?" She asked sadly, glancing at Ash.

Fidgeting, he nodded and they made the rest of the way to the laboratory in relative silence, and darkness. Ash wished that he brought a flashlight. He was no used to complete darkness—but that was attune to the natural farm land of Pallet Town he supposed. They didn't have street lights on every corner. Instinctively, he walked closer to Misty so he didn't get lost.

Wrapped in her own thoughts, he finally smacked his lips to get her attention.

"What happens if the professor doesn't know anything?" he mused quietly, using the cover of dark to hide his own downcast features.

A bit depressed sounding over the last part of their conversation she sighed uneasily. "I don't know. Do you have any plans?"

"No." he muttered, thinking that maybe he could return to the assisted living home until he found a way to support himself. That, or he could live on the road. He shuddered, remembering how difficult the trek here was; the latter of the options seemed like suicide right now.

"Then I guess you could work for me at the gym." She muttered, unsure if she was ready to offer him that. He blinked up at her, seeing her face only from the faint glow of the moon hidden by storm clouds.

"Really?" He gasped, and Misty sighed.

"Don't get so excited about everything. It's a lot of work, and I won't pay _you._ "

Ash's face fell... "Why not?"

"Because _you_ owe me money, Ketchum." She growled. Ash could feel sweat on the back of his neck. She could be so heartless sometimes. The streets brightened up the nearer they came to the foot of the hill to the lab.

"At least that way you can get experience and pay off some of your debts while you try to figure out what the next step in your life will be." Misty suggested, quickly adding; "Because if you try to travel on your own right now, I'm calling the psych ward on you." She warned him very seriously, genuinely concerned for his well-being. He smiled at that and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I won't. I think after the walk here I'm going to sleep forever anyways."

Misty sighed, stopping at the large metal gate at the end of the hill, their faces illuminated by the street lights in the area. "That's a bit ironic coming from a coma patient." She murmured, facing him.

He blinked up to the laboratory, as if asking why they were stopping; but, as usual, he was starting to familiarize himself with the gloom expression Misty made before delivering bad news; the way her eyes would crinkle slightly, the right side of her lip would twist into a frown and the way her body language shifted from confidence to slumped shoulders. She looked between him and the laboratory and sighed.

"Before we go up there, I need you to understand something." She warned him, and Ash swallowed, looking up to her sympathetically.

"What?"

"The Professor Oak you know isn't there."

Ash's face scrunched up, confused. "How come?"

Misty fumbled, shifting the weight of togepi in her arms who had fallen asleep on the trek here. She bit her lips as if searching for the correct words to form a cohesive thought.

"...He uh.." She grumbled, drawing her lips flat. "He passed away a couple of months ago."

"Passed away? Like retired?"

Misty sighed, forgetting that terms would fly over his head sometimes, even if he should have been familiar with them. She steeled herself for his reaction, meeting his brown eyes with her cerulean greens.

"He's dead, Ash." She slipped, exhaling as the immense horror paraded into his eyes. "He _passed away_ from a heart attack a few months before you woke up. It was really big news around Kanto... I'm sorry." she added, stammering slightly. She hated that look of terror that filled his eyes when he was given bad news; Misty only prayed he would not _bolt_ in the darkness as he had previously.

Fortunately, he did not. Instead, Ash looked up to the laboratory, its form taking a shadowy, lumbering castle over the signal beacon of hope that it once carried. He gulped slightly, and looked at Misty and then back at the laboratory. Ash's reaction surprised her though, the terror being washed away quickly with devote worry and possibly frustration.

"...Do you think Gary okay?"

"I don't know. Why don't we go find out?" Misty said earnestly, pushing open the metal fence which gave way a deafening shriek. She hiked the stairs slowly, moving effortlessly even in the dark. The taste wasn't as easy for Ash, who shambled and stumbled up every other step. Funny, he didn't remember them being so long when he was a kid.

The door came much to quick for Ash's comfort, but unlike his own house; there was little hesitation before he rapped against the steel doors, elating a loud thump through the laboratory's lightened windows. From inside they heard shuffling, followed by an abrupt slam of a door that made the duo jump simultaneously before the front door itself budged open.

A woman around Ash's age, with light brown hair pursed her lips at them, a bit irritated.

"Hello?" She asked, and Misty and Ash looked between each other.

"We're here to talk to the professor about a missing woman."

"Oh." The bored tone of her eye changing as it went from Misty to Ash's. Her face paled instantly, drawing her lips to a flat line. She swung open the door full so that the two of them could walk into the lobby. The girl watched Ash as if he had grown horns or something, but he didn't seem to notice—neither did Misty. They were both fascinated by the glowing room; covered in pictures and paintings and colors of pokemon, endless as far as the eye could see.

"Are you here to see the professor?" the brunette stammered, earning their attention.

"Yeah. We're sorry for stopping in unannounced like this." Ash apologized quickly, slipping over to the chairs, nerve wracked to all hell.

"Why does Gary sound familiar? Have you mentioned him before?"

"No, I don't think so."

-"WHAT!?" the shriek followed seconds after the brunette left the lobby to grab the professor. Misty and Ash shared a brief glance; both adjusting how far away the front door was for safety purposes, but the pound of boots clicking against titled floors; no, running against tiled floors had their head spinning—they did the only thing they could do in such a short time; eye the door worriedly.

Within seconds, the figure of a man emerged from the lab door, followed closely behind by the brunette lab assistant. Ash's mouth fell open right away at the realization of who the new white-coat sprouting professor was, and had he been holding the box he was given early; surely he would have dropped it. Staring back at him, with long, gravity defying auburn hair was none-other-than Gary Oak.

"Ash?!" He called, shell shocked approaching Ash, Misty folded her arms behind her back and pursed her lips. She knew that she had heard that name from somewhere—he was the boy that identified the body at Viridian City so many years ago. Ash didn't skip a beat; overwhelmed by pure instinct, he leap across the lobby to greet his childhood friend.

"Gary, you're here!" Ash yelped earnestly, launching Gary into a full hug that the professor only managed to pat Ash's back and shoulders as if he couldn't believe what his own eyes were seeing. Yeah, Ash did seem to have that affect on people.

"I'm so sorry to hear about Professor Oak..." Ash murmured, separating from Gary.

Gary shook his head, grabbing Ash's face and pinching his cheeks; ruffling his hair and even shaking him a little. "No, don't apologize; Ash. You were the...How were the..." At a general loss of words, his face scrunched up.

"We thought you were dead." he said painstakingly.

"Nope. I'm alive." Ash laughed nervously, unsure of what to say; that same, boyhood laugh that plagued Gary and Ash's childhood sent shivers down Gary's spine—he never thought he would hear tat again. Gawking for a few moments, Gary stepped aside to push open the door, gesturing the two into the lab.

"Please, come in." Gary motioned for them as the brunette moved aside.

As Ash walked through the doors, followed closely behind an equally as surprised—but not as vocal Misty, his mouth fell open. Unlike Samuel Oak's lab, Gary had undergone some major changes; the first being the fish tank at one end of the wall, the other people the huge plethora of what Ash could only unmistakably see as the legendary pokemon of the six regions—only, they weren't fleshed out in color. Buried in stone.

"Sit down." He heard Gary usher to Misty, leading them both to a couch and coffee table in the corner of the room; Ash followed, deciding against his observation in order to sit on the red couch. Misty rested the egg pokemon on her knees while they both watched Gary pace back and forth for awhile—being watched by not only Ash and Misty; but his assistant as well.

His back and forth motion was dizzying though so Ash, rubbing the back of his neck laughed at Gary's antics. "Sit down, Gary." Ash murmured, and so Gary did awestruck.

The professor fell into a seated position opposite Ash and Misty with his elbow on his knee and his chin rested in his palm—mouth ajar as he observed Ash with his hazel eyes. He had no idea what to say; or even what to think at this point: For the first time in many years, Gary was speechless..

"...How?" He muttered finally, stupefied.

Ash chewed on the inside of his cheek and dug his nails into his jeans. "...I woke up, I guess? I don't know how to better explain that."

"Well obviously you woke up—just—how?" He questioned skeptically, head tilting.

"Triggered after his mom pulled the plug." Misty muttered nonchalantly, Gary finally ripped his eyes off of Ash, staring in full at the read head beside his old friend.

"You're the girl from ten years ago." Gary observed and Misty nodded sheepishly and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Yeah, that's me." she said, having noticed who he was as well Gary scoffed, a sly, but honest smile pulling at his lips.

He shook his head in disbelief still, "Do you make a habit of saving people?"

"Usually I'm the one that does the injuring." Misty joked in return, eyebrows furrowing together. Gary chuckled but Ash could only blink at her; skipping to the chase.

"Gary, do you know where my mom is?"

The question seemed to fly right past Gary, as if he was too excited to function; "I can't believe this. You've missed so much."

Ash grimaced; "Yeah...thanks for that reminder." Ash mused pathetically, pinching the bridge of his nose. Gary gestured to the lab assistant who took a seat dotingly beside Gary.

"You remember Leaf, don't you?"

Ash made a face. "Ahh...not really." He said sadly, a lot of the people from his childhood seemed to fade over the years.

"Well this is my wife, Leaf." Gary admit, looking up the woman for a brief moment and then back at Ash.

"It's nice to meet you." Leaf murmured, scratching the back of her neck faintly, a bit discomposed.

Ash gasped and sputtered; "You're married?!"

"Since last year." Gary confirmed with a snark grin—not unlike traditional Oak.

"You? Gary! When we were ten you already had like six girlfriends!" Ash gestured dramatically with his hands; Misty snorted beside him, drumming her fingers gently on the shell of the pokemon. Gary chuckled.

"A lot has changed in ten years. Especially you. Holy cow." Gary gestured to the boy's clothes and appearance and Ash found himself laughing nervously.

"You should have seen me a few months ago."

"I _did_ see you a few months ago. A little while before..." Gary trailed off and made a face. "Oh man, have you seen your mom yet?" he asked, Ash's question finally catching up with him. Ash shook his head sadly, but not disappointingly as he usually would have. Gary was here, alive and kicking—he had no reason to be sad.

"Ahh.. no, actually. That's why we came here; the...uh..." he glanced at Misty as if it would conjure the proper words. "..the people who moved into my mom's house, they told me to come ask you where she moved." Ash muttered weakly, the joyous tone taking a turn for the worst.

Gary could fill the nerves in his fingers twitch as he watched Ash's face turn from complete bliss to a wash of torment. "Have you already gone through all of the treatments for... well, someone in your situation?" Gary asked, and Ash nodded quickly.

"Yeah, Misty took care of that." Ash admit honestly. Smiling at said female who blushed gently in return.

"Oh." Gary smiled at her. "Thank you. I suppose the hospital couldn't get a hold of anyone here then... My grand father was listed as Ash's emergency contact..." he glanced at Ash. "But I suppose they neglected to mention that."

"They really did." Misty muttered, getting a nervous laugh from Ash. How much easier would it have been if they -knew- Ash had living friends like this; an Oak, no less.

"I didn't know they already assigned a new professor for this region?" Misty muttered, a bit off topic. Gary blinked at her.

"Well..." He paused, thoughtfully. "I'm not officially sworn in yet. Not until the start of next year." he pointed at her. "Misty..." he thought about her name briefly. "You're the Cerulean City gym leader, aren't you?"  
"That's right..." Misty uttered, hoping that Gary's reaction was better than the couple at Ash's old house. Fortunately, it was.

"I've only heard good things. I'm glad Ash got stuck with someone as renown as you are for taking no bullshit-" he paused, quirking an eyebrow. "-and pretty."

"Gary Samuel Oak!" "Gary!" Leaf and Ash said in unison, equally as red; the former of which bonked Gary on the head for his comment. He laughed awkwardly at his wife, waving his hand at her.

"Old habits die hard, I'm sorry." Gary played it off, but Misty had already slapped her forehead form embarrassment and Ash was stewing in his seat for a few moments. He even crossed his arms defensively—he supposed that at least _that_ didn't change about Gary, even though everything else did.

"So why did you take over here?" Ash blinked his question; the boiling of his blood turning into a light simmer.

"Ahh... I don't know. It just sort of happened—I had a few jobs before this and I guess.. .it just runs in the family?" He said awkwardly but before Ash could pose another question, Gary looked knowingly at his wife who stood up quickly.

"Hey, Ash why don't we go check on the pokemon—you haven't been out there in years." Gary suggested, standing up. He motioned to Leaf and Ash followed suit.

"Sure, I guess." Ash started, following after Leaf; he glanced over his shoulder watching Misty preparing to follow, knowing she would be, he looked forward nonchalantly. With full intention of pursuing, Misty wrapped the egg pokemon in her arms awkwardly; mentally swearing at Ash for not taking care of it. Gary watched her with some regard, but quickly held up his palm to stop her from tailing Ash.

"Delia never stopped by the hospital?" he questioned once Ash was out of earshot. Misty visibly grimaced; oh boy.

"No, she never did." She didn't beat around the bush, rather she looked directly at Gary. "She's still alive, isn't she?"

"Of course...but, uh..." Gary stammered. He looked down and shuffled his feet for a moment before stalking off to his desk to grab a piece of paper to scribble some information down. Misty would have preferred he just spit out whatever he had to say, but held her tongue.

"How has he been? Mentally?" Gary asked, and Misty couldn't say; her lips twisted.

"His therapist cleared him, but it's touch and go—he reacted really badly to the family in his old house. I just got him boosted up." She admit honestly, biting her lip hard.

Gary shuffled over his papers once and then sighed bitterly. "I know where his mom is." Gary admit quickly, "But it's...I don't think he should see her." he finished flatly.

Misty's face fell, automatically switching between polite eagerness to devote frustration. "Why not? That's been his goal since he woke up." Misty argued, but Gary's face contorted painfully and he slipped Misty the peace of paper that he had written on and her face fell; both from understanding and disappointment. Pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration; she sighed.

"You can't keep that news from him." She said, tiredly folding the paper in half.

"I can't." Gary murmured. "And I will tell him...someday." Gary added. "But not yet." he finished and Misty rolled her shoulders at him, as if questioning why he couldn't have just left that news to himself. Why tell her?

"I just... I need time to smooth things over." Gary said earnestly. "He's staying with you, isn't he?" He asked, gesturing towards her and Misty kicked out the heel of her foot, a bit assaulted at the accusation. People made strange assumptions.

"I mentioned it to him." the words slipped out of her mouth and she rolled her eyes and tongue.

A sense of urgency broke in Gary, his voice pleading; "Can you help out for just a few more weeks? I'll even pay you if I have to... If I knew he woke up I would have..."

Misty sighed through her nostrils, kicking the toe of her boot against the lab tile and then glared at Gary. "It's fine. You don't need to pay me." Misty sighed, rubbing her temple with one hand, the other holding the egg pokemon who remained fast asleep in her possession.

"Thank you." Gary sighed, "You're like a god-send."

"...Yeah. I'm starting to think I am." _an angel with horns holding up the halo_. Misty added as a sarcastic afterthought as Ash came stumbling back into the room.

"Hey, where were you? You missed the-" he looked between Gary and Misty—the latter of which who seemed oddly agitated.

"Did something happen?" Ash cut himself off and naturally, Misty pressed a smile over her lips to douse her emotions.

"No, of course not. I was just on my way." She pointed at him, snatching his arms in hers while she shifted the sleeping pokemon into his grasp rather than her own. He grimaced awkwardly, laughing the slightest as he cradled togepi.

"Thanks for holding him." he offered with a weird rosy-color on his cheeks, and then scampered off like a child to show her the pokemon in the field. Misty followed him begrudgingly, only glancing briefly back at Gary.

 **Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxo**

Their short visit went off without a hitch, but as the time grew closer to 10:00pm, Misty watched her phone like a hawk. She watched Ash and Gary as they took turns sharing stories like old friends would; and Misty rather enjoyed seeing a normal, happy Ash over his arguably over-emotional counterpart. He didn't even pester Gary for information about his mom—forcing her to wonder if Ash had forgotten, or simply was too scared to ask. Sometimes, she couldn't read him.

Something about a ten year-olds mentality being locked away in an adults body kept her guessing. There were things someone at his age should have understood crystal clear that made no apparent sense to Ash. However, she noticed that he had to have changed in some regard, because lacking from his conversation with Gary was any mention of _how_ he spent the last ten years—in dream land.

The clock buzzed at her, the alarm she set for herself sounding off; she kicked away from her position against the wall of the living room and approached the boys; Gary was showing Ash pictures of his wedding; but very notably turning _other_ frames downward.

"Hey, I'm sorry to break this up." She intervened between their conversation. "But I have to get going. It's almost 10:00pm and tournament hosting is in two days." She gestured to the calender and then shrugged weakly. Ash's face fell, a but unsure of himself.

"I..uh." he stammered and glanced very briefly at Misty; a puppy-dog look that seemed to unsettle her.

"I missed you Ash, but you can't stay here." Gary suggested quickly, a bit harsh even by Misty's standards. She flinched; as did Ash who laughed nervously. Gary followed up with; "Besides, you said that you owe her some debt, don't you? Better get started on paying that back as soon as possible." Gary muttered with a teasing grin pulling on his lips.

Misty slapped her forehead, believing that it sounded _so forced_ coming out of Gary's mouth like that; but Ash didn't skip a beat.

"You're right." he said, mortified. "I'm going to be paying back on this for the rest of my life."

"Not if you get started. Jesus. I'm not a slave driver." Misty grunted, shifting her weight to one foot as she crossed her arms objectively at Ash who smiled up at her genuinely. He did not speak right away, however, instead, he shuffled over to the coat rack and pulled on the red sweater, but notably left his damp jack to drape in his arms. Misty followed suit, putting on her athletics jacket while Gary and Leaf followed the duo to the door.

"Well it's been really nice getting to know you two." Leaf said, although she knew Ash briefly from their childhood-enough to recognize those lightning bolt patterns anywhere—they were never more than acquaintances at the time. Misty let out a sigh and then shook both of their hands.

"It was a pleasure." She mused happily nodding at the two of them.

Ash wasn't exactly familiar with goodbyes, so he instinctively copied Misty's actions; shaking their hands only for Gary to scoff and pull the raven-haired man into a brief, warm hug.

"I'm glad you're okay, Ash. I really am." Gary murmured, making Ash feel a little awkward at how close they were. As usual, physical contact was an anomaly, so being this close to someone—especially Gary, was a little unnerving; but not the same as when Misty did so. He just felt weird.

"Ahh, yeah." Ash muttered pulling away. "I'm glad I'm okay, too." He admit and then glanced at Misty who adjusted her the sleeves on her jacket.

"Anyways." Ash suggested awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck before adjusting his hat. "We should get going..."

"I'll stop by in about a week." Gary confirmed and Ash grinned at that suggestion.

"That sounds like a deal." Ash murmured and Misty nodded her approval as they both turned around to be ushered out of the building; only to be stopped by Gary who coughed. Notably, their hands were empty.

"...Aren't you two forgetting something?" He mused playfully, unable to hide his signature smirk and a professional eye roll. Misty and Ash glanced at one another, confused; they looked each other up and down quickly, and then they both smacked their foreheads in unison.

"Togepi!" Ash shrieked, rushing back inside of the laboratory to fetch the small pokemon which had still not woken up until the shout of its name. Upon waking, it yawned at him and then ticked happily.

"Phew." Ash sighed, feeling his shoulders slump. _Now_ they were ready to leave.

"See you in a week, Ash; take care, Misty." Gary called after them, watching them leave down the long steps as he turned to his wife who smiled meekly, and then rushed to his phone to make a rather prevalent phone call.

On their way down the walk, Ash hummed to himself. "He was different than I remember."

"I think everyone you 'know' is." She made air-quote analogies with her fingers to emphasis. Ash shook his head, walking passed the metal gate.

"No. I meant different from my childhood." He said earnestly, getting an 'ooh' sound from Misty who nodded. "We weren't really that close growing up. We fought like cat and mouse." he murmured apathetically, looking up at the sky which had mostly began to clear. Aside form the chill in the air, and his still-slightly damp pants, it was a nice evening for a stroll; even if it would be only a brief one to the train station.

Misty sighed in response. "Sometimes you fight the most with the people you're the closest with. Especially when you're children." She confirmed, missing Ash's red-infused cheeks in the night air.

"You think so?" He asked, glancing over his shoulder at her. Her hands were stuffed into her jacket pockets for warmth and her lips were pursed thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I think so."

 **Author's Note:**

I forgot how to spell "gesture" for the majority of this chapter... kept trying to write it as "guester". Signs that you've been writing too much 101? Had an updating issue with FFnet; hopefully that's fixed now and I can get this rolling once again.


	13. Chapter 13: The Sensational Sisters

**Locked Away, Chapter 13: My heart is**

It had been a little over a month since Ash bunked with the gym leader—an excruciating month. She may have claimed not to be a slave driver—but she _very_ _much_ was. Her demands were unrefined, her standards a cut above impossible, and her drive for perfection was unheard of; often time, when he finally pulled himself to bed at the end of a long day of _work_ , he wondered what her damage was. How someone as nice to him as she was when they weren't working could be so...so... terrifying.

If her goal was to work Ash to the brink of exhaustion so he would not be able to think or function; she succeeded; that was for damn sure. Sighing, his eyes slanted open at the morning rays pouring forth into his bed room—beside him, togepi was fast asleep.

...Ah damn, he slept in. He rubbed his face and sighed, having built more muscle over the last month than he probably had during his entire stay at the assisted living home. His shoulders ached and his body felt contorted. Ash was _so_ sore. He leaned forward, pushing his blankets down to his waist, the sudden movement waking the sleeping pokemon. He looked down at it, and then leaned over.

"Go ahead." He muttered, watching as the egg pokemon perched and then attempted to jump up onto his shoulder. It fell backwards and Ash had to chuckle, brushing his hand against its scalp to sooth its brief failure. They were still working on that one.

"It's okay." He told the pokemon, scooping it up with his hands, and then laying the base of the pokemon's feet against the left side of his broad shoulder. It balanced itself on his arm as Ash shifted out of bed, tossing his covers off of his body.

From across the room, the door swung open. "If you want breakfast, you better get down here fast. Violet's boyfriend invited himself over." Misty warned him, though Ash shrieked and covered himself with his blankets.

"Don't just barge in here!" he yelled at her, red in the face but the door was already shut behind her.

"Don't be such a girl!" She shouted back at him. He listened to her foot falls banter down the hallway as she marched back towards the kitchen and he sighed timidly, looking down at togepi who had fallen back onto his bed.

"Living with girls is a pain..." he muttered while gathering a change of clothes and hitting the showers quickly. He neglected a shower last night; as he does most nights after helping Misty around the gym. Typically, he was too tired once he got back to his bed room.

When he first arrived at the gym, Ash stayed in the smaller guest bedroom; the one without a private bathroom because Misty didn't want to make up the queen size bed, and her sisters weren't comfortable with him sleeping so close to their rooms. After three days of watching him struggle and fight for the bathroom with her sisters; she emphasized with him, and allowed him to sleep in the master bedroom right beside hers; the only two with an attached bathroom.

The four and a half hour wait to use the washroom was a brilliant reminder of how grateful Ash was that he didn't have any siblings when he was younger, especially girls. He had no idea how Misty managed for as long as she did.

In fact, Misty was wonderful to live with—except for when she was working between the hours of 8:00am and 5:00pm—she had the patience of a saint for him, and her sisters. If he ever questioned how she was able to patiently wait around for him; he understood now. Ash—he grinned—was _easily_ three times easier to handle at any given bad day at the hospital than Misty's three sisters were at any given moment.

Daisy was the oldest; and aside from Misty, she was arguably the most mature of 'sensational' sisters. She did most of the cooking—and Ash thanked the heavens that _one_ of them could cook, but Daisy never cleaned. She tried to, but it typically ended in a bigger mess than she intended for; her methods of cooking were the same—somehow, even though half the food ended up on the stove, counter tops and everywhere else, she still managed to make a decent meal. Ash found out during the start of his second week that she was also enrolled at the Cerulean City University for Producing and Management, so a lot of her spare time was spent attending class; the rest completing homework.

Some days, when Misty was busy battling and he ran out of chores on his long list; Daisy would let him sit in during her study sessions in their office which was fitted with four separate desks and a four-wall book shelf of collected water pokemon books, as well as Misty's personal collection. He had never seen so many romance novels before—it was a bit unnerving. Two of the desks were always neat and tidy, Lily and Violet's, only because they were never used. Misty's solid oak desk was genuinely trashed at any given time, littered with backed-up paper work from the Pokemon League and personal letters from friends, trainers, and traveling students; a few, Ash had noticed, might have even been classified as love letters or hate mail. Being a very active, around the clock gym leader, Misty only found time at the end of her day to sort through paperwork—but she had long given up on trying to manage it. By the time she finished signing off on a new legislation, a new-new one had already surfaced, and so the old one meant nothing. When Misty said that Gym Leaders had no say in politics, at least Ash knew that she wasn't lying.

Daisy was also the most accepting of Ash from the start. Lily and Violet were hesitant at the idea of him rooming with them originally, but they warmed up to him. The oldest of the four sisters almost seemed joyous at his arrival.

" _Misty never really had a lot of friends growing up._ " Daisy told him one afternoon when he was sitting in with her during one of her study sessions. He often helped her with flash cards, trying to be as useful as reasonably possible. Togepi also enjoyed spending time with Misty's older sister—so it was a win-win.

" _She hasn't always been the easiest person to get a long with, if you haven't already figured that out. So it's nice to know she's taken an interest in someone outside of pokemon or work._ " Daisy added that same day. Ash thought it was funny because Misty wasn't hard to talk to—a little intimidating at times, but she only had the best intentions; though in this world, he imagined that for Misty, it would be difficult to keep friends with the reputation some gym leaders carried. Especially one known to yell as often as Misty did. It wasn't that she was mad, it's just that there were a lot of really disturbed boys who said some...well... Ash thought about the swimsuits Misty had to wear and shuffled his hand over his reddened face

It took him awhile to piece it together, but from his understanding; political recess has been a nightmare the last five years; right around the time Misty became the full-time gym leader in Cerulean City. Apparently, there had been a huge blow-up between coordinators and battlers about the unfair treatment battlers received, and how little appreciation coordinators were given; Ash assumed this was the reason Misty sounded so apathetic about Dawn. Apparently, coordinators staged riots that damaged League facilities associated with battling; and the gym got hit pretty hard. As if to make matters worse, two years after the 'war' between coordinators and battlers; Giovanni, one of the most renown and beloved gym leaders in Kanto was found to be working with Team Rocket, who had raged a plethora of horrible notions around each of the regions during their most active years.

Ash did not like to think about it often because Giovanni was safely put behind bars; but the pillaging, destruction and over all heinous crimes they caused—not to mention the horrible things they did to Unova made Ash's stomach churn. Ash winced slightly, dragging his thoughts else where as he dressed himself for the day, slipping on black swimming trunks below a set of blue jeans and a black t-shirt.

Aside from Daisy; Lily and Violet were the party-goers. According to Misty, Daisy used to be just as bad so, " _Don't let her fool you._ " Misty assured him one evening when they were winding down from a long day at the gym. Still, Lily and Violet were the ones that dragged Ash out of the gym during work hours with Misty's permission. Either because he had effectively screwed up enough times that day Misty was beyond words flustered with him, or because she knew that he needed a break. When he first started to help out, he managed on average two of the five working days being escorted out of the gym by Lily and Violet who were pleased to have someone to carry their shopping bags. Ash didn't _mean_ to put soap in the filters, or accidentally dye the pool—or blow the breaker box three times in one day; during a gym match...

Ash was not well coordinated with how the gym worked—having only dream-experience and outside of that, the working experience of a ten year old; he had _a lot_ to learn. Not even Misty's patience prepared her for some of he novice mistakes that Ash made. He felt like such a goof ball, but Lily and Violet both assured him that Misty was just " _A little crazy_ " about the gym since everything that happened with Giovanni. The intense regulations for the gym leaders was only one of the many new laws to prevent gym leaders deterioration. Ash could understand that, but he also felt a large portion of it was due to having to run the gym with her sisters her entire life. They weren't exactly the poster children for hard work.

Even still, the sisters accepted him rather quickly as one of their own. Violet particularly enjoyed knowing that she would have a dance partner for her classes on the weekend, and Lily enjoyed having someone around who was not Misty or made up of seventy percent hair gel to dress up. Thus, resulting in many different outfits created by the middle sister; and a lot of stubbed toes provided by the second middle sister.

On the other hand, Misty was an enigma. She was two different people inside of the gym and outside of it. While she was working, she was all business, a little harsh, and slightly intimidating; outside of that, she was hilarious, caring, and a little adventurous; bickering with her sisters non-stop about anything she could imagine simply because she could, even convincing Ash to prank them a few times during the weekends when they didn't have much to do to pass the time. She also very genuinely encouraged Ash to come with her to battle-meets, and tournaments. Ash considered "Gym Leader Misty" and "Misty" as two separate individuals entirely.

Most importantly, Misty let Ash train some pokemon, or at least help, without the threat of being thrown in jail for doing so. Gary was supposed to be working on getting Ash a license again; but it was possible that Ash would need to travel to a new region to get one until Gary could be officially sworn in as the new region professor. While Ash was in no hurry; in fact, he was oddly content with most days he spent with Misty at the gym, he had other _goals_ in mind. Ones that originated the moment he woke up: where was his mother?

The reoccurring thought he had about his mother chilled him to the bone. He deduced that Gary knew _something_ rather quickly after his first visit—though imagined that if the Oak was not telling him; it might have been something detrimental. Ash intentionally avoided it for the month he spent at gym; worried that if it was bad news, he wasn't ready for it—and it if it was good news...

Well, it obviously wasn't good news because otherwise Gary would have told him.

"Are you dressed yet!? We have to get on the road _before_ noon, Ash, otherwise the badge shop will be closed by the time we get to the village!" Misty nagged at him, pounding on his bedroom door.

He looked over his shoulder while he pulled on a red vest over a black shirt. His hair was damp from his shower, so he neglected his hat, stuffing it into his back pocket as he stuck his arm out for togepi to dance up it. It struggled at first, its awkward body not exactly fit for climbing, so about half way, it jumped from his forearm and onto his shoulder with a chirp of excitement.

"Good job." Ash commended the small pokemon, tapping his index finger against its small hand as indication of a high five. It chirped happily at him in support of its training.

While he usually had no qualms carrying the pokemon, it was an issue if he needed to use his hands—togepi always wanted to have some physical contact with Ash unless Misty was around. The nature of baby pokemon, he assumed. He never understood how unrealistic it was to have Misty carrying the baby pokemon all day during his imagined adventures—now, it seemed so unpractical, and very tiresome. Even though togepi was very light, his arms after the first hour were exhausted.

Therefore, part one of training the pokemon consisted of finding a way to keep it out of the pokeball so it could grow, and yet become independent of being carried. While, as a baby pokemon, it did like to be snuggled at intervals—something Ash himself had to warm up too—Misty never seemed to mind sharing her affection for the small egg; even when she was Gym Leader Misty rather than normal Misty. Though, Ash wondered if he should have told her in his world a togepi belonged to her, not him? He secretly enjoyed the unbiased affection she showed the pokemon, the way her eyes would light up indefinitely. In the end, he kept it as his personal secret; seeing her with the pokemon made him feel at ease in this world, and he worried telling her would make her previous affection weird.

With togepi firmly situated on his shoulder, he swung open his door and made his way down the hallway, offering passing glances and good mornings to Misty's sisters who were still getting ready for the day—an act that they all spent about two ours on each. Except for Misty, she was okay with whatever. Today, for instance, when he stumbled in on her waiting for her toast to pop from the toaster, she was wearing bot-cut jeans and a red long sleeved shirt that was a little big so the collar hung slightly off her left shoulder. Her hair was done in a sloppy ponytail—a constant complaint and reminder that she needed to cut her hair again; and she wore her usual silver, dangling cascade earrings and cascade pendant. Aside from the fact that she dressed in more relaxed, tomboyish tones, she still carried with her an ounce of girlish nature that had Ash gawking at her odd times of the day.

For instance, _now._

She always razzed him about it, too. He pouted, having been caught mid-stare.

"I know, I'm _gorgeous_." She mused, grabbing her toast and tossing them onto a plate. She then snatched her mug of black coffee—borderline espresso-and carried it over to her seat at the table while she nibbled on toast. He tore his eyes away, forcing himself not to think much about it as togepi jumped from his shoulder as he passed Misty, and directly onto her lap.

"Good morning to you, too, togepi." She muttered, patting the pokemon's head, getting an eager purr in return.

Having lived with the four females for over a month, the budding awkwardness that was breakfast had long since passed; and Ash had no qualms about finding his own plate, cutlery, and cup. Setting everything down at the table, he glanced slightly at the dark-haired man who only wore a white tank top and boxers at the table. Violet's _current_ boyfriend. He flipped through the news paper and munched on his breakfast roll without even glancing at Misty or Ash.

Honestly, Ash had no idea where Violet kept finding stray men to bring home with her; they never lasted longer than a week at a time, so he stopped trying to greet them. Quite frankly, he believed she deserved better... oh boy, living with them all _might_ have made him only _slightly_ protective. It was just a part of his life now. He rolled his eyes as Misty naturally poured him a glass of orange juice. He still hated the taste of coffee.

Ash always thought breakfast was awkward with the inclusion of boyfriends at the table—but Misty, having lived with it for the last twenty one years, paid it no mind. They ate in relative silence at first, mostly because they were _usually_ up much earlier than eight to start gym duties, and while Ash was a morning person, Misty was not; which usually meant that until she was a few sips into her morning coffee, she was impossible to talk to. He glanced shyly at her and had to chuckle under his breath and shake his head at her impenetrable scowl.

"What?" She questioned haphazardly and he fought down his grin.

"Nothing." he argued with an innocent tone, but she groaned.

"What is it this time?" she nagged setting down her magazine featuring newly discovered water pokemon; he let the grin tug at his cheeks.

Ash chuckled. "I was just thinking that maybe if all the League officials came by before breakfast they would stop harassing you so much."

She snorted, tilting her head while he spread jam over one of the breakfast rolls and took a few pieces of what-ever meat Misty had tried to cook up that morning and burnt black. It probably tasted like tar, but it was food.

"I think if they ever knocked on the door before 8:00am I would be arrested for assault and battery." Misty suggested with a slight chuckle and shake of her head. Ash could not disagree with her.

Though, he tried a different approach regarding her dependence on the java. "If you would stop drinking coffee _everyday,_ mornings would probably be easier."

"Not all of us were able to get ten years of rest, Ash." The comment didn't bother him, her jabs at his progressive sleep actually made it easier to cope with. He smiled as she continued. "Besides, do _you_ want to be around me when I ween myself off?" She offered with raised eyebrows and he grimaced dutifully, biting into his breakfast.

"Touche. Wait until _after_ I leave." He gushed in a short panic, stuffing the burnt substance inside of the store-bought breakfast rolls. Had Ash been watching her, he would have noticed the look of concern that pressed over her face at the mention of leaving; he never talked about it, so to casually drop it in conversation concerned her... until she saw him trying to bite the burnt food from earlier and she shook.

"Ash, don't eat those. They're charred." Misty scolded him, trying to swat him away from eating the burnt goods, but he bit into them and only grimaced slightly—having grown accustomed to the taste; like all of her sisters had. Eventually, his taste buds would die; a moment he could hardly wait for at this rate.

"It's fine. I'm hungry and while you girls eat like mice: I can't live off of bread like you do." He muttered with his mouth full—an action that deservedly got his shin kicked under the table. He jumped, rubbing his shin with his spare hand and started to curse while she snickered playfully, drinking her coffee to hide her smug grin. He swallowed before he spoke again.

"Besides. It's not like I can complain. I'm just as bad at cooking as you are." he said forcing the terrible taste down with a sip of the orange juice Misty poured for him when he sat down.

Misty chuckled abruptly at the memory. A couple of weeks ago, their combined efforts almost ended in a kitchen fire. Daisy officially banned them from trying to cook anything together—even if their intentions were good; Daisy was positive that _they_ would be the only living people on the planet that could burn down a house which was build around four different pools.

"I'm getting better." Misty weakly argued frowning slightly as she gently rocked togepi back and forth.

"Right. It doesn't cause automatic food poisoning anymore." he playfully rolled his eyes. "At least I have an excuse for why _I_ can't cook." He murmured, grinning at her and preparing for the fireworks of her inevitable anger; something he saw more of only now that the awkward first steps of their friendship had passed.

"You're about to have a good excuse for why you never woke up." She hissed coltish, eying him dangerously. Looking at one another, they both chuckled as she kicked away from the table, setting togepi on the ground as she got up to prepare for their trip. Ash winced, knowing what was next.

It immediately began to cry and Ash looked over at it quizzically, crunching on an extra burnt what-ever-those-were-before-Misty-killed-it. Misty sighed irritably, and then picked togepi back up where it stopped crying right away she couldn't stand to hear it cry. She grumbled something about faking, and then tried to put the pokemon on her shoulder as Ash usually did, but it kept sliding back down into her arms to be cradled. Misty grimaced, trying over and over again several times before giving up with a loud sigh and storming out of the kitchen.

Ash watched with an amused stare—she simply didn't have the finesse that he had with training the pokemon, and that made his entire body warm with her artful antics. It was relieving to see a part of her that wasn't always so proper. She was great with water pokemon, sure; but she fell short elsewhere.

Jarring his attention, she poked her head around the open kitchen doors a few seconds after storming out.

"You have five minutes, or I'm leaving you." She warned him, and then left once again.

Finally, Violet's newest boyfriend chimed. "These sisters, huh?"

Ash raised an eyebrow and found that at the insinuation of conversation from the man, Ash was no longer hungry. He didn't like speaking with her two-second boyfriends, usually, they were crude and had nothing decent to say. So, he threw back the rest of his juice before exiting the kitchen wordlessly, promptly following after Misty.

 **Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoo**

Contrary to popular belief cascade badges weren't manufactured in a facility like other gym badges; the Cerulean City gym had been long time supporters of Rifure Village where a local man hand-crafted each badge. The trip took most of a day, and they were on their way back from the brief adventure; the badges jingling in Misty's back pack.

"Isn't that kind of wacky, though? I mean, you give them to trainers who will mostly likely lose them and you never see them again?" Ash asked, in this particular moment togepi was perched on his shoulder. He and misty had been talking about the over-priced badges on their way back from the village.

Both Misty and Ash wore boots to protect their feet from the winter weather as well as warmer jackets. Togepi was wrapped up in the tails of Ash's forever-borrowed scarf, because since hatching, the egg pokemon took a distinct liking to the article of clothing. Ash supposed it was because he wrapped the egg up with it for so long when he was at the home.

"It's the principle of the matter. If we slack off on something because it's easier, than what's the point of telling trainers to work hard?" Misty argued in retort, tucking her nose behind her blue scarf and pulling her black toque a little further down on her head.

Ash scoffed. "You just like an excuse to shut the gym down for the day and go for a walk." he challenged her with a grin. "Because I'm pretty sure spending an hour looking at arts and crafts is not apart of teaching trainers to work hard."

She blushed slightly. "This may also be a part of the reason." she admit sheepishly and poked her tongue out at him.

A comfortable silence swept between the two of them, the howl of the wind filling their ears. Over the last couple of days; weeks, really, since Ash started working with pokemon again—he had a nagging feeling inside of his chest; clawing to be released but could never find a good time to bring it up with Misty. He was ready to leave. But when he went to request this the redhead was usually in the earshot of her sisters and Ash lost all of his nerve. Though, he wondered why if they heard him it would be an issue or not, they were as much his friends by this point as Misty was; weird, too-much-information-baring, girly girls, but he saw them as friends. He clucked his tongue, glancing at togepi who sat with a sincere smile, watching Misty.

"Hey Misty..." Ash started, alerting her as she stopped to turn at him. His gaze fell forward, however, having difficulty in keeping eye contact with her since the start of the week.

"What?" She asked carelessly and he inhaled. If he didn't _ask_ now, he wouldn't do it later.

Rolling his shoulders, he stammered. "I huh..." he looked up as heat rose to his cheeks, she wasn't even doing anything, and somehow she managed to unnerve him.

While he staggered about his words, Misty was entertained by his flushed nature as she watched the trail in front of them. He gestured with his hands, trying to convey the proper emotional words; but found that they curled on the edge of his tongue, but did not move. Misty winced, listening to his garbled tone and shook her head.

"Just spit it out, Ash." She groaned impatiently, rubbing her pale hand down her face. His heart beat loudly as he watched her. Heart was not racing because he was tired; he had long moved past the jitters of walking outside because of Misty's rigorous schedule. No, it was something else entirely, and while it was reoccurring, Ash found that when he wanted to bring it up, he would usually end up saying something rude instead. He wanted to avoid _that_ this time.

Blushing, he rubbed his temples, looking ahead at the forest which seemed to move in the distance and his breath caught in his throat.

"Well?" She pressed, but his mind was whisked away.

"An oddish!" He yelped, pointing at the blue pokemon excitedly. Ash's flailed his arms, forgetting his rise as he pointed at it. Misty took quick note of this and sighed; at least _that_ part left over from his dreams didn't change. He was still easily distracted by pokemon. She put her hands on her hip and kicked her foot out. Misty was positive that he was the human pokedex at this point; fitted with all the classic, snarky remarks as the original.

"Can I catch it?" He mused looking at her with bright eyes. Misty shook her head.

"You can battle it, but you _know that you_ can't capture it." She offered; because one, Ash didn't have a pokemon license, and two, he didn't have any pokeballs. But, battling was just as important for practice, and he had never had the chance before. Gleefully, he grabbed togepi off his shoulder and pointed it directly at oddish. Though, the egg didn't seem to mirror his confidence at first.

"Let's battle!" he called to the opposing pokemon. Having acknowledged the trainers, the oddish turned to the two of them and took a battle stance; one that togepi rivaled confidently at first, mimicking Ash's composure. Finally, a battle! His first battle outside of watching gym matches. He clenched his fists victoriously, watching the oddish as he semi-expected togepi to start the battle without his command...

 _I don't know any of togepi's attacks..._ Ash realized suddenly, his eyebrows knitting up. He couldn't recall Misty ever battling seriously with the pokemon in his dreams—except for when they found out it could use...

"Metronome!" Ash called happily. Automatically, Misty snorted and slapped her forehead as togepi looked back at Ash, confused. Ash's face scrunched up, not understanding its confusion as oddish went in for an attack on the pokemon using razor leaf. Landing a critical hit, Ash winced as he watched togepi roll back a short ways.

Misty gasped; both trainers calling after togepi. "Tell it to dodge, Ash!" Misty groaned, crossing her arms protectively. Flustered, Ash blinked.

"It's alright, you can do it!" Ash cheered hopefully, but the baby pokemon clearly did not enjoy being struck, and instead, its eyes started to water. Oddish moved in to attack once again, but before it could land another hit, Misty deterred oddish by throwing out her own pokemon and startling it.

"Poliwraith, go!" She called—as it was the only pokemon that she brought with her on this trip. The oddish screamed in fear at the larger pokemon's disposition, and then retreated back into the forest while Misty returned poliwraith quickly and raised her eyebrows at Ash while he scooped up the distraught egg worriedly.

"You don't have any idea what you're doing, do you?" she scolded; he twiddled his index fingers together. Even after all the trainer magazines he has read, he still made mistakes like that.

"Things sort of came easier in my head..." he mumbled unable to make eye contact with her fiery green eyes.

"You can't just expect a pokemon to know a move it hasn't seen. You have to teach it to them if it's not some basic physical move. Why didn't you use a _physical_ move, like sweet kiss, or I don't know _DODGE_?" she crooned, touching two fingers to her forehead.

"How was I supposed to know?" He snapped defensively, crossing his arms. Misty threw hers up.

"You've only been watching me battle for an entire month now! I figured you might have learned something!" She gasped, getting a scoff from Ash.

"Your pokemon already know all the moves you're going to use—how was I supposed to know this, specifically?"

"Common sense? Togepi has never seen metronome, let alone if it's a legitimate attack that it can learn."

"Well, it is a legitimate attack because I've seen it."

"You've _seen_ it in your dreams, Ash, that doesn't count!"

As they went back and forth, the small egg pokemon rested forgotten in Ash's arms. Its lower lip started to wiggle, tears pressing at the corners of it eye as it listened to the duo trade verbal blows. The twitching fear that stung it during battle as it picked itself up off the dirt was replaced with the quickening of its heart and the penetrating shrill cry of its tears.

"See, you made him cry." Ash growled, stopping the argument to hold the pokemon and investigate the reason for its tears. Perhaps it was too early to battle with him.

"It's just a baby, Ash. You have to be more careful." Misty chided, ignoring his backhanded comment.

"It won't evolve without training." He argued quietly, looking into the small black eyes of the pokemon. "You gotta be tough, togepi." he motioned his support with a clenched fist, but its lip only quivered and started to cry once more. Ash's face fell.

Ash felt horrible, hanging his head. What did he do? Technically, this was first time he ever tried to battle with the pokemon—and would probably not be his last failed attempt. Sighing, Ash tried to pat togepi's tears away with the red scarf, but it didn't ease up at all. It was moments like this when he missed pikachu most of all. Misty approached him, ripping the crying pokemon from his fingers and cradling it close to her body as they continued their walk back to Cerulean City.  
"You're supposed to _hold_ something when it's crying, Ash. Not stare at it." She groaned, soothing the young pokemon's cries.

Ash scowled. "Well, if you're such a professional, why don't _you_ take care of it."  
"Maybe I will." She challenged and walked away from him with her nose stuck up. His mouth twitched once, and then again and he ran after her.

"I was kidding. I'll take him back now." Ash whined, holding out his arms apologetically. Misty shook her head.

"No, you gave him away." She warned and Ash growled.

"I did not! I was...I was just upset." He whined, still holding out his arms but she had no intention of releasing the pokemon.

"Then apologize." she wagered.

"I am not apologizing!" he yelled stubbornly.

"Then I'm not giving him back." she said flatly with an underlying playful tone.

"Misty!" he shouted before stuffing his hands into is pocket; breathing out. "I'm sorry." he whined pathetically. Misty stopped and smiled victoriously at him.

"What was that?" Her chestier grin made him exhale loudly.

"I'm sorry." He muttered a bit louder, pouting away from her. She didn't ease up.

"Hmm. I dunno togepi, do you think he's being sincere?" Misty commented looking down at the sniffling egg, and Ash shuddered, the same blush as before returning to his cheeks. The _tone_ of her _voice_. He threw his arms up.

"I said I'm sorry. Now can you please give him back?" he whined, Misty finally smiling earnestly at him.

"You can't just give away pokemon when you're angry." She coached him, twisting togepi in her arms as to return it to Ash.

He breathed. "I know."

"You shouldn't joke about it either." She scolded, as if reading his thoughts and he grinned at her, pressing his fingers against the side of togepi only to hear it whistled below him and pounce into his arms. He hugged the pokemon and looked up at Misty with a questioning gaze, his thoughts returning to his dominant question. With the city lights poking over the horizon, Ash whistled.

"So...I was thinking for awhile now." He muttered pathetically.

"Oh _no._ " She mocked.

He smacked his lips, ignoring her jest. "I want to go back on my journey; even if I can't train pokemon. I want to find my mom. And Pikachu..." He said earnestly twiddling his fingers against togepi's shell, massaging it. Misty raised her eyebrows.

"Gary said he might be able to get you a license if you're patient." She tried with her mouth twitching.

"But how long is that going to take?" Ash sighed. "Another month? Misty. I don't have any idea where my mom is right now and it..." He stammered off, wanting to avoid the 'mushy' stuff.

"I know. I don't blame you." She grunted chewing on her words.

His heart rang aflutter; his nerves endings shooting off at each point. His hands twitched; that weird fluttering feeling in the pit of his stomach when he thought about her was...

"But, uh, there's more." He added, and she looked at him skeptically, eyebrows raised, watching as his tan skin turned a deep shade of red.

"...I was wondering if you would come with me?" He spat out face flushed eight different colors-finally asking his question from before, stumbling over his words only a little bit as Misty came to a complete stop a second later, stunned.

"What?" She asked ambivalent and he inhaled; there was no way he was getting that out a second time, so instead he scratched the back of his neck.

"It's just that, you're sort of right. I don't really know what I'm doing much in this world and you've been here since..." he stammered off, her uninviting silence taking hold of the outdoor air. Misty's jaw clenched.

"I can't Ash. You've seen how busy it is at the gym. I can't leave." she said bitterly, awkwardly shifting her attention back to their walk to clear the space between them.

Rejected, which was his expectation from the start, he shifted uncomfortably and chewed on the inside of his cheek, following her. Stuffing his nose behind the scarf to avoid the brisk wind he sighed quietly, trying to shrug off the accountability. Ash could not blame her, not really. She had job, and aside form being a thorn in her side, he was only a problem. Even if she didn't have gym duties, why would she want to come with him?

"...Yeah, I figured as much." He grumbled sadly; with that, he smiled, closing his eyes. "I just thought that I would ask, regardless."

"Couldn't hurt." She assured him with a pat on the shoulder. The rest of the walk, she seemed a little bit unnerved by his comments looking up at the dreary, clouded sky for long moments as they barreled into the streets.

"Do you think about her often?" She paused, glancing at him. "Your mom, I mean."

A little embarrassed, he shifted his shoulders. "Everyday." he said coolly.

"Have you ever considered that..." She trailed off, catching Ash's innocent-by-nature attention.

"Considered what?"

"Well. Nothing." She said quickly, dismissing the subject as the taxi she hailed came forward and stopped in front of them. "Don't worry about it." She suggested with a weak smile as she popped open the door and slipped inside. Ash followed her movements, thoughtlessly. In the back seat of the musky cab, the driver spoke a weird language that Ash didn't quite catch, neither did Misty.

"Cerulean City gym, please." Misty mused as she looked at his tanned face. "When were you expecting to leave?"

A little disheartened, mostly because the idea of _going alone_ was terrifying, he sucked in air, wrapping the length of the red scarf around the egg pokemon apologetically.

"Within the week...?" he offered, pursing his lips.

"Wow, you don't waste any time, do you?" She nudged his shoulder with a sly smile on her face.

"Well, I already missed ten years, as you like to remind me." he scrunched up his face, glancing out the window at the passing street lamps and multitudes of people; there was a rally going on downtown for some kick-starter Ash had no idea about. Even after being in the city for over a month, he was not used to the constant flow of people and bright lights. Cerulean City was three times bigger than he could have ever imagined it to be. He eyed Misty at this thought.

"Are there any other professors I can talk about to get a license without leaving Kanto?" He asked suddenly, wanting to get off the top of leaving. He was prepared to go without a pokemon lisence, but he couldn't deny that it would make things much easier.

"Ahh." Misty pursed her lips. "You might be able to get a temporary one from an Elite-four member while you're waiting for Professor Oa-...err" She scratched her cheek, unsure of how to address the boy she had become acquainted with over the last couple of weeks. "Waiting for Gary." she decided.

"How long does that take?"

Misty grimaced. "A few weeks to a few months? Since Professor Oak passed I'm sure they've been swamped with requests."

Ash's face messed up; "Is there any other way?"

"Hmm...I could write you down as an official understudy of Cerulean City gym, I suppose. I could get more funding that way but there is a ton of paperwork." She sighed dramatically, brushing a few strands of hair from her face.

"You're allowed to do that? Aren't I already supposed to be a trainer before I become a student?"  
"Actually, most of my students are people who are too nervous to raise their own pokemon so they catch them and drop them off with me. It just means the pokemon you catch will be considered property of Cerulean City gym and I have the right to withhold them or release them as I see fit."

"That hardly seems fair to the student..." he whined haphazardly, but she brushed it off.

"Some _people_ shouldn't be trainers." Misty retorted callously, face scrunching up.

Ash had not even thought about that; in his world, even when a trainer was relatively harsh on their pokemon they still loved them—he noticed that this doesn't always ring true in _this_ world. A lot of people viewed pokemon as a simple way of making money and, or creating personal slaves.

"I guess you're right." He offered his confidence in her and settled back.

"You would also be representing the gym in any action you take; which means if you screw up, and it looks bad on me-I will publicly chastise you before removing you from my roster and reporting you to the league."

"Sounds like you've had some bad eggs..." He grinned nervously, rubbing the back of his neck and she sighed, rubbing her temples.

"You have _no idea_." She groaned. "Since Giovanni ran his stupid affiliation with his 'students' aka team rocket members, a lot people think they can catch a bunch of pokemon, return them to the gym, and then auction them off, or whatever—without repercussions of carrying an actual trainers license. Instead of the damage being done to their own name, it's done to the gym leader's title. Even though we shouldn't be held accountable for the stupidity of our _mandatory_ students, we are. Apparently, we're supposed to fix their damaged minds." She vented, tugging on her tied hair.

"Sounds like you don't get paid enough." Ash grinned, this much he already knew.

"I don't."

"Why are students mandatory then?"  
"Because we're technically teachers. We're supposed to prepare students for what training actual pokemon will require and years ago this actually worked...it just.. doesn't work as well now." Misty only ever took in the bare minimum, and even out of those they were made up of people she knew well—her time letting in strangers ended when Giovanni's scam was plastered over news media. Ash sucked in.

"I've asked before...but why are you still a gym leader if you have so many problems with it?" He asked and Misty licked her lips carefully.

Ash watched her shift as they came to a red-light. Unable to flee the conversation like she usually would. Getting her to talk about her position was like grinding nails on a chalkboard; painful to the person scratching and frustrating to everyone else. Usually, Ash did not monitor her inability to service her emotions; it was not really his business to affront her situation—especially because she was technically his boss right now, _and_ his friend. Yet, a sense of relief washed over his face at the thought—he was finally well enough to consider other people's emotions; not just his own. Which, according to Misty, was increasingly frustrating.

"It doesn't matter." She wagered, looking up at the roof of the taxi cab.

"Why do you do that?" He found himself asking, pointing at her accusingly. They would be back at the gym in little under ten minutes, and at that point; any hope of getting an honest reply out of her would die the moment her sisters came around.

"Do what?" she blinked.

"Avoid topics about yourself." he clarified, eying her suspiciously. "You expect other people to be so upfront, but you never really talk about yourself."

"There isn't much to talk about." She shrugged, breaking eye contact like a child would. Even so much as crossing her arms as she looked out the window. The cab suddenly felt three sizes too small. "You apparently already know everything about me, anyways." She pointed out, but Ash was offended at the claim.

"I don't know much about _you_." He admit honestly. He knew his version of Misty well, but it became glaringly obvious to him the more time that he spent with this one—she was different; at least at the surface. Minor similarities in her personality seem prevalent up until he observed who she was as a gym leader; she was stoic and intimidating. A lot of trainers even called her 'mean'. Having never seen that side of her until he lived with her, it was a bit of an oddity. A clear contrast of the caring nature she showed him.  
"Maybe I just don't think it's your business." She tossed heatedly, snapping at him.

He bit back on his own anger; "Why not?" They were friends, weren't they? Didn't friends talk about hopes and dreams and their lives? Why didn't Misty?

Misty sighed. "It doesn't matter. I just don't want to talk about it." and with that, the conversation was done. A reoccurring theme of their blossoming friendship—Having moved away form caretaker and patient to essentially co-workers and friends-it was not uncommon for the two of them to bicker. In fact, it was okay for Ash to talk about anything, not that she ever had to really ask him to talk—he was a chatter box-but if Ash asked Misty to talk, it fell into the range of water pokemon, mostly, battling, and on a good day she would talk about how much of a pain running the gym was.

...but she never talked about _herself_. And that bugged him. A lot more than it should have.

He rolled his eyes at her behavior—and he was the one who was supposed to be ten. Maybe she just didn't think he was mentally capable of handling certain information—that, or they weren't as close as he thought that they were. It did, after all, take forever for even his mind-counterpart of Misty to soften up around him. How long would real life Misty take? He grimaced at the thought. The better he got to know her, the more he realized she was as closed off as she was ten years ago. Or what should have been ten years ago. Covering up any discomfort with anger and irrational behavior.

Man, he sure became thoughtful over the last month.

He grimaced to himself; he was spending too much time around Daisy's critical analysis papers, and too much time around Misty's romance movies. He was starting to act like a girl! He paused his thoughts; or were developing thoughts simply a component of growing up? He shook the thought from his mind quickly and eyed her.

"So," he tried. "If I became you student, I could train pokemon?" he asked, returning to the conversation prior.  
She replied quickly. "With limits."

"How long would it take to get the permit?" he blinked.

"As soon as tomorrow, as late as next week." She looked at him, a flash of worry crossing over her eyes. "Are you sure you want to go so soon?"

Ash smiled weirdly at her. "It's my mom, and my pikachu... The sooner I start looking—the better, you know? I mean, if I have to go without pokemon, that's fine, it's just... I would like to."

Misty grew painfully quiet, crossing her knee over the other as they pulled in for a swift stop in front of the gym he was already starting to think of more as a home than his previous. As they clicked open their doors, Ash watched her slip the taxi cab driver a few bills and then round the back to exhale at Ash and togepi. Together, they walked side by side up the walk that would lead into the chlorine filled atmosphere.

"Misty, what did Gary tell you?" Ash finally asked, watching her pale face closely. The winter wind had turned her nose red, and her cheeks appeared flushed over her pale skin; but her left eye crinkled in a way Ash was not as familiar with; her shoulders rolled as she bit the left side of her bottom lip and she inhaled through her nose and wouldn't look at him. She shared these same aspects when he first met her back at the hospital—when he would ask about where he was and what was happening.

"He didn't tell me anything." Her lackluster reply forced him to stop briefly; blinking as she moved a steady pace ahead of him.

She lied to him.

 **Author's Note:**

Not mybest written chapter but... Originally spent a lot more time fleshing out Ash's time at the gym, but ended up removing the extended chapters and summarizing them all at the start of this one. To save time, mostly; plus I felt like discerning how/why/when Ash is going to start his journey is more important—plus, Ash trying to train togepi is something I'm finding very enjoyable/humorous. Sometimes, it's nice to have a little mystery in a time skip! Let me know what you guys think about that? What kind of hijinks do you think Ash and Misty got into?

But, I stand by my decision to skip past it. Sorry if you thought Ash moved from being a wreck to an actual functioning human being too quickly—but he already set all of the steps in the first 12 chapters, now he needs to start running up them.

Plus, -grabs at the plot- I WANTS IT. And next chapter we start into drama that I'm excited to get over with. While I've been enjoying writing the 'Ash starts to develop feelings for Misty before Misty reciprocates the feelings' sub-plot (Kudos to those of you who have caught on/everyone -shifty eyes-), I kind of think that up until this point, Ash has really been... -stops self-. Gah, spoilers. You'll have to read the next chapter!

What is up with the pokemon league, huh? I have so much going on in this story and sometimes I wonder if it'll make sense as we move forward -author problems-

Thank you for all the reviews, favs and follows -hearts-


	14. Chapter 14: Don't Lie

**Locked Away, Chapter 14**

Maybe Ash was spending too much time with her. He was starting to notice little things that he shouldn't have, things that made him uncomfortable, and other times very happy. The way she would scratch the side of her head aggressively when she was upset; how her eyes would twitch when she was unimpressed, the way her lips would curl in just the right way when she was prideful..

...and her body language when she lied.

Now, to say that Misty lied often would be a massive over statement. If there was anything that Misty valued more than water pokemon and her sisters—it was honesty-blunt, nerve wrecking, honesty. She was known for it mostly because she _hated_ being lied to. Luckily, Ash had only ever been in her good graces—having never needed to lie to her about anything. There were a couple of times since he moved in—he stammered, mentally correcting himself—started _cohabiting_ with the red-head and her sisters where his roommates would get into large, intense screaming matches because one of Misty's older sisters lied.

Usually, she let white lies go; who ate the last slice of pizza, who didn't replace the toilet paper—things like small lies were cake walk. It was the massive ones that got under her skin—like the time she found out Violet was lying about spending gym revenue on schooling when she was actually spending the money on paying off out-standing bar tabs. They spent almost the entire night screaming at one another; most of the time Ash had no idea what they were saying. Needless to say, he and togepi spent the night terrified, staring wide-eyed up at the ceiling.

The one time he caught her in a lie was indirectly, and only because she slipped up by quickly venting her frustrations out against the gym wall when she thought no one was looking. Ash happened to have just finished cleaning the filters when he stumbled upon this incident. He and togepi turned and walked away quickly—unsettled by her tantrum. He could only deduce by her careful choice of words that it was over Daisy's most recent boyfriend.

Really, the only time Misty lied was went the truth would effectively cripple the person it was associated with.

...So when he caught her lying yesterday evening—he was more than disturbed, he was restless. Surely she wouldn't withhold important information from him, would she? That was one of the things she fought so hard for Ash to have when he was in the hospital: honesty.

When night came, he turned in early, feigning a stomach ache from what-ever restaurant they went to while visiting the village to purchase more gym badges. Misty did not seem affected by his accusations, and nonchalantly waved him off the way she so easily did on most occasions as of late. She seemed almost distracted the rest of the evening, which only added to his mental confusion: what could Misty have to lie about?

The only thing he could think of was his mom. Gary mentioned her during their first meeting, but then never brought it up again—Ash was too nervous to ask; but stupidly, he trusted someone he barely knew. Ash's eyes snapped open at his own hostile thoughts, sitting upright in his bed and pressing his hand to his forehead. That was wrong; he didn't _barely_ know Misty. If anything, she was the only person that helped him out without asking for anything in return; well, he thought about his out-standing debt to her, not asking for anything outside of reason. So what was it now? What was so detrimental to his health that she would lie? Whatever she was lying about.

 _Maybe she wasn't lying._ He denied, balling his sheets up into his fists, listening to the quiet purr of the egg pokemon sleeping beside him. Maybe he was just being paranoid? Should he ask? Unable to draw to a conclusion, he sprung out of bed, wearing his black pajama pants and a red tank top as he approached the window in the center of the south wall. He exhaled, peering outside the window before slowly cracking it. The winter wind stung his flesh quickly, pressing gooseflesh over his entire body. Moisture was in the air; and he had no doubt the rolling clouds from before would be bringing yet _another_ thunderstorm.

Adding that to his reasons why he couldn't sleep, on top of everything else; it was going to be a long night. Glancing at the clock briefly, he grimaced at the time. A quarter after midnight and all he accomplished was a head ache and jitters. Perhaps it wasn't to late to sneak some tea if he was quiet? Shutting the window as quietly as he opened it, he stuck out the cold winter night, and stalked out of his bed room.

The bedroom floors were carpeted in nice, lavender hues. A shag carpet that tickled his feet on the worst days; contrast directly outside of his bedroom, was the cold wooden hallway of the original floor. Worn down from years of walking on it, the floor still remained firm under his feet, although, a big rough around the edges. Misty often talked about replacing it with tile someday, but never found the money, or the time.

It was dark in the house. Daisy had long since fallen to sleep, she had class in the morning, while Violet and Lily were most likely out on the town. Misty never stayed awake longer than eleven, so when he saw the kitchen light on still he was at first started until the smell of fresh-brewed coffee filled the air.

Unless some robber decided to set up a pot of coffee, he was sure he was fine. He stepped into the living room, which was the central hub of all of the sisters antics—where he shared a great deal of memories; mostly ones where Misty would subdue him to sitting and watching long documentaries or movies. Always using the excuse " _You're living here for free, the least you can do is watch some television and relax! You could do for some culture._ " Misty would groan. _"and not the news! You listen to the news too much!"_ And so he was able to catch up with a lot of the films that he had no idea existed—something to 'help him grow up' and better understand social situations.

It helped a lot, mostly. Unless he was tricked into sitting through a romance story with the sisters. Typically, he was the one leaning over the arm rest fading in and out of consciousness while Daisy and Misty would gush over the characters. Ash didn't understand their infatuation with the romance movies—they _all_ had the same premise. Besides, most, if not all of them had these horribly drawn out kissing scenes that made him extremely uncomfortable; plus there were _those ones_ where the characters would _do things_ and Misty had to awkwardly skip through the scenes because Ash would literally black out. She tried to notion ones that he needs to stop acting like such a baby, but, he couldn't help it—not really.

He was just ten.

Though, the more he thought about, the less he felt that way. His mind wasn't occupied with fantasy stories and pokemon battling; it was stuck on more adult things, like how in the world he would pay Misty back if he left the gym. He had no real skills, and pokemon battling in this world wasn't as rewarding in his—first off, he had to win major battles to get money, and second of all, it was extremely expensive to be a trainer. Primarily because after last year, visits to the pokemon Center were no longer a free-trade agreement. Every visit cost money. The Pokemon League passed the law as a way to prevent pokemon abuse, but really, all it did was hurt pokemon trainers in all walks of life.

...Yeah, maybe he did watch the news too much.

He couldn't help himself though. Somehow, he always thought that somewhere, he would see his mom there—dead, alive—incarcerated. There had to have been a reason, not just that she moved as to why she wouldn't see Ash. There also had to have been a reason his awakening didn't go regional like it should have. Everyone knew when he went down into a coma—but it hardly seemed like anyone else cared now. Recalling Agatha's point, his eyes went wide. He spun around from his position at the back of the couch—he had forgotten entirely about the gift she had given him until now.

The long draw of a sigh pulled his attention back towards the kitchen, and after brushing his fingers against the emerald green sofa in the center of the room, he trekked into the open door of the kitchen. Sitting at the table was Misty; her hair let down, resting a short way past her shoulders; black rings under her eyes, and wearing her light blue pajamas which consisted mostly of an over-sized blue button up and a pair of matching pants. Even in the goofy attire, a tone of seriousness purged the air between them. Holding her favorite blue coffee mug in her hands, she pressed it to her lips for a short drink while staring down humbly at a folded—partially ripped parchment against the table.

"Misty?" he called after her meekly, snapping her sea-green eyes to him so quickly he saw her head spin. She slammed her hand against the note and tucked it away into her pants pocket without folding it properly.

"Hey!" She stammered, setting her coffee mug down as if trying to sort out her life. "Why are you up?" She asked shortly after, inhaling once to regain her lost composure.

While usually catching her in a jittery position made him chuckle, tonight, with the clouds swirling over head only, found him more anxious than he already was. Without speaking, he pressed forward to the chair at the table perpendicular to hers, and slowly scoot it out, looking over the official documents she had placed out. He didn't speak until he had looked over each parchment title, some of them with his name on them—others being bills; one in particular from the hospital caught his eye—but she was sure to gather that one before he got a better look at it. The abrasive nature of her hands slipping documents into proper order brought his attention to her concentrated face and he exhaled.

"I couldn't sleep." He admit honestly, watching her eyebrows rise.

"It does seem like it's going to storm outside; so I'm not surprised." She admit, exhaling softly as her nimble fingers discarded unneeded work. While she had a desk to work on, she always preferred the open lighted area of the kitchen—the office was too stuffy, and at least in here she could have the window of the kitchen sink wide open. He could hear the whip of the wind outside, and shivered himself at the chill in the room, only wondering briefly how she managed to cope with the cold.

"You know about that?" He asked embarrassingly and Misty shrugged.

"It's just a thunderstorm, but getting electrocuted in one could mess with a person. So I only assumed that's why you were weird around them." She didn't make eye contact with him as she seemed to find the paper she was looking for, taking it out, she placed it down in front of him.

"I didn't know it was that noticeable."

"It wouldn't have been if you didn't try to call me in the wee hours of the morning while you were still sleeping in the assisted living home—or, you know, getting up and down from bed a million times in the middle of the night." His face flushed red at her callous tone and he pouted.

"How did you know about that?"

"The walls are very thin. I hear everything." She whined, tugging on her cheeks to wake herself up. Sitting back, she brought the coffee back to her lips before Ash replied.

"Sorry." but what could he do?

"Don't apologize. I'm just glad you're not like normal boys. Otherwise I don't think I could stand it." She confirmed sipping her drink. Ash eyed her suspiciously.

"...what do you mean normal?" he questioned, eyes narrowed. She flushed a cute red, and shook her head vehemently.

"Don't worry about it." She assured him, wagging her hand in his direction. He knit up his eyebrows and blinked his confusion. "Anyways," She motioned to the paper she placed in front of him before. "I got everything finished earlier, so all you have to do is sign at the bottom." She pointed to the signature line and he blinked at it.

"Really? But shouldn't I have filled everything out?" He asked, taking one of the pens off the table and reading through everything to make sure it was correct.

"It's fine. I know most of your information from the hospital anyways and at least this way it's legible." she said with a wistful grin.

"My hand writing has been improving." He pouted, squinting his eyes at her before reading the rest of the document outlining his responsibilities as a student of the Cerulean City Gym.

He was not allowed more than two pokemon at any given time. He must report back to his Gym Leader via letter or email and will be held accountable for his representation of the gym. He cannot battle for money, he cannot enter tournaments—league or not. He is only able to participate in battles which are his pokemon versus wild pokemon unless authorized by a league official; not his gym leader. Excess pokemon will be returned to gym leader, who will then hold custody of said pokemon. All pokemon unaccounted for will be taken from his wage.

"I get paid?" He exclaimed, happily reading the last line. Misty purses her lips uncomfortably and narrows her eyes.

"I'm taking a portion, for your debts." She warned him, pointing at him.

"You don't show any mercy." He grinned, scratching his cheek gently before clicking the pen and signing his name at the bottom—a much better signature than his garbled one from his first time at the hospital.

"I really appreciate this." He grumbled into the night while she took the application after him, signed her name below his, and then dated the paper.

"I know you do." She said, sounding partially depressed the way her voice pulled on each word. She swallowed hard, glancing over everything and then pat the paper as she slipped it into her briefcase.

"I'll send that in tomorrow morning, and if you're lucky it will be here within the next few days..." She added, licking her teeth and looking down at the table. He leaned forward and hummed at her, placing his elbow against the table and cupping his face in his hand.

"So what were you reading earlier?" He pegged, watching her chest rise and fall, as it usually did when she was stressed; or to calm her nerves. She used the technique a lot during battles.

"It was nothing." she replied halfheartedly, swishing the coffee in her mug thoughtlessly.

Ash quirked a eyebrow. "It didn't look like nothing. You were pretty tense."

However, her reply was not what he expected; "You can tell when I'm tense? Jeeze, maybe you do stare too much." She challenged him, raising her eyebrows and smirking. Frazzled, his face turned red.

"I do not stare." he denied quickly, almost dropping his head against the table in surprise.

"You do so;" She argued back, grinning. "It's kind of creepy, but in an endearing way—because you're like ten, mentally."

"It's not my fault you're pr-" _pretty to look at_. Ah, damn, maybe Brock was his alter-ego to regulate his frustrations; his face turned beet red once again, steam rising from his cheeks.

"I'm what?" She pressed, leaning forward slyly, in a mocking way. The twist of her smile made his stomach flip and he sucked back air to calm himself.

"...pretty lame." he finished confidently, burying his blush with an over-zealous head nod and smile. But Misty only gave him a knowing smile; as if his ten year old come backs were no longer effective. Catching her charming gaze only suited to make his heart run faster, and he looked down at the table where his hands were folded. He panicked and looked away, casting a glance back at the open window where he could hear storm clouds roar in the sky.

"So why are you up, anyways?" he asked, changing the subject with a heaved sigh. Misty stiffened again and she pursed her lips.

"Gary called."

"Oh?" Ash asked quickly, a little _too_ quickly. He eyed her as she smacked her lips. "What did Gary want?" he asked, having only seen his old-enemy-rival-friend; actually, he wasn't sure what he and Gary were. They seemed to get along so well _now_ but when they were kids, they used to fight tooth and nail... perhaps that was just how kids were.

"Ahh, just about the license..." She admit, though awkwardly. Shifting in her seat, she placed her mug onto the surface of the table and licked her lips. "About your mom...You're...ah... You're sure you want to go?" She regained her confidence, attempting to look him in the eye.

He looked up casually, blinking twice.

"Yeah, I'm sure." he said. "I'm a little nervous though; going alone and all," His eyes shifted away form her once more. "but! I will be fine." He assured her confidently realizing he didn't want her to worry, earning a sweet, tired smile.

"You sure have changed a lot in the last month." She gushed positively.

He blushed, scratching the back of his neck modestly. "Thanks." he said.

Standing up, she scoot her seat out from the table and marched towards the counter where she took another mug out of the cupboard. Off the top of the microwave she removed an instant packet of hot chocolate and dumped it into the mug before running water in the glass. Intrigued, Ash watched her as she bound from the microwave to the window above the sink and snapped it shut to keep the sound of pouring rain out, as well as the sound of the thunder.

"Well, if we're both up, we might as well do something constructive with our time." she suggested, wiggling her eyebrow.

"What did you have in mind?" He smiled and she grinned in retort.

"Pranking my sisters?" She offered slyly and very slowly Ash's mouth twitched up into a smile.

"Always."

 **xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox**

Last night, Gary had mentioned more to Misty than she mentioned to Ash; mostly in request that she not let Ash leave the gym in search of his mother until he had more _time_ to smooth things over. What was she supposed to tell Ash to keep him here? She knew that if _she_ was in his situation, she would have been gone weeks ago if she was in his shoes. How he managed to patiently coexist with her in the gym for an entire month was absolutely astonishing. The fact that he waited so long to even suggest going out on his own mesmerized her to no end. What made her more concerned was that he _asked her_ to join him.

Yet, she was worried sick.

Even after their late night charades of preparing morning pranks for her sisters; they ended up winding down by sitting on the couch talking about which pokemon he would bring.

He wanted to bring togepi, _only_ togepi. In fact, he insisted that what better time to practice with the pokemon than when he could devote his full attention to it? She worried the egg pokemon was going to be dead within the week—especially after watching that incident with friggin' oddish. That morning before anything else, she printed off a set of moves for the hopeful trainer. Misty did not want to see him, or the pokemon hurt in anyway.

Even though she fell to bed exhausted last night a little after 3:00am, she still didn't sleep; the thunderstorm raged outside well into sunrise, and she could hear Ash getting up countless times. She felt bad for him, the nerve endings associated with every crack of lightning. But if he was up, she was up. That was just the unfortunate set up of their bed rooms.

She did, however, notice that after she informed him that she could hear him, he _tried_ to be a little more quiet.

They had to share the bathroom between their rooms; something that took them only one slip up to perfect. Misty woke up at 6:00am and got the early bird shower— _regardless_ if Ash was up before her or not. She _always_ showered first. This morning, however, she had a hard time getting out of bed. The lack of sleep pushing her shoulders deep into the concave marks of her soft, cushion bed.

"Misty are you getting up or what? It's already a quarter to seven. So if not, I'm going to..." Ash voice bellowed from their co-showers, trailing off near the end.

"Hrmmm." She grunted, launching what ever was on her nightstand directly at the bathroom door with one swift motion. It shattered, but succeeded as she could hear Ash shirk away from the door, alarmed, but she could care less.

No sleep and gym opening in an hour made for an unhappy Misty.

A Misty without coffee made for an unhappy Misty.

...A Misty when one of her _only_ friends was leaving made for an _extremely_ unhappy Misty.

She turned over in her bed, listening to the shower water turn on. She couldn't be upset though; but she felt _wrong_.

Gary begged her not to tell. Told her that it was in Ash's best interest that he did not know. Yet, here she was, plagued by guilt that her only friend was running off on a wild goose chase when the answer was right beside her; in her night draw, with her cellphone. She sat up, rubbing her red hair between her fingers. Her orange-y tone had returned at the roots; giving a blend of fall colors into her otherwise deep red. She tugged at her night stand, ripping open the draw to look inside, folded inside was the note Gary had given her; a note she had torn, crumpled, and otherwise disregarded as prominent evidence. She felt like she was the witness, Gary was the judge, and Ash was the boy on trial. She had the evidence to let him out; and yet she stood at the stands and _lied._ Straight to his face.

Several times.

Loathing was not the proper word for how she felt about herself right now. But she was close to it. Misty pushed the drawer shut after collecting her phone and laying back in her bed, fluffing her pillows so that they propped her up and her head rested against the headboard. Perhaps it was not proper for her to be depressed, but she could not help herself. Toppled with the guilt of what she knew and Ash leaving, she also felt bad for turning down his offer to travel with him—she could have managed at least _a little_ while away from the gym... but how was she supposed to join him on a quest to find someone that was _already_ found?

"Let's go this way, Ash! Not the direction where we will actually find her!"

Yeah. Misty could do that.

Not.

Groaning, she clicked on her screen, crossed her legs at the foot of the bed and listened to the rush of water. The storm ended just before six, now the careful sound of wind brushed the trees outside her window. Soothing, if she was not in such a sour mood already. She scrolled through her news on the application she used to find Ash's imaginary friends the first time, taking a small chance at looking at Dawn's page once more.

The coordinator was still moving forward, standing in front of large crowds no matter where she went; blasting out constant 'selfies' and new profiles pictures that accented her fabulous life of traveling, contests, and over all lavish style of living. It was hard to think that someone like that at one point fought tooth and nail for trainer-equal-rights... but she supposed after Team Rocket, fighting over who was the better trainer counterparts didn't seem as important.

Still, she scrolled; finally stopping to return to her own page where she read through a few old posts from her sisters, the odd one from and old friend or two, and finally, a few pictures she had taken of Ash; and a few pictures that Daisy had taken of them. One in particular that caught her eye was when they were sitting on the couch watching some ridiculous action-thriller where everyone was stuck on a giant ryhorn, and if they jumped off, they would die. Ash was leaning forward, pointing at the screen with an expression she could only remember as pure confusion and frustration with the characters. Beside him in rather close proximity, Misty mimicked the pose, only reversed; she leaned back in the couch, looking disgusted with her face contorted into something like disgust or aggravation; she remembered that movie vividly... Mostly because that was the first time she had seen Ash so enthralled in anything before. The picture posted right beside that one was of them at the gym together; she could see an assortment of her pokemon in the background, but it was an action shot essentially outlining Ash's inability to safely manage _anything_ in his life. He was falling into the pool. Ash had slipped on a puddle caused by one of the gym matches, and Misty tried to grab him but was laughing so hard that she had only buckled over in laughter.

Smiling, for once, she was glad that Violet was such a free-spirit—she took pictures of everything; Misty's twenty-second birthday where they all went to the bar only to realize that Ash was not old enough to drink so they tried to take him bowling and he threw the ball into the other lane—or the time Violet tagged along to one of Misty's monthly tournaments and Ash had gotten lost in the stadium.

Somehow, he always found trouble; even if it was never intentional. Her favorite picture, however, was taken about a week ago at a meet-and-greet pokemon party for new trainers where someone took a picture of the five of them standing together. Ash and Misty knelt in the front, grinning about something they probably shouldn't have been laughing about; with Violet, Daisy and Lily standing above them with their arms slung over shoulders. For the first time in _years_ they felt like a family again. A horribly weird, slightly toxic family; but family, nonetheless.

Misty sighed tiredly, sitting up once again and turning her phone off as she glanced at the washroom door where the tap came to a squealing halt and she could hear the shower curtain slide open. She sighed, looking down at her hands pathetically. Gary begged her not to tell, he reasoned with her that he needed time; but that wasn't what she felt guilty over.

No, she felt guilty because she simply _did not want_ to tell Ash the truth. The deepest, darkest part of her wanted him to stick around. He wasn't always great as company; he was awkward at most times and his social skills were sub-par at best; but he was nice, and he treated both Misty, and her sisters like actual people; not gym leaders, not adults, not even 'sensational'. Just people. After everything, she was struggling to let go on her side more than she would ever admit.

It wasn't that she didn't understand what he was going through; it's that she understood what he _would_ go through the moment he found out.

Sighing, she kicked her feet over the side of her bed, her silk pajamas cold against her flesh. Winter really was the worst. Rubbing her toes in the carpet below, she pursed her lips and tapped her fingers against the mattress of her bed thoughtfully. She should tell him. No, she needed to tell him... but how?

 **Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo**

Ash was mostly packed; unfortunately he wouldn't have the chance to say goodbye to any of the sensational sisters; they weren't even up yet most likely. Usually they didn't even start to stir until long after eight. Even Misty sleeping in was odd—but they had been up for hours goofing around. Probably the last time he would get to.

Sighing, he pushed his green backpack open, packing away an extra set of everything; but also leaving some of the hand-made clothing that Lily made for him on the dresser beside the bedroom door. The rest was going with him. Because it was a Saturday, the gym wouldn't open until 10:00am which gave him plenty of time to do chores, but also say his goodbyes before 'Gym Leader Misty' would make an appearance. Glancing at the washroom door, he finally heard the tap turn on and looked away briefly. About time.

As quickly as he could pack his items, togepi could rip them out.

"Stop that togepi." Ash scolded lightly. It growled at him silently, sitting back against the comforter of the bed while he refolded the shirt, and then gently tucked it away into the crevices of the back pack.

"We have to go." He chimed, picking up the pokemon and putting it on the pillows of the neatly made bed. "I need to find my mom, and if we get lucky; you might make a friend when we do." He said confidently, closing his eyes to smile brightly at the pokemon.

His joy didn't seem to improve its mood though, and it sighed and remained unimpressed while Ash put away his unmentionables as well as a bit of supplies he had collected over the measly twenty percent he was left over after his payments. Misty figured if she gave him nothing he would be running around without proper clothes; so she gave him a fraction of what he worked for, but it was worth it. The sooner he could repay his debts, the better!

As fast as it had turned on, Ash heard the water turn off—she was always exceptionally quick at having a shower; so he was not surprised to hear the screech of the curtains drag to one side after such a short time. He wondered what he should even say for goodbye—for that matter, what an appropriate goodbye was in this situation. Should they hug? Should he buy her a thank you gift? Should they ki- His face paled and then from his neck to his forehead he turned an awful shade of red. Where did he even get _that_ idea? If Ash was unsure of himself now, he was _positive_ that Misty and her sisters subdued him to _one_ too many girly movies.

Sighing, he smacked his forehead and shuffled together the last of his business. Including a toothbrush, a few pokeballs he purchased when he was out with Misty's older sisters on the weekend, and finally, the gift from Agatha—still unopened.

" _Open it when she's not around"_ the old woman had told him; but he never found the time... perhaps, on his journey to find his mother he should visit the woman? He zipped his bag confidently, glancing once over at himself; a pair of blue jeans, black and red boots—a black t-shirt tucked into his jeans, and an unzipped blue and white vest with a popped collar—the one that he wore the day he left the assisted living home.

Man, he was really doing this. He was so anxious and tired form lack of sleep the night before he hardly had time to think about Misty's concerning lie—whatever it was, she probably had a good reason to keep it from him. Humming to himself, he swiped through his spiky hair—kept freshly cut by Lily—and placed his hat over his head. From the bed, togepi cheered for him and he grinned.

It was different, for sure.

But it was a start.

Including a loadable sleeping back, he stuffed into the front of the back, he grabbed his things and clicking his tongue, togepi sprung from the bed and onto his shoulder he had leaned towards the pokemon. For the first time, it landed without falling; earning a huge grin from Ash.

"Great job." He reward the egg pokemon with a traditional high five and then head out the bedroom door.

His feet scuffed along, for possibly the last time, the wooden floorboards of the hallway; gliding his hand along the door and briefly touching Misty's door knob on his way toward the kitchen. He could hear her shuffling to get read and let out a soft chuckle. If she was bad without coffee on a full night's sleep—the object she threw at the door was only a small indication of what was to come. On his way to the living room; he was surprised to see Lily and Violet already sitting at the couch, dressed in their house coats, of course, and their faces still had that nasty green-goo covered, but they were there, smiling at Ash. From the kitchen, he could smell the waft of freshly cooked eggs and bacon and his mouth salivated.

"Daisy's cooking." he moaned as the other girls nodded their support.

"Like, she wanted to make sure you left with something decent in your stomach—not charred food like Misty's cooking." Lily tossed from the couch, filing her nails. Ash could only smile at this as he approached the kitchen and slipped inside to see the table already mostly set, and Daisy already prepared for the day. Weekend classes.

"Good morning!" She chirped, setting down a plate at the edge of the table for him.

"Is this for me?" He asked happily and Daisy grinned.

"Well, for everyone; I figured we should, like, have at least one last meal together." She coached while wagging the spatula, spraying pancake batter on the back of the counter that Misty would no-doubt clean up later in a fit.

"How did you even know that I was leaving?" He rubbed the back of his neck as Lily and Violet shuffled in beside him.

"Because, like, Misty wouldn't shut up about it when you went to bed last night. Apparently you're one of her students now or something and that's..."

"Shh!" Daisy hissed, jabbing Violet in the side as she growled. "Misty mentioned it."

"Oh." Ash said, none the wiser to Violet's previous statement, far too distracted by the smell of intoxicating food. He dropped his bag at the door and with togepi still on his shoulder, he slipped into his seat and inhaled.

It _smelled_ beautiful.

Moments after his plate was thrown together, Misty spilled through the kitchen doors—having done nothing but tie her hair up into a side pony-tail. She was not even wearing traditional gym attire; instead, she wore a yellow sports tank top and black yoga pants.

"Jeeze Misty. I think we need to have a talk about your wardrobe." Lily commented, looking horrified at her sisters choice of clothing for the day.

"Everything else was dirty." She whined. "And most of my clothes are pool safe."

"What about the skirts we made for you?"

"I'm not wearing a skirt." Misty argued flatly, plopping into the seat beside Ash where togepi, as it did every morning, jumped from Ash's shoulder and directly into her lap.

"Good morning togepi." Misty chimed naturally, habitually, patting the small pokemon on the head before throwing some pancakes onto her plate.

"You look so nice when you dress better. Just because you run a pool doesn't mean you have to _dress_ like it _all the time_." Lily whined, but Misty was having none of it. She pursed her lips unhappily; morning coffee had not been a thing yet, after all.

"It's practical. I don't care if I look nice or not." She admit, and Lily frowned deeply.

"But Misty, how are you going to find a nice boy if you don't look _nice_? You're not like, into girls or anything are you?"

Oh no. Ash scoot away from Misty instinctively, togepi followed the same actions, slipping down Misty's legs and walking back to Ash where he picked it up, and if possible, pushed his chair further away from the impending explosion that was Misty. But, it never came, actually, she sucked in air and released it through her nostrils to calm herself.

"You know what Lily... I know you can't help it; so I'm just going to let that go today." Misty muttered, biting into her pancakes as Daisy dropped a mug of dark coffee beside Misty who tossed a short thank you. The room breathed a sigh of relief as they dug into breakfast.

Her response was not simple enough, Lily frowned: "Ash, you tell her. Tell her how silly she looks." Lily whined and Ash's turned pale as the moon.

"Don't you throw me under the bus." Ash grimaced, looking at Misty with wide eyes. They stared for a moment, challenging Ash's remark. There was only one correct answer: eat until they stopped staring. After a few moments, the plan succeeded because they went on with normal conversation. Ash was saved.

An hour after breakfast, Misty walked Ash to the pool of the gym; having said his goodbyes to the rest of her sisters before they started their morning rituals and Daisy went to school. Misty guided him around the gym one last time.

"You could take one of the pokemon from the gym if you wanted."

"No, I think togepi and I can manage." At Ash's beaming confidence, Misty grimaced once again for the eggs safety and knit her eyebrows.

"If you catch anything other than a water type, you need to tell me before you transfer it. I'll have to release it if you don't tell me before paperwork." Misty admit while putting her hands on her hips. Ash smiled at her.

"Okay."

"And I'll mail you the official card once I receive it in the mail. So make sure you call every other day or something. Do you still have my numbers?"

"Of course." Ash said, feeling the familiarity of the conversation.

"And you know to shower and brush your teeth everyday—just because you're traveling, you will still need to stay clean." She echoed, turning on her heels to continue her trek through the gym. Ash chuckled.

"I can take care of myself." He assured her, but she paused and looked back at him, amused.

"Says the boy who electrocuted himself." She joked, repeating herself from their previous goodbye at the assisted living home; noticing that, he grinned himself. For a short moment, he found himself staring at her; how her hair had grown out; particularly the orange tints at the roots of her hair, and the twist of her lips every time he caught her staring. How odd was it that this was normal? He shifted his gaze away, cracking his own smile as he tapped his toes on the gym tiles.

"We're friends aren't we?" She asked suddenly, knocking the wind out of him. He blinked up at her, cheeks rosy.

"Of course." He grinned, feeling togepi slip down from his shoulder and into his arms.

She smiled weakly, and then turned to walk towards the stand where she sat at the bench closet to the exit doors, but gave full view of the crystal clear gym.

"I appreciate that you stuck around for as long as you did." She admit, licking her lips. He sat beside her, placing togepi between them as he crossed his arms and legs, staring at the shift of the water due to the pokemon swimming below.

"I was glad to help—but really I should be thanking you."  
"...No... no you shouldn't." Misty grimaced, catching Ash's attention. Her posture changed as she leaned forward, pressing her elbow into the tops of her knees and holding her chin in her palm.

"Ash, if I kept something from you that was... Well, that I should have told you." She clarified. "Would you hate me?"

The tone of her voice made his palms sweaty. Trying to dry them off on his knees, he ground his fingers into his jeans. "I could never hate you." He admit suddenly, matching the color of her hair. Misty, however, didn't notice or reflect the same anxiousness.

"What if it was something really big..." She scrunched up her face with a large frown.

"I could never hate you." He reaffirmed, this time with a weird, assuring smile. "Why...What's going on?" he asked.

Watching the sadness only sink further in her eye as she sat up and then from the front pocket of her pants she revealed the same crumpled note he caught her staring at time to time when she thought no one else was around; often right before she would explode in a fit of frustration. She thumbed the note, and then looked at Ash's chocolate eyes which reflected confusion. She chewed the inside of her lip, feeling her heart drop to the pit of her stomach at the _idea_ of even giving him the note.

"...Gary wrote this down that day in Pallet Town." She said sadly, sticking the note out for Ash to grab. So...there was something after all. His breath caught in his throat as he reached to grab the parchment. Tugging gently, she did not release it at first until he tugged a little harder and her fingers slipped, letting the beaten paper rest between his own fingers.

"What is this?" He asked, briefly glancing at her to see her not only taking a few, nervous steps backwards—but also that she was shaking. His eyebrows knit together as togepi watched him with a worried, panicked look that mimicked Misty's expression while he unfolded the paper careful not to tear it.

As she suspected, the moment he saw the words on the page his face contorted in a way she had never seen before; to be expected, given the information.

"What the hell, Misty?" he grumbled, voice low enough to send shivers down her spine—she wasn't even entirely sure _what_ to tell him in defense... Mostly because she didn't have a good excuse; not really. He read it again, and again, as if he had messed up the first time but still came to the same conclusion; he was standing before he knew it.

"Every time I asked anything about it, talked about it: you stood there and _lied_ to me!?" He screamed accidentally, his voice booming through the open gym, leaving a faint echo. Misty winced, and he could only recall—well, never, actually—that the redhead appeared so terrified of his, and her, own actions.

"Delia Ketchum, 1314 Opal Street, Viridian City, Kanto." Ash read aloud as if it would make more sense as to why she didn't tell him, clear anguish passing over his cheeks. "Moved nine years ago" Ash added, and then found himself throwing the paper at her, only for the wind to whip it into the pool. He was furious, the kind that made him stupid. Blind. Fury.

"Why?" He yelled at her silence, demanding an answer. She flinched.

"Because Gary asked me not to say anything."

"You don't even _know_ Gary, why would you take his side over _mine?!"_

She inhaled, trying to keep her composure in check, but the usual rise and fall of her lungs did anything but sooth him like they usually did.

"Because he said he needed to smooth things over with her..."

"Smooth things over? It's _MY MOM_." He growled. "The person I've been looking for _non-stop_ since I _woke up_!" He yelled, throwing up his arms for emphasis.

"Ash, she lives in Viridian City!" Misty proclaimed, as if it made any sense. "Your face was plastered on every local news station, every news paper for _days_ after you woke up! You don't think that's odd?" Misty argued, though not aggressively.

Ash shook his head vehemently. "That's not for you to decide!"  
"You took Pallet Town so hard, I didn't think you could-"

"That wasn't for _you_ to decide!" He yelled again, making his point very clear. He heaved slightly. Misty grimaced.

"I didn't think that you were..."

"Misty..." He growled, rubbing his temples, he spun on his heels. The world was spinning. "I trusted you! I _lived_ with you for an entire month!" He yelled, throwing his arms up again and bringing them down hard on his head—he couldn't even look at her. "How could you do this to me?!" He yelled. Ashamed, Misty looked down.

"I thought I was helping."

"No! Helping was when you _fought_ to keep the people around me _honest_! And then you, of all people, lie to me about _this_! I knew you were hiding something, I just never thought in a million years it would be _this!_ " He was distraught, somewhere between rage and anguish that he couldn't quite maintain.

"I'm sorry..I just.."

"Hell, Misty." He groaned. "If I didn't say I was going to leave on some wild goose-chase, would you have even told me!?" He stared hard at her, but the flinch in her eyes was more than no. "Were all of these _nice_ things you did just a way of getting free help around the gym? That's all you seem to care about, after all!" He yelled, finally catching a spark of her anger.

"That's not fair, Ash." She growled, but Ash was shaking he was so angry.

"No! What isn't fair is the only person in this freakin' world I trusted _LYING_ to my face everyday about something I've been dying for an answer for, for _months_. Maybe that therapist _was_ right about you!"

"I just didn't want to see you get hurt..." She tried, shoulders drooping—seeing the sadness ring through her eyes again, his chest filled with a tempest rage that pushed him to grab a borderline crying togepi and his bag in one swoop.

"Well if that was your goal, you did a really swell job!" He countered sarcastically with a vicious snarl that made her shudder. He didn't speak again as he rushed for the door.

"Ash, where are you going?" She called after him weakly, hiccuping slightly at his broad shoulders throwing open the metal doors and running out.

Misty wanted to call after him, but as the doors came to a sudden, elusive swing; she inhaled, and then spiraled backwards to the bench she had been siting on to catch her breath; counting back from one-hundred as she wiped her eyes with her wrist. She wasn't going to cry. This had always been an option, since the moment she decided to withhold the information from him she _knew_ this was going to happen; it was only a matter of time before _this_ happened. Swallowing, she beat back her tears before they formed. Ash was angry, but he would get better, wouldn't he?  
If not... She wiped her tears again, this time biting back a sniffle.

She didn't need him, anyways.

 **Author's Note:**

It was nice to see Ash get angry instead of angsty, not gon lie. I stand by my decision for him to get mad. He's allowed to get upset about this, I think. I know I would have been pissed (possibly even worse than his reaction) -hearts-

Somethings about this chapter...

Originally, was going to make it where Ash finds out by mistake—but I felt that Misty would come clean long before he started off on some wild goose-chase to find a woman that was right under his nose the entire time. I just couldn't see Misty blindly allowing him to run around. That being said, I could totally see Misty trying to protect Ash from the truth (Which we will all know next chapter. SO many good analysis have appeared in the reviews; some have even been scarily correct (which makes me feel like I'm not trying hard enough to plot twist, but there should be some kind of predictability, huh?))

Anyways, thank you for all the lovely reviews and for following this story thus far!


	15. Chapter 15: MOM

**Locked Away, Chapter 15**

"Gary Oak speaking, how can I help you?" His professional tone rang from the other end of Misty's black cellphone. She gulped, hearing his voice so soon after the explosion made her insides twist.

"Hey, Gary. It's Misty." She offered confidently. She wouldn't show weakness, Misty Waterflower never showed weakness.

"Hey! How is everything going? Ash isn't causing too much trouble, is he?" He could hear the banter in his force, imaging that twisted, sly smirk he presented so delicately. Misty inhaled, wincing only briefly at the mention of Ash.

"I just wanted to let you know that _I told him_. So, whatever you were trying to do; well, it didn't work." Misty muttered callously.

"You what?!" He shrieked, the sound of the shuffle almost made her discern that he nearly dropped the phone. "Why would you tell him?"

Be _cause I'm not a liar_. "I was just calling to let you know. He's on his way there now."  
"When did he leave?" Gary chimed, she could hear the shuffle of his lab coat as he pushed out of his seat and she sighed, rubbing her brow.

"...about an hour or two ago?" she suggested, glancing at the clock.

Gary's voice boomed on the other side. "Meet me there."

"...No thanks." She uttered.

Gary groaned. "Really? You know what he's walking into and you're just going to _let him_?"  
"I'm sorry, Gary. I will see you around." Misty offered, thinking about what Ash had told her with a sullen expression. Gary sighed from the otherwise, but before he could speak, Misty found herself pressing the end call button; shutting him out of her head.

Standing barefoot in her living room, she kneaded the phone between her fingers, questioning her decisions; her motives. She was in the wrong to keep it from him, but she was only trying to protect him. Sometimes the truth was worse than a good lie—but he wouldn't forget about it. Misty sighed, running her shaking hand through her red hair.

Exhaling sharply, she slipped onto the couch where she tucked her knees up close to her chest. Misty wouldn't cry for Ash, not when she so clearly did this to herself. Ash had been nothing but decent to her, and she was the one who lied to him. At first, she wanted to blame Gary; had the soon-to-be-professor not asked her to keep silent, she would have probably told him. But it was more than that, she knew. Sadly, she flipped through the same images from that morning, they took a new meaning; the ones taken at the gym were soured; so she scrolled, and she scrolled, looking for one specific moment of her life. When her eyes finally caught it, her breath hitched in her throat. The picture she took of the two of them only a few weeks coming out of his coma; staring confused at her cell phone. His cheeks were still sunken in; his hair was still in that long pony tail, his skin was still pale and his eyes were still dazed.

Misty grimaced, chewing her thumbnail. Back when they hardly knew each other at all—when she thought Ash was more of a basket case than anything else. Before he knew her... but now that he did, she could only imagine what he thought about her. She was obviously a liar, a manipulator. A deceiver.

Sighing, she pressed the palm of her hand against her forehead and stared up at the ceiling as if it would give her the answers. Why did she not tell him? Obviously, she was protecting him...or at least trying to. She looked back at the picture; taken before he could take care of himself, before he knew the hard truths of the _real_ world; his innocent eyes dashing even in his lowered state. Misty sighed, shuffling herself off the couch. Why indeed? Naturally, she typed in Daisy's number which was answered quickly by the blonde.

"Hey, I need a favor." Misty swayed the usual response, rushing to her coat rack and tugging on which-ever jacket was there.

"What's up sis?"  
"I need you to watch the gym for a little while." Misty grumbled tiredly, searching through her purse for her air-rewards card for the number on the back.

"...Uh, like...why?" Daisy echoed from the other side and Misty inhaled and blew out.

"I need to go get Ash."

"Did something happen to him?" Daisy snapped quickly, a worried tone washing over her voice.

Misty sighed. "It's a long story I don't have time to explain. I have to get to the airport."  
"The air port? You're in an awful hurry then... Misty, what happened?"

"I'll tell you later!" Misty snapped, looking at the number on the card and memorizing it. "Now can you watch the gym or not?"  
"Yes! I will be home in under an hour." Daisy chimed worriedly.

"Thanks, I'll call you later." Misty hung up the phone, dialing the Cerulean City airport as she dashed out of the house, thankful for red sneakers and the protection of her black winter coat as she broke into a jog to cut through the forest.

Misty didn't have time to feel bad for herself or to talk herself out of her decision. She screwed up, she knew, and at some point, she would have to deal with the consequences, but Gary was right. She should be there for Ash when he finds out—even if he didn't want her to be. She may have been a lot of things; but she was his friend above all else, even if he was mad at her.

 **Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo**

Ash took the first train to Viridian City; he didn't care when it left or how, he was on it, and he was livid. More frustrated than angry, and a little more disappointed than that. All of this time, he trusted Misty the most. She had never given him a reason not to until now. How much more did she lie about? Was that what Agatha warned him about when she suggested that Misty was always the more cunning one? Was this all just some big game for her? Ash bit hard on his bottom lip, his mind racing with questions as he watched his superhero view of Misty shatter; broken into the tiniest fragmented pieces. Misty, who had stuck around as his friend, been his greatest ally through all of this, turned out to be...Out of everything she could have lied to him about—why _this_? Mew, he didn't even think to ask her; but he didn't care, either. Maybe she _did_ have a good reason?

 _No,_ to Ash, there was no reason good enough to keep this from him. The four hour train ride to Viridian City went by in a flash—having gone through Pewter City and making only a single stop. He was right when he realized this Misty and _his_ Misty were different. His Misty would have never done this to him.

 _Never_.

Yet, he was so torn up inside. A small part of him, the part of him that felt giddy and warm inside at the thought of her, the part of him that depended on her for so long, wanted to apologize for yelling at her, for reacting the way that he did. However, every other fiber of his being wanted to scream. She betrayed him; being furious with her should have been easy! ...but after a four hour train ride, he wasn't so sure anymore.

 _Delia Ketchum, 1314 Opal Street, Viridian City, Kanto_ he repeated to himself for probably the one hundredth time. While he couldn't think of much, and his feelings were trashed, he could think of one thing—his mother. The woman he would finally get to see again for the first time in years. For the first time, the weight of his coma felt entirely too real. Ten years, which only felt like a few hours during his recovery felt like a century of his absence. What would time do to his relationship with his mom? Would they be okay? Would she be okay?

When the train came to an abrupt halt at the Viridian City train station, he shouldered his green bag, which had a formerly-crying-non-stop-togepi wrapped inside. Originally, he wanted to leave the bag outside of the gym, his body over come with anger, on the way to the station, he realized that technically _everything_ he owned came from Misty, so what was one more thing? At least this way he didn't have to hold togepi. He winced. Even the thought of togepi made him furious; n the train ride the pokemon cried until it eventually fell asleep, distraught over Ash's yelling from earlier. Togepi was just as attached to Misty as it was to him, and he wondered if it wouldn't have been better to leave the small pokemon with Misty instead. She was better with baby pokemon.

He frowned deeply, his anger sedating slightly thinking about Misty's normal behavior as he followed the crowd of people off the train. He pushed through the crowd carelessly, bumping shoulders with other people who seemed too busy with life to look where they were going, and made a B-line to the exit gate. When he saw a flash of red from the corner of his eye, he thought that he had to be imagining things until he was halfway down the street towards the eastern suburbs and he heard her calling for him.

"Ash!" She cried behind him, the shrill rise of her voice cutting open the healing wound like a knife. She ran to him, feet pounding against the sidewalk until she was a foot or so behind him, hunching over, coughing. Misty must have been chasing him for awhile, because she was heaving. Carried in his own mind, he hadn't even heard her calling after him.

"How did you get here?" He growled, sounding much angrier than he actually was. Misty surprised him, the imagine of her tired figure filled him with both disgust, and elation. She came all the way here, for him.

"Planes are..." She heaved. "...much faster." She grunted, standing up to look him in the eye. She hadn't even bothered to change out of her morning clothes on her way here. Regardless, catching her gaze, he turned away promptly, head down, shoulders up and walked away from her. She sighed aggressively.

"You don't have to listen to me." She tried, keeping pace with him. He rolled his shoulders as if he wasn't going to. "I know that I screwed up. Majorly." she winced at her own words, watching his stony features push him forward.

"But I am sorry. I know that doesn't fix it, but I am." Gritting her teeth, she dared to touch him, tagging his upper arm brief enough to slip the moment he shifted his shoulders, but firm enough to capture his attention. "If this doesn't go the way that you expect..." She assured him, watching his brown eyes carefully. "I'll still be here when you get back."

Misty's breathless tone made his eyebrows knit together worriedly, he almost stopped in his tracks as he stuffed his hands into his pockets nonchalantly, his lips flattened and he shook his head. His heart might have even skipped a beat, and his entire mind cried at him. Had she not stopped, and backed away with that slight-upturn of her lips; he might have forgiven her that very second. _Damn her._ He thought wistfully, forcing his entire body to turn away from the redhead.

He _hated_ how she did that to him. One second ago he was absolutely furious with her, now he wanted to scream at her that he didn't know what he was doing; instead, he took her confidence, tucked it into his pocket and walked away from her without another word, leaving her at the bench down the street from the train station.

 **Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo**

The same white picket fence, the same mail box; the same pink trimming. Mr. Mime even stood outside sweeping the side walks of any rubble or dust as he had done so many times in the past. Ash's heart thumped in his chest as he pushed towards the fence gate, swinging it open without alerting the cleaning pokemon. Reading over the numbers written to the left of the door, he knew he was in the right place... only, "Oak" was written above the numbers. His breath felt like ice in his chest—and now that he was _actually_ here, he wasn't sure that he wanted to be. Seeing Misty so soon again; how in the world did she do this to him? He was so certain of himself only a few moments ago; but now..

 _If this doesn't go the way that you expect.._

Why wouldn't it? Should he have asked for a reason? What if his mom was crazy? Or dead? Or had another... his face turned pale. He couldn't think like that. Reaching the front door before his mind realized it, he shuddered, pressing his knuckles to the door bell and clicked the button.

"Coming!" He heard a small voice instantly cry out before the sound of footfalls rushed to the door. The figure on the other side sounded excited; too happy to care. When the door swung open following the patter of the child's feet, Ash forced down his fears with a hard gulp.

Hazel eyes like his mother's looked up at him, and his soul left his body. A boy no older than seven looked up at Ash, sharing an auburn colored, spiky hair much like Gary's. The boy wore a purple shirt, and dark blue pants with no shoes. It was like Ash was looking at Gary again when they were kids; and his heart chilled in his chest. Oh no...

Bravely, Ash cleared his throat, unsure of the reason he was able to stay so calm—perhaps it was only the calm before the storm, or maybe, he had grown more over the last few months than he credited himself for. While his palms sweat profusely, and his chest burned like fire—Ash remained tranquil, staring at the young boy.

"Uh.. Is your mom home?" Ash asked weakly, clearing his throat and tearing his eyes away from the small boy standing before him. The Gary-look-alike smacked his lips and veered away from the door, leaving it open for Ash to step inside.

"Yep! Let me go get her!" he said while jumping eagerly towards the kitchen. He cupped his small mouth; "Mom! There's a man at the door who wants to see you!" The small boy chanted playfully, leaving Ash standing at the door without another thought as he made his way back outside through the open door at the end of the opposite wall, near the right side of the staircase.

"Okay dear, I'll be there in a moment."

There it was, the breath-hitching, chill-inducing, survival instinct voice that echoed gently through the house. Ash's body froze, his shoulders pinched and he inhaled deeply. Perhaps the shock of the moment hadn't sunk in yet, but when he heard his mother's voice answer the young boy, he shook, but his mind cleared of nervous thought. Suddenly, he became all too aware of his surroundings, the sound of the local news beaming from the living room, the tray of discarded locals newspapers beside the front door, the scent of roses that hung daft in the air and the scattered picture frames on the wall collected dust. Ash had prayed for a short time that her move to Viridian City was very recent; but he knew better now. She hadn't just moved here.

Their eyes met from across the hallway the moment she appeared around the corner. His fingers clenched in his pockets, catching wind of his mothers scarlet hair and inhaled.

"Hey, mom." He offered weakly, watching an expression of shock and torment blink through her eyes as what ever glass object she was holding fell to the polished wooden floors, effectively shattering it.

"...Ash?"

 **xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxo**

Ash was seated in the dining room seconds after the initial shock wore off. He was escorted by his mother as the little boy followed them inside to pester his mom about breaking a glass. Delia retreated into the kitchen the second Ash was seated while the boy who Ash could only assume was his younger brother sneaked back in to watch Ash with curious eyes. The boy threw a toy pokeball up and down, watching Ash amusingly while Delia worked in the kitchen to make a fresh pot of tea. Unlike their small house in Pallet, this one came with a full dinning room, an extended kitchen, and from the brief glace Ash had, a full living room with a piano and fire place. Ash could have never imagined his mother being able to afford a place like this when he was just a child; it seemed odd to believe she could afford it _now._

Aside from the fancy furniture and growing collection of dust, the strangest part about being in his mothers house was the reflection of family pictures resting on the shelves; not a single one of them had _him_ in them. Every place where Ash should be found, the little boy took his place. Most prominently in pictures that had Gary, Leaf, Professor Oak, and his mom. Ash twisted his fingers on the table in front of him, trying to keep his eyes off of the oddity in the room—his little brother. Ash couldn't believe that, he had a little brother in this world; a living, breathing, half-brother.

He only knew 'half' brother by the stark resemblance the child had to Gary-Sure, Ash wasn't the brightest bulb on the street, but even he could deduce that whatever had happened while he was gone centered around _Professor Oak;_ it made sense why Gary wouldn't have said anything; Ash might have flipped his table had Gary told him the first time he asked. Ash eyed the little boy once more, the features were all there; the auburn hair, the same, cocky smirk that decorated most of Ash's childhood. Whoever he was, he was related to the Oak's by some means and the only way that made sense reflected his reference to calling Delia "mom".

In comparison, Ash looked just like his father; jet black hair, tan skin, and brown eyes. He was in every way his father's child, more so than he ever looked like his mother. This boy, however, looked like Gary did when they were kids—except for those eyes. Those eyes were his mother's.

When Delia reappeared ten minutes later, she clapped her hands together to gather both of the boys attention. Ash assumed she took so long because she was collecting her thoughts—not that she was making tea-otherwise, there would be tea. On top of that, she did not have the reaction that Ash suspected. Instead of joy, she looked terrified of him. She tried to cover it with a forced smile, but Ash saw right through it—She was not happy to see him and that filled Ash's stomach with a benevolence of rocks.

"Cole, dear, why don't you go play outside for awhile and let mommy talk to her guest?" _Guest_ Ash echoed, shaking his head and scoffing at the idea. Calling her own 'son' a guest. The tension building up between the two of them was almost cut clean by Cole who raised his eyebrow innocently.

"Why? Is he from the, well, you know?" Cole glanced at Ash, sharing more of a curious expression than his mother; but she snapped at him, patience drained.

"I said go outside!" she snapped in a way that made Cole jump from his seat and scamper to the exit. Ash's mouth fell ajar, having never seen his mother so hostile before. Delia turned at Ash with a flat expression, though Ash had not looked at her—his eyes didn't leave Cole as the young boy looked back at Ash with a thoughtful expression, and then retreated outside like he had been told.

It wasn't until the younger boy was gone that Ash finally thought to look at his mom, addressing her cold behavior and tone with his eyes. Tapping his fingers against the table, a wave of emotions crashed into him at once, making him numb from his head to his toes. She was the same, sitting opposite of him and stroking her wrist with her opposite hand. He didn't know what to do now, his throat was so dry but he wouldn't ask for refreshments. In fact, he almost wanted to run, forget he saw any of this and live in ignorance—what was he even looking at right now? The stoic expression of his mother replacing the warmth that decorated his childhood: she _was not his_ mom. He flinched visibly when she cleared her throat, but said nothing at all.

"...You and Oak, huh...?" Ash murmured sadly, trying to rope his mother in. Maybe she was just as scared as he was? Nervous, he was unable to break eye contact, she didn't flinch at the question.

"Samuel and I, yes." She said coldly, eyebrows raising only slightly.

Ash inhaled and smiled meekly. "So Cole is...?"

"Nothing to do with you." Her harsh reverberate sent vibrations down Ash's body and he exhaled, feeling his blood begin to boil under his flesh as the questions rose to his chest once more.

"Did you know I was awake?" He asked desperately, eyes narrowing as he watched her face for a response. The woman he looked at didn't look anything like his mom. Her hair was curly, her eyes were dull, she wore black and whites instead of the colorful frocks of his childhood and her face, which used to be plastered in neat smile, was twisted into an ill frown. He inhaled, and then exhaled. But she was still his mother; that didn't change, did it?

"What is it that you want?" She asked, ignoring his questions. "Money?"

Appalled, Ash's eyes widened. "No, I don't want your money!" He hissed, terrified she would even suggest a thing. What was wrong with her? His anger twisted into a pit in his stomach and he thought that he might puke. He hadn't even taken off his backpack since walking into the house. This didn't even feel like a home.

"What happened to you? Why didn't you come visit me? You saw everything, didn't you?" To say that he was begging for an answer was an understatement.

"...I said my goodbyes years ago." She whispered, shaking her head. She looked away, thought the depression only crossed her features temporarily as she looked back up to face Ash.

Typically, he might not have thought her statement offensive if it hadn't been for her lack of emotional prowess. Delia didn't even look sad about her words; her dead, hazel eyes looked right through Ash.

"I'm not dead, mom!" Ash bellowed, springing to his feet and knocking his chair back. It crashed against the wooden floor with a loud pang and Delia matched his anger, flinching at the title he presented her.

"Do not call me that! You are not my son!" She screamed in return, slamming her palms on the table. Horror-struck, Ash gulped, taking a step back.

"...Don't you remember...?" He tried, wanting to remind her of all the time they spent together; the memories they created, the times he would sit up waiting for her to get home from work; when they would read bed-time stories and work in the garden. But her cold eyes reflected nothing. His breath hiccuped, and tears stung his eyes.

"You would have just let me sit in the hospital alone... wouldn't you?" he asked weakly, barely above a whisper.

"It's been ten years. What would you have me do?" She asked, stepping away from the dinning room table.

"Be happy that I'm alive! You spent ten years visiting me! You paid for the hospital, didn't you? Doesn't that mean anything? Some part of you must have thought that I would wake up!"

The hesitation in her voice made a lasting impression far deeper than her words ever would. Suddenly, Ash felt like he was drowning and he hung his head, defeated before her answer even came.

"Samuel was the one who paid ten years on your hospital fees. After the... I... I never thought you would wake up! The doctors told me you were a vegetable! You died years ago!" She screamed, pressing her hand against her chest, distraught.

At first, tears pulled on Ash's eyes, wetting them. He watched her breathlessly for a moment, before swiping his wrists against his eyes and shaking his head violently. Ash died a long time ago, huh? He was just some body eternally trapped in a tomb of his own mind? He scoffed, shaking in disbelief. He should have known better—if everything else he grew up with was gone, why would this be different?

"So what, _mom?"_ he cried angrily, slamming his fist into the table, the crack of his knuckles waking the sleeping pokemon in his bag. "Did you remarry, did you move, did you have a new son just to replace your whole life? Are you finally happy now that I'm out of the picture!?" His voice carried like venom, finally denting her frail facade.

"Did you at least wait a year before you _said your goodbyes_ or did you just write me off as soon as it happened!?" He yelled, matching her contrite anger.

"You do not take that tone of voice with me!" was her only defense, glowering in his direction.

"Why not!? I'm not your son, isn't that what _you_ said?!" he yelled back kicking one of the dainty, wooden chairs over, she yelped and shrunk away from him. From his slightly open bag, he could hear the sound of togepi start to whimper, but Ash was in no mood for it. He ignored its unsettled tears and stomped his feet, leaving the dinning room.

"You weren't supposed to be alive!" She yelled after him, distraught and holding her head.

"Well I am!" Ash fought back glaring at her, for a second he thought he would leave, to never return. This was a mistake after all. He should have known better... and he would have left it there if he didn't recall one of the first things he was told when he woke up. Sighing, he glared bitterly at her. "Where's Pikachu?"

"He doesn't belong to you anymore." She urged immediately but Ash threw up his arms.

"He's licensed to me, _mom_. You can't give him away!" He retorted wistfully, catching sight of a balled, yellow pokemon through the open back door. Each time he addressed her, she visibly flinched, holding her chest or stomach.

"You need to leave!" she yelled desperately, but Ash had heard enough and threw up his hand at her to demonstrate that.

"I think I'll stay!" he said, walking towards the backdoor as she rushed to the kitchen to use the phone. When he cut out of the house, the scent of sun flowers wafted through his nostrils, and he could see Cole sitting in the rocking chair, humming to himself as he swayed back and forth. Ash stared at him, absolutely stunned by his little emotion; he didn't have a single care in the world. Shame Ash would never feel that way again. Right beside him on the perch of the porch railing pikachu, _his_ pikachu, much older and rough around the edges looked up to Ash with watering eyes.

"Pikapi!" It squealed, jumping from its perch and directly into Ash's arms. Catching him mid-jump, Ash twirled the pokemon, holding him close, the rush silencing togepi in his bag as he hunched forward and squeezed the pokemon, separating just long enough to brush his short, aging fur against his fingers.

"I missed you _so_ much, pikachu." Ash mused, his bottom lip quivering as he stroked the pokemon slowly. Unaffected by Ash's greeting of the pokemon, Cole rose to his feet and pointed directly at Ash. He looked a bit nervous, having heard some of the exchange between Delia and Ash in the dining room, but courageously came forward anyways.

"How do you know my pikachu?" Cole asked while around the corner both boys could hear Delia frantically calling the police on Ash, muttering something about a break-in. Ash grimaced visibly and looked down at the small boy. Cole was the innocent one out of all of this, and so Ash refused to dampen his spirits with the truth, instead, Ash knelt in front of the boy as pikachu shifted in Ash's arms.

"This was my pikachu when I was a young trainer." Ash mused gently, smiling at Cole. Delia strung the address to the police, so Ash knew his time was short. Watching Cole confused eyes, Ash shifted the pudgy pikachu from his arms and back into the young boy's.

"But..." Ash swallowed hard to keep his tears at bay as pikachu looked up at him. Ash could hear the thud of Delia's foot falls against the wooden floors of the house and he inhaled carefully.

"He's yours now, though...okay? Take good care of him." Ash whispered, pressing the small pokemon into Cole's arms and bringing his arms forward to wrap around the squirming rodent. Cole looked absolutly stunned and confused. How could Ash give away pikachu if it _already_ belonged to Cole? He titled his head in question.

"Pika!" pikachu yelled in retort, but Ash forced himself to smile. Cole had been with pikachu for twice as long as Ash had been, technically—he couldn't imagine separating the two of them if they bonded...it was a shame he wouldn't get the time to find out.

"Take care of Cole." Ash commanded the mouse, watching its determination deflate as it fell into Cole's arms pathetically, its tubby features squishing into the small boys shirt. As Ash smiled back up to Cole, only to see that his wide, hazel eyes brimmed from confusion moments ago to pure alleviation as he pumped one fist forward to get a better look at Ash.

Moving forward on the balls of his heels, Cole grinned from ear to ear. "Wait! Are... Are you As-"

"Cole get away from him this instance! You know you're not supposed to talk to strangers!" Delia shouted from the open door, shoving Ash out of the way to grab her youngest boy and lift him up into her arms with impressive strength. Ash stood promptly, dusting his hands off on his thighs; seeing pikachu drained him of his anger, and he could only watch his mother stare evilly at him with a pathetic look.

"Are you sure this is it... _Delia_?" He changed her title, addressing her with a formal, weak tone to which he received a curt nod seconds later that knocked the air out of Ash's chest—only, he refused to show it.

"You need to leave. I've called the police already." She threatened, bouncing a squirming Cole in her arms.

"Mom, wait! I want to-" Cole tried but was shushed by his mother.

Ash couldn't believe this. He rubbed his fingers together as if to relieve some of the pain in his chest and then exhaled, looking away from her for the last time.

"...see you around then." Ash chimed slowly, glancing back at the yellow figure of pikachu who still tried to fight his way out of Cole's grasp. "Sorry for disturbing you."

Delia didn't break, she stood firm, even so much to stomp her foot at Ash as he glanced once more at the house, as if saying "leave" one last time. With one swift movement, Ash jumped over the railing on the back porch and landed in the moist grass. Again, togepi shrieked, sitting in the dark and not-understanding what was happening. He didn't spare a single glance backwards at would have—could have been his home as he dashed off into the darkened parts of the Viridian forest. While he took off into the trees and brush located beside Delia's house, he whipped his bag around, off of his shoulder and scooped the egg pokemon out—it's tears having stained its small cheeks.

"I'm so sorry." he apologized to the pokemon, putting his bag back onto his back and pulling the crying pokemon in close to stifle and mute its cries. He rubbed his fingers against its small shell and he sighed tiredly. In the distance, he could see the flashes of blue and red, and unsure if police would follow him, he dipped into the forest paths, tracing the edges of the Viridian suburbs as he danced his way onto the street block away from Delia's house. By the time his feet were on solid, paved ground, he had already removed his hat and tucked it away into his back pocket—better to be unnoticed as much as possible as he retraced his steps from the train station, mind elsewhere.

He couldn't think; not really. His mind kept falling back on those dead eyes. Only now when he was away from her cold, malicious gaze did it really sink in. His chest pounding as he lowered his head, looking down at togepi who still watched him with scared, worried eyes. So scared, it refused to even cry.

"She didn't want me anymore." Ash groaned, saying it aloud to himself only made the news that much harder. He hiccuped, and with one hand pawed at his eyes to clear them of tears before they formed.

She wasn't anything like she had been; she had a _new_ family, one with professor Oak and Cole—mew, she must have even taken his last name if the sign above the door meant anything. Did that by some means make Gary his relative? Ash shouldn't have been surprised. Delia had no reason to hold on. It wasn't uncommon for people in Ash's shoes to _never_ wake up. Ash could not blame her; if the roles were reversed...maybe he, too, would have simply moved on? Yet he was still upset by the news, squeezing his eyes shut.

But Delia...more than he could have ever imagined was frozen; stoic to the point that his heart twisted because of it—behind her hazel eyes she was emotionally stunted. Was it the recent death of Professor Oak and having to remove her eldest son from life support? Had she been like this for years, or was something else going on? Worst of all, Ash didn't know. He wasn't there to ask her, to help her. Ash whipped at his eyes even more, sniffling as togepi pressed his small arm against Ash's chest as to provide comfort to the man breaking down.

He was still in the middle of the street though, and shook his head vehemently to bottle the tears up. Ash wouldn't break down here. He had his answer finally, no matter how difficult it was, it was a solution—at least he could get on with his life now. His mom was alive. She lived in Viridian City... she just didn't want _him_. She _moved on_. Still, with that looming over his head, he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose sadly. A part of him wished he didn't know. Lightning ran through his nerves at that thought and he pressed his palm against his forehead. Misty and Gary knew this about him, didn't they?

At the thought, he looked forward, almost feeling the redhead's presence the moment he turned the corner of the street, staring down the short path at the black-tights wearing woman sitting on the park bench. Unlike usual, she did not play on her phone, rather, she kicked her feet against the paved path and sighed tiredly, looking up periodically. Ash had honestly never seen her look so defeated, it wasn't a usual emotion for the gym leader. Usually, she took things in stride.

Ash watched her for a moment, the way her shoulders fell and how her face looked honestly horrified. Her hands gripped the wooden part of the bench so tightly her knuckles had turned white under pressure. In turn, his features paled, and he exhaled loudly. Misty had only been trying to _help_ him—though his reasons were just for being angry; she could probably argue that her's were just as important. Sighing once again very loudly, he caught the woman's attention. Misty looked up, nervously catching his gaze. Promptly, she stood up to meet him, but he didn't walk over right away. He was unsure if he wanted to. He could still very much walk away from her; from her sullen face...but he felt compelled to. Still, he took his time, shuffling his feet as he found his way to her.

"I..." He started, glumly looking away. It hadn't even been thirty minutes, and here he was again. Was he supposed to say "You were right"? Because he didn't want to. It still wasn't okay that she lied to him.

She swallowed. "How did it go?"

He didn't answer her right away. Slowly walking directly up to her and blinking sadly as he shifted togepi. Misty watched him with wide eyes, lowered eyebrows and pressed her hand against his shoulder for comfort. It made every nerve in his arm catch fire as he exhaled.

"She has another son." he said flatly, and Misty's face contorted in a way that spoke the words she couldn't say: she already knew. Behind Ash, in the distance, she could see the hues of red and blue and her face scrunched up. Seeing the reflection of the lights in her eyes, he sighed.

"...She might have called the police on me, too." He suggested lowly, rubbing the back of his head. The light left Misty's eyes and she grabbed hard on Ash's shoulder and reefed him down the path to avoid the sound of impeding police troopers.

"What did you do?" Misty hissed, pulling Ash through the streets she seemed overly familiar with. He followed her aimlessly, while still mad, grateful that she came back. How horrible was that? Even when he wanted independence, even when he was blisteringly mad with her; here he was, relying on her help. He glanced at her, watching her stern expression.

"I didn't do anything, actually..." he pressed, regaining his composure slightly as the image of his mother—Delia flashed through his mind. Misty sighed sympathetically.

"I'm sorry." She said flatly, steering him in the direction of the path leading out of Viridian City and towards Pewter City.

He couldn't read her right now. Perhaps he was too shaken up emotionally to acknowledge hers. The pressure pressing on his upper arm brought a sigh to his lips. The real reason he couldn't read her was because since _that_ happened, he wasn't sure he really knew who she was anymore; if lying to him made her protective, he wasn't sure he wanted to be protected.

"Misty why _didn't_ you tell me?" He questioned awkwardly, the only question his brain could feasibly muster right now, getting a worried look from her, she returned her gaze to the dirt path ahead of them and then released his arm from her grasp.

"...Because." She said, shifting gracelessly while the sound of little feet pounded after them in the distance. For once, she appeared like she would give him a good reason as her mouth opened, but the bellow in the distance halted them as they turned around to face the noise.

"Ash!" The faint voice yelled after the duo, drawing the adults attention to a small boy running up the path after them.

"Cole?" Ash spun on his feet to face the small boy who carried a round pikachu in his arms and barreled up the path to them. First wondering how in the world he small boy got away from his mother.

Misty's eyebrows rose, obviously catching onto the resemblance between Gary and the small boy. "Is this your little brother?"

"Shh! He doesn't know that!" Ash hissed, putting his index finger to his lips to silence Misty as Cole shook his head, hunching forward at his run.

"No," he exhaled, looking up at Ash's chocolate eyes with a gleam in his hazel ones. "I knew it had to be _you_!"

 **Author's Note:**

For those of you that guessed that Delia never showed up because she had a second family; great job. But what else was there to it? -throws shade- Get it, Cole and Ash? I was going to spell it "Coal" but I thought that was pushing it. Don't really have a lot to say about this chapter—lemme know what you guys thought. I don't think it has sunk in for Ash yet why his mom was so heartless yet. I was originally going to leave Misty at the gym for this, but after re-watching some of the OS a few days ago, I changed it because I think she would feel compelled, even if Ash was mad at her.

Thanks for all the reviews/favs/follows -hearts- It means a lot guys!

 _ **Edit 03.05.2016**_. With any luck, the next chapter will be up within 1-2 hours if I can get FFnet to stop saying "please try again later". I seem to be having issues since the server went down a few days ago. :/


	16. Chapter 16: Brother

**Locked Away, Chapter 16**

For a brief instance a shade of silence wrapped around the trio. Ash watched what would be his half brother huff and puff with a rather concerned expression. Misty crossed her arms subjectively, her face growing both stern and skeptical by the second.

"...You knew it was me?" Ash questioned, blinking his eyes at the young boy. Immediately, Cole nodded his head, eager to have finally met Ash.

"I did! I couldn't let you leave without talking to you!" Cole shouted excitedly, pumping one of his fists in the air—almost identical to how Ash used to be.

"Did your mom...?" Ash questioned, feeling a sting in his chest having to address her as 'your' mom, instead of 'our mom'. Cole shook his head, approaching Ash and juggling pikachu in his arms. On his back, he wore a maroon bag that wiggled. At the realization that it hadn't been her, Ash's shoulders drooped significantly.

"Professor—I mean your dad, then?" Ash asked, pointing at Cole, who winced in response. As Cole approached, Ash knelt to face the boy on his level.  
Cole shook his head gently. "My dad wasn't around very much..." Cole cast a gaze to the ground, his eyes shading with the shadow of the sun before he snapped back to stare directly at Ash, eager once again.

"Pikachu told me about you!" He shook his head with a wide grin forming over his cheeks as he looked down to the over-weight pokemon. Ash blinked skeptically, a half snort coming from Misty as she cocked one brow down to watch the exchange.

"Pika chuuu." It muttered pathetically, trying to remove itself from Cole's arms. Ash's face flushed very slightly.

"Ahh, man. Pikachu didn't even know me for very long." Ash assured Cole, rubbing the back of his head—Cole's face flat-lined.

"What do you mean? He's known you for years." Cole assured Ash whose face grew six shdaes paler as his eyebrows knit together—he wanted to spare a glance at Misty, but found his eyes were trained on the yellow rodent. It was Misty whose shock became vocalized first.

"He what?" She questioned, kicking her feet out to move towards Cole herself. Letting pikachu down, it naturally found it's way to Ash's hands where it hugged the trainer's arms more warmly than it should have recalled. Ash stiffened at the familiar brush of pikachu's fur and he grimaced inwardly. Misty knelt beside the two of them, distraught at the news and offering a firm hand on Ash's shoulder to shower her support. For once, he didn't reel away.

"I don't understand a lot of it, but he always told me about the adventures you two went on." Cole told him while standing up and taking a few steps back to observe the nature shared between the pokemon and trainer.

"...the adventures...?" Ash echoed in disbelief.

Eyes wide, Ash's head turned slowly to pikachu as Misty muttered something incoherent under her voice. The pokemon glanced at Ash who had taken to staring at pikachu dumbfounded as togepi slipped out of his arms. With shaking fingers, Ash outstretched his hand to the pokemon, lifting him up high as a curtain was raised from both of their eyes. Standing upright, he lift the mouse to his face to stare into his beady black eyes; to get a better look, and it squealed at him. In a moments notice when Ash placed their foreheads together, a short, very gentle zap formed between the two of them, just enough to create a spark that pulled years of torment off of Ash's lips with one toothy grin. He reeled back, almost spinning.

"You remember, don't you?" He spoke aloud, getting both a grin from Cole, and a sound of elation from the rodent.

"Cha!" it cheered, pumping its fist while Misty stood up quickly, eyes wide and back straightened.

"How?" Ash muttered, squeezing the pokemon cheerfully. Ash looked at Cole, a wash of concern washing over his face. "Was pikachu injured?" His first thought being that pikachu shared in Ash's coma.

"No...he just slept a lot... when he would wake up he would tell me about these elaborate dreams—or he would try to... I only just barely started to understand." Cole admit sheepishly, scratching the back of his head much like Ash does. "He found a box of your things buried in the basement, so..."

"Wait, wait, wait." Misty waved her hands in front of herself. "You can understand him?" she pointed to pikachu who upon seeing the redhead gasped and bound, or at least tried to jump from Ash's arms and into Misty's, who caught the pokemon awkwardly with a gaping mouth.

"Chaa~" it squealed, rubbing is head against her chest familiarly while she blinked her wide eyes and looked between Ash and Cole, who both seemed to think its reaction was totally normal.

"Looks like pikachu remembers you." Ash said dully, and Misty shook her head in retort handing the yellow mouse back over to Ash and taking a full step back; at the same time, togepi took a full step forward, touching Ash's foot unnoticed.

"That doesn't make any sense though; that therapist, Dr. Abby said that it was most definitely all a dream and coincidence." Misty argued, placing her hand forward to shut out the odd accusations and regain her composure.

"She said it was only a hypothesis, _Misty."_ Ash murmured cheerily, hitching her name on there for emphasis. She began to pace, making Cole a bit nervous.

"You're just willingly going to accept this as totally normal?" Misty squeaked, feeling her face grow hotter by the second, she had to turn away and fan herself. She fell asleep last night in the normal world, and woke up in whatever odd place _these_ kind of things happened in.

"It's no different from knowing about you, is it?" Ash asked, pikachu echoing his statement as Misty threw up her arms.

"It's a little different, Ash!" She gestured to the two of them with her hands and blinked voraciously. "I'm not a pokemon, and second of all, _how in the world_?" She questioned, getting an unimpressed look from Ash.

"...Do you have to understand everything?" He asked, looking down sadly at pikachu. "Does it matter how he knows? Just that he knows..."

"Knows what?" Cole asked innocently, bringing Ash back to his proper grin as he looked down at the boy. Most likely, Cole had no idea what happened to Ash over the last ten years; to the boy, Ash was probably always on an adventure. Flabbergasted, Misty had to take a moment to press her fingers against her temples. This was technically good news though, wasn't it? When her phone started to go off, her face clearly contorted as she removed the device from her back pocket to answer the unknown number.

"Hey, Cole..." Ash grimaced. "I appreciate you coming out here...but how did you get away from mo—your mom?" He asked, catching himself. The boy grinned, and in a very Ash-like fashion, he wiped his nose, earning a grin from the older brother.

"Gary showed up a few minutes after you left. While he and my mom were talking, I snuck out through the window." He admit with a charming smile that made Ash feel right at home with that Gary-esque grin.

"You left without permission?" Ash echoed worriedly. "Damn it, Cole." He squeezed his eyes shut, and as he feared Misty chimed in behind him.

"Calm down Gary, he's fine!" Misty yelled into the phone, having answered it to a frantic Gary yammering her ear off.

"There are cops here looking for him! He's not with you, is he? Ash knows how bad this looks, right?" Gary mused from the other line, catching Misty with a sigh, having forgot her current problems for the new set.

Misty groaned, rubbing her forehead. "Ash doesn't know anything. Cole followed _us_ here."

"Is that Gary?" Ash asked worriedly and Misty nodded her response but help up a finger to silence further questions while she dealt with the agitated soon-to-be-professor. Cole shifted his feet awkwardly and looked down with his hands clasped together tightly. Not quite ready to let go of pikachu, Ash knelt beside Cole once again and released the mouse.

"Cole you need to go home." Ash warned him, but he seemed against the idea, casting his eyes to the ground.

Breath hitching in his throat, Cole sniffled. "But there's so much I want to ask you! Have you really seen all of the legendary pokemon? What about Unova?" Cole's questions rattled off faster than Ash could keep up and he had to put up his finger to silence the boy while Misty calmed Gary over the phone and telling the auburn haired man where they were located.

"It's fine, Cole. Those are all stories for another day. Right now, you have to get back home." Ashed tried again, but once again, the notion fell flat and Cole looked down at his feet. Unlike Gary, this part was respectfully his mother's, the look of disappointment and sheer sadness.

"...Mom hasn't been the same since dad died." Cole admit halfheartedly, and Ash, being who he was; didn't know how to properly answer that. Instead he touched Cole's shoulder in confidence and looked him dead in the eye.

"Then you need to be there for her." He cracked a weak smile. "For us."

Bottom lip quivering, the younger brother tucked his hands against his eyes to wipe away tears before they appeared. "Do you think you can come visit again?" He asked quickly, causing Ash to laugh gently.

"Not if you don't go home. They think I took you." Ash laughed from his belly, getting a slight grin from Cole.

"Pikachu wanted to come...or..." he said, glancing at the pokemon which squeaked its apology. "I wouldn't have been brave enough to come on my own without pikachu." Cole rephrased, looking up once again at Ash with that same heroic gaze. Ash's face flushed gently as he scratched the side of his cheek.

"Then it's a good thing you have him, isn't it?" Ash suggested, looking down at pikachu modestly, who shook his head in response.

"Well... no. Pikachu wants to stay. He's been waiting for you." Cole suggested, finally turning around to show Ash the squirming bag he carried. Carefully, Ash took the bait and opened the latch of the bag, watching a spill of yellow electric pokemon pour out in squeaks just as Misty hung up the phone. She jumped, seeing the band of pichus.

"I have these guys to keep me company!" Cole offered, sharing the same laugh as Ash.

"There's so many!" Ash cooed, looking at the multitude. "Are these all yours?" Ash gasped, looking at his old-friend who scratched his ears pathetically as if saying yes.

"That's great, but Gary is on is way to come grab you." Misty said interjecting her comments between the brothers as she scooped the forgotten togepi off of the ground. It sighed in vertebrate, being carried by the woman once again.

"You're kind of mean." Cole muttered with a pout at her abrasive nature. Automatically, both Ash and pikachu shared in a fitful laugh, grinning up at Misty at a moments notice. Her face turned scarlet and her hands clenched at Cole's words... _why that little..._. but his quick forming grin told her it was only a joke. She let it go with a sigh.

"Really, pikachu, you should stay with your family." Ash assured the pokemon quickly, stroking its ears and red cheeks. It shook his head.

"Pika, pika chu." it confirmed its want to travel, trying to jump from the ground and onto Ash's shoulder, only to realize it had a great struggle, and only managed with the help of Cole pushing it upward as he spun back around.

"He should go. So when you come back, you can tell more stories!" the child complained, and Ash could hardly contain himself; how could he say no to that face? Or to _his_ pikachu for that matter. Not this worlds pikachu, but _his_ pikchu. His heart swollen with immense joy, he grabbed at pikachu once more and brought the pokemon into another hug.

"If you insist!" Ash said pridefully, getting a glare from Misty who thought he was being sentimental for once—but of course, that was lost on him. Her face twitched gently, watching Cole once more and exhaling.

"Do you need me to walk you back?" She offered, looking directly at Cole.

"I think the mean lady should stay here." He cooed and she could feel a vein pop on her forehead.

"I am not _mean_." She hissed, but Ash stared at her with innocent eyes.

"You are a little bit." Ash retaliated, getting a matching grin from his younger brother. Whether Ash realized it or not, they had _something_ in common; that stupid-grin of theirs! She rolled her eyes.

"Well, we can't leave him here on his own." Misty suggested and Ash felt a smile play on his lips as he looked back down at Cole.

"Then we have that time to talk about whatever you want!" Ash assured the boy who cheered in response. Misty sighed, watching the road below with great commitment. At least Ash's anger was currently thwarted though; for that, she wasn't complaining. Her attitude, however, sprung from everything else about this moment.

It did make her wonder, if pikachu remembered, why couldn't she? She looked at Ash who had taken to sitting with his legs crossed in the dirt, holding three pichus in his lap as a pikachu with a pink bow walked around him skeptically. In her own arms, she could feel togepi squirm to be released, and so she put the egg pokemon down so that it could rush to Ash and be greeted with that same, unnerving grin. She could hear Cole ask about the egg, and while Ash drowned out the noise in her mind with stories, she looked back down at the end of the road, where she could see the Viridian City hospital in the distance; but even more than that, she could see what remained of the old gym.

She felt like they were being watched somehow, by someone far away.

Was that just her own paranoia? Her amazement that someone _other_ than Ash remembered everything? What did that mean in terms of Ash's recovery? Would he continue down the road he started: Regain his license, return to training, or would he chase his dreams again? If that's what they really were. Misty rubbed her chin thoughtfully, her brows furrowing. Perhaps, the only reason pokemon could remember was because they shared a special connection with their trainers? Sometimes, pokemon shared a wordless bond with their trainers; unspoken to the greatest depths of reality and emotion... Misty turned slowly back at the boys and their yellow rodents, catching togepi staring at her with beady, damp eyes.

What if _other_ people remembered Ash? Those other trainers that he talked about at the beginning of his coma; because clearly, this pikachu, though she would have been skeptical at first, seemed completely natural around Ash and his half-brother. To suggest a pokemon remembered the full extent of his dreams though...that was crazy... but maybe on some level, they were always connected.

"Cole, why didn't pikachu tell you where Ash was?" Misty asked suddenly breaking their story, he looked up at her with curious eyes.

"What do you mean?" he asked as Misty approached the two of them and squat beside the group of pokemon and boys.

"I mean you said that pikachu remembered everything and told you stories about Ash; why didn't you tell anyone about this? About Ash?"

"...Well who would believe a six year old?" Cole said defensively, looking away from Misty. She had struck a nerve with the boy. "My mom didn't believe me, neither did dad." He said tiredly, a frown deeper than any boy his age should know framing his face.

"...but if pikachu and I were connected, why didn't you tell me in my dreams what was going on?" He looked at the pokemon and it lowered its ears sadly.

"Pikaaaa." It groaned, suggesting that it wasn't his dream. Misty snapped her fingers and looked at Ash.

"He had no control over what happened; therefore, pikachu could only have told you if you wanted to hear it." She suggested thoughtfully, but Ash tore his gaze away from her, a frown replacing his dominant smile—guess they were still not okay then. She looked away as well.

"Does it matter? Ash is better now." Cole said, his young innocence deflating Ash's worry as he once again smiled.

"It doesn't matter! What's in the past is in the past! We can only move forward." Ash suggested happily, though Misty rose to her feet and stalked off in another direction. That simply wasn't good enough for _her._

Standing again, she could see the approaching auburn haired pokemon researcher and whistled to the boys. "Gary's here." Misty muttered, putting her hands on her lips while Ash and Cole looked up, a bit defeated.

"Oh..." Cole grumbled while Ash stood up, scooping togepi into his arms while pikachu struggled to find perch on Ash's shoulder in his new chubby state. Cole gathered the pichus slowly, picking up the bow-tie pikachu and facing the direction that he ran to meet Ash.

"Cole!" Gary yelled at him in a scolding manner, making his way up the short incline as his white lab coat flapped in the wind. "What in hell were you thinking running off like that? Your mom is worried sick! She thinks Ash kidnapped you!" Gary groaned, approaching the child with a stern look that only made Cole retaliate by sticking his tongue out.

"I just wanted to see Ash." Cole offered bitterly, side-glancing at Ash who offered a weak smile. His eyes were trained on Gary though.

"Your grand-dad and my mom, huh?" Ash asked awkwardly, getting a bright blush from Gary who helped close Cole's back pack as if he was used to parenting the child.

"You should have seen the wedding." Gary shuddered, patting Cole's innocent auburn hair while Misty blew out air from her lungs.

"Why didn't you mention that Cole already knew about Ash?" Misty asked, once again pegging a question that served only to earn a glare from Ash.

"What?" Gary asked, looking down at Cole who looked away as quickly as Gary made eye contact. Obviously, the former-rival had no idea himself that Cole was aware.

Gary blinked. "Did your mother mention Ash before?"  
"No..." Cole muttered and Misty sighed, crossing her arms before the conversation could barrel back into the grounds of explaining that confusion. Gary, of course, had no idea about Ash's dreams—they never came up in subject, and so they would have to explain all of that—which they didn't have time for.

"It's a long story, Gary. But why don't you get back and make sure the police are tame?" She offered, taking control of the situation as she usually did, but Ash waved her off nonchalantly as he leaned down to awkwardly hug Cole who returned the gesture warmly.

Gary watched with sad eyes at the two before they separated, pikachu taking one last chance to hug the child.

"You're taking pikachu?" Gary asked skeptically and Ash grimaced.

"He is still technically mine...and Cole is okay with it." Ash muttered, patting the pokemon in question on the head. Gary raised his eyebrows.

"You don't have a license." Gary noted dully, and Ash glanced toward the edge of the forest.

"It's taken care of for now..." He mumbled, but rather than sharing a glance with Misty, he made every motion possible to steer clear of her vision. "But eventually...soon. I'll need an official one." Ash added looking back at Gary who nodded.

"I will see what I can do..." Gary said formally, glancing between Misty and Ash with a sullen expression. The enmity was as thick as a rain forest, the complete opposite of their nature the last time he saw them. Cole didn't seem to notice as he smiled bright at Ash.

"In the mean time—try not to kill each other." Gary suggested to the two of them who rolled their eyes at equal intervals.

Turning away from the duo, Gary placed a hand on the young boys head as they walked away from the two—but Cole seemed to have no interest in being 'babied' by the older man, instead he fanned Gary's hand away several times before glancing back over his shoulder at Ash. Cupping his lips, he grinned.

"Don't forget to write!" Cole screamed, and then waved, walking backwards. "I'll miss you pikachu! It was great finally meeting you, Ash!" He whined, but Gary groaned and flicked the child to watch where he was going before he fell down.

"I will!" Ash called, pikachu yelling with him.

Somehow, he would find a way to stay in contact with the boy. It would be hard at first, seeing as his mother wanted _nothing_ to do with Ash. Maybe she just needed time to warm up? Seeing Cole made him believe there was still _some_ hope left; if only a little. Maybe there was something more he didn't understand? With pikachu on his shoulder now—he felt three times more familiar, even if pikachu actually had weight to him now, and the pokemon riding on his shoulder felt a lot more like a ten pound weight on his neck instead of a pokemon. Noticing this, pikachu jumped off of its trainers shoulder and onto the ground. They watched Gary and Cole disappear into the foreground as muteness spread over the duo and their pokemon. Had Misty's feet not been shuffling beside him, he might have even forgotten that she was standing there.

"I'm still mad at you." He offered, almost childishly while Misty pursed her lips, crossing her arms behind her back.

"Thanks, I don't need you to keep reminding me. I get it." She said harshly, turning away from him and starting down the road once more. Anxiously, he followed her.

"You lied to me." He offered sardonically.

She sighed, head low. "I said I was sorry."

"Are you really though?" He questioned, pointedly.

Misty scoffed and almost glared at him—but stopped herself short of a pathetic look. "Of course I am." She motioned keeping her eyes forward. With the distractions gone, that simply left the two of them; standing awkwardly beside one another. Pikachu had to work to keep up with Ash and he slowed his pace respectful to the out-of-shape mouse.

Quiet funneled between the two of them, just the sound of their feet scuffing the dirt as Ash watched the evening sun over the horizon. Pikachu caught onto the awkward tension between the two of them and gave his regards in a sympathetic sigh. Ash pursed his lips at his small, rounder, yellow friend and then glared back at Misty, not quite ready to admit defeat.

"So why _did_ you lie to me?" He asked and Misty sighed, hoping that he could have just let it go after seeing how it was there; but that was unlike him. Even if Delia so clearly did not want to see him, it still wasn't her place to lie to him about it—he deserved to see it on his own time. He couldn't have gotten mad at Gary? They seemed fine.

"Because sometimes knowing is harder than ignorance. I thought you deserved at least a few days of normalcy after what happened in Pallet Town." She uttered but that still wasn't enough.

"How would you know?" he scowled, but seemed to have hit a sore spot with the woman. She visibly flinched at the question as she snapped on him.

"Listen, I get it, I lied to you; what do you want me to say? I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner, but I _did tell you_." She groaned, pointing at him and stopping mid-step to make her point clear. Ash put his hands up in defense, but she didn't stop there. "Hate me all you want but _I know_ that _you know_ that you weren't ready a month ago for news like this." She hissed, turning away from him. If she was remorseful, it was hard to tell. Ash scowled.

"So then what, you came all the way back to Viridian City to tell me that you told me so?" He growled, togepi feigning worry as the two bickered; once again, pikachu lowered his ears and sighed. They were the same in every reality, the mouse pokemon assumed.

"No. I came here to make sure you were okay." She grumbled, keeping a pace ahead of him, stomping her feet into the ground with each new step. Ash wanted to throw up his arms, but holding the egg prevented that.

"Well, I'm okay, so you can go now." He groaned angrily and she didn't hesitate to throw up her arms.

"Maybe I will!" She argued back, her blood boiling under her skin. They walked in momentary silence, realizing their predicament as they both trudged through the forest path to Pewter City.

She huffed, blowing a strand of red hair from her face. There was only one road leading to Pewter City from this direction! Realizing this, she rubbed her cheeks.

"Just as soon as the road allows it." She offered meekly, her shoulders falling. Ash frowned in return.

"Fine! Just stay on your side of the road!" He growled, moving to the left side as pikachu chuckled. Misty shivered objectively.

"That's real mature, Ash!" She groaned, glaring at him. He didn't seem to mind his immaturity, however.

"I could be yelling like you!" he retorted, effectively killing any comeback that she had—mentally, Ash marked that off as the first time he ever won in a fight with this Misty...only to have made himself saddened by the thought; he had never _actually been in a fight_ with this Misty before. Having realized this, he looked up at her, ready to apologize, but found that looking at her proud figure only made him bite down on his tongue and look away determinedly.

He couldn't apologize so easily, but what he wasn't aware of was that Misty wasn't going to _leave_ so easily, either. At least not until she found Brock. Even though _she_ didn't remember; who was to say that Brock wouldn't? It was a long shot, but somehow, she would convince Ash to find his way to the gym. With that thought in her mind, she glanced back at him.

"Brock is from Pewter City." She reminded Ash, who didn't seem to clue in.

"What about it?" He grumbled tiredly, kicking his feet. She fought the urge to sigh; was he always this infuriating?

"Don't you want to meet him?" She suggested shyly, and Ash exhaled.

"What's the point?" He asked weakly, showing his open wounds again to her for only a brief second before hardening himself once more. Things were still too...he wasn't ready to forgive her yet.

"Well...if pikachu remembers you—maybe Brock does?" She finally suggested, tripping over that doe gaze the same way that she always did. Ash perked up, having not thought of this. He looked to Misty with eager eyes, kicking up dust that the wind carried away.

"Do you think so?" Ask asked quickly and she sighed. She couldn't say—but it _was_ worth a shot, wasn't it?

"Maybe... It's worth a shot." She offered her thoughts as she listened to his gleeful patter of feet as he raced up beside her. So much for splitting the road.

"Do you think that he would remember even if you don't?"  
"Maybe my being around you so much is the reason I don't remember anything? Pikachu's dreams were supposedly when he recalled most of your journeys." Misty said thoughtfully, looking back at the pokemon who wheezed from the walk. She snickered to herself: like pokemon like trainer.

Ash turned a shade of red; "Do you ever dream of me?" he fumbled, and Misty crossed her arms thoughtlessly, giggling.

"Obviously not, but that doesn't mean Brock didn't." She assumed and Ash's face fell and paled. The thought of Brock dreaming of him didn't reflect the same butterfree feelings; he suddered.

"But... you think it's possible?" Ash asked, having forgotten his anger momentarily. Misty sighed, he had such a one track mind—at least it reminded her how little his grudge-holding capabilities were.

"I think anything is possible at this point." Misty said, though usually the pessimistic skeptic herself, she was starting to doubt if everything they learned up until this point was accurate—and the best way to find out? Field work.

 **Author's Note:**

This chapter is one of the first I wrote; I've been excited for days over this one. It's where we realize some deafening plot points and start asking bigger questions; and Ash starts his new adventure. I'm so very excited for that.

Plus. Ash and Pikachu reunion, anyone?

From this point on, we're past Ash's original goal; he finally found his mother. So obviously, he must find a new goal now! Here we go! Off to Pewter City! :D

You guys are amazing, by the way! So many reviews in such a short time after Ch15 went up! Thank you a million times! This chapter is a bit lighter though, so hopefully that cheers you guys up after last chapter. -cries with you all-


	17. Chapter 17: Road to Pewter City

**Locked Away, Chapter 17**

The walk to Pewter City was a slow one. Ash was starving by the halfway point, but neither member of the duo had thought to bring food with them for their journey. Misty left the gym in such a rush, she barely had any pokemon with her. While Ash had been in such a fit abandoning the gym itself, he did not even bother considering rations. Typically, this would not have been an issue had it not been for their hurry to leave Viridian City. They could have easily grabbed a lunch there, maybe even something to go—but unfortunately for the bickering couple, that was the least of their worries.

"The sun is going down." Ash grimaced, watching the early winter sundown with a look of disdain. He glanced at Misty. "You didn't bring any supplies, did you?" Ash grimaced at his companion who snorted confidently and rolled her eyes. Her confident strides never broke pace.

"I didn't think I would be going to Pewter City." She said matter-of-fact, raising her eyebrows. "Besides, we should be there in another..." She glanced around the forest trail, looking for the mile marker and exhaled loudly.

"Three hours; maybe? I don't remember the markers that well, it's been a long time since I've traveled to Pewter City by foot." she sighed, rubbing her forearms and shifting the weight of the sleeping togepi. They shared an unspoken agreement with one another, fighting or not. Misty would hold togepi, and Ash would hold pikachu, who was indefinitely out of shape and laughing pathetically in it's trainer's arms. Ash tried to push the weight of the pokemon out of his mind, as well as the growl of his stomach with each passing foot step.

"Great." Ash grimaced, unable to deter his thoughts from both the new, exciting information about the possibility of Brock remembering anything about their journeys like Pikachu, or the idea of food. His stomach growled loudly, heaving a sigh from Misty.

"I can't believe you didn't pack food." She scolded him, her sneakers scuffing the dirt below. Ash threw his face to the side and glared awkwardly at the side of the forest, the sun's shadow casting his face dark behind his raven hair. Misty sighed once again; at least she was trying to make conversation?

"Pika." the pokemon cooed from Ash's arms, twisting in reply to Misty, though it's trainer did not.

"At least Pikachu is polite." She said happily, getting another squeal in response as it gushed happily at her. His reaction brought a smirk to her lips; at least pikachu, what ever memories the small mouse had of her, were pleasant ones. During the first part of the walk, pikachu's pokemon babble filled the silence between them. Misty didn't understand at all what the mouse pokemon said, but Ash apparently spoke fluently.

Turning her attention back at the task at hand; she knew traveling by night would not be the safest bet; due to poachers, thieves, and wild animals; but with five hours walking distance behind them, she rubbed her hands together eagerly. She wasn't even sure by now how long it would take to arrive at their destination; it was impossible to determine how far they had traveled out of Viridian City and into the forest, and she couldn't recall the distance between the two off the top of her head. Glancing at Ash who was busying himself with small talk with pikachu across the path from her, she gave a loud sigh.

Three hours passed at a snails pace once pikachu fell asleep tucked inside of Ash's bag. The steady was of silence, their aching bellies and over all irritation provided less to talk about as the time rode forward. Exhaustion had taken rest in their bones, and they were further from chatty than they had been at the start. Misty could almost feel the weight of tension weighing down her shoulders. A part of her wanted to yell at him, frustrated beyond belief at his childish behavior-'the silent treatment'-but she supposed that's what a great part of him was—a child, at least mentally.

With the sun down for over two hours, she could barely see the path ahead of them, and feared they may get lost in the darkness. Ash struggled to keep his footing on the ever increasing rocky terrain, until finally, he kicked a larger rock with a loud sigh.

"I can't see anything." He admit stepping closer to Misty. Eyes having never adjusted to the darkness, he rand a hand down his face. Misty's face scrunched up in reply as she faced the direction of his voice. With the stars and moon being hidden by spreading clouds, she let out a loud, frustrated sigh; reciprocated by a matching one from Ash.

"I thought you said it was only three hours away?" Ash complained, juggling his back pack a little bit. Misty fumbled to tuck togepi into her purse to free her hands, and maneuver herself closer to Ash's shadow.

"I also said it's been years since I've traveled by foot. We can't be too far..." Misty murmured, grateful to have some voice in the darkness, the silence chilled her to the bone. In the ever increasing shadow, Ash shuddered.

He had never experienced darkness like this outside of his dream state, right before he woke up. Away from the city lights with the sky blot out by clouds, the Viridian forest was the epitome of black; casting and running several miles longer than route one. Being who he was, he never noticed how long the stretch was, in his dreams, he would wonder for hours and hours, never seeming to need stop for food or water; in most occasions, it was always there for him. This feeling, this scene, was all so different though. He had no idea how many miles apart the two cities were; realistically, he could only imagine that they could be hundreds of miles apart—that would make the most sense...but they had walked for nearly eight hours; that should have put them near Pewter City.

Misty, with aching feet waited patiently for a reply from Ash, finally hearing the scuffle of his feet press forward as a modest reply; followed by a sharp groan of frustration.

"We should be close. We'll walk another hour or so." He motioned forward, determined with Misty following in his trails.

Misty blinked; "It's winter. With clouds like that it could storm any minute. We should think about setting up camp instead." She suggested, but could hear the soft hum of sleeping bugs in the distance and could also feel her skin crawl.

"Besides, it's cold out. We should make a fire or something." She suggested again, trying to keep her voice from shaking while thinking about her choice of tight pants for athletic wear rather than practical winter clothes.

Ash sighed in retort; "One more hour." unable to argue, she pressed closer to hi so they wouldn't get separated in the darkness.

Having only been really active for the last few months, Ash was still not top shape. His muscles ached at every step, he could feel the pressing matter of blisters forming over his toes, and after all of that, he felt sweaty under his winter coat that kept him so warm in the otherwise brisk weather. Actually, he imagined that walking nearly eight hours straight would be daunting on anyone's physic. He was impressed Misty lacked the confidence to complain about it—though, they weren't exactly on talking terms. Well, at least he wasn't. She talked, and he mostly nodded; only now that she couldn't see him, he tried to speak few words.

He was still mad at her— _sort of_. Since the return of pikachu, and meeting his mother; and his little brother, he was in a most forgiving mood—yet, something still nagged at him. She was so closed off, even now, when she should have been naturally apologetic, as if it was his fault that he was upset about being lied to. Even though he joked about it, that she was only here to rub his nose in it, a part of him wondered if that really was her intention. He rubbed his face with the back of his hand and exhaled loudly.

"Mist, what's up with you?" He voiced his concerns, eyes narrowed. Had it not been so dark, he might have seen her face screw up at the comment.

"What do you mean?" She said, her eyes snaking to his voice.

"You said you couldn't travel because of the gym." He offered, unable to directly rephrase his question.

Tired, frustrated, and hungry, she huffed; "That's right."

"But you're here." he said, glancing at her shadow.

"Only because I asked for a favor from Daisy." she said nonchalantly.

Whether it be because of his exhaustion or general discomfort with her, he growled lowly. "You couldn't have asked before?" _When I actually needed your help._ He added bitterly in his thoughts.

She sighed loudly. "Not everything is about you, Ash." She said with a snarl, rolling her eyes. Though he shouldn't have taken offense, emotion mixed with his tiredness made his jaw lock angrily.

"Not everything is about _you_." He countered, not sure of what to answer; his brain was ticking. Talking, or rather, trying to fight with the red head just for the sake of passing time. Misty, feeling this as well breathed out cautiously.

"Perhaps the best course of action would be to continue our bout of silence?" She suggested, rubbing her tired eyes. Ash sighed to himself, but agreed.

The wind picked up a few minutes later as the Viridian Forest seemed endless in the dark night. The bristle of the leaves found comfort for Ash, who had been lost in his own thoughts, mulling over his brain why he would be mad at Misty still; she did lie to him, but she said she was sorry. That should have made everything okay, right? But what if she had not told him—then he could have never met his little brother, or pikachu again. If she had told him sooner, he could have... He looked down frequently listening the sleeping purrs of the pokemon in his bag, and it filled his chest with great relief. Nothing in this world could have been more satisfying than finally hearing that _someone_ else knew what he knew... More importantly that he had his old friend back. Even if such a news was shrouded in the embodiment of his mother's rejection. He stuttered at that, his heart stinging with each step at the thought. The sound of sleeping forest-pokemon reverberated from every corner, but the sound of none-sleeping pokemon rang louder; finally, Misty stopped, affirmative in her objection to continue, cutting off Ash's train of thought.

"We're stopping for the night." She said, swinging her purse down gently against the forest floor, hearing the gently purr of togepi in her pack.

"I'm sure we're almo-"

"Ash, my feet are tired. My head is killing me. My muscles ache; I'm cold, I'm tired, you're tired. We haven't eaten all of this evening. We can't see anything, and at this point we're probably moving into dangerous territory walking at night like this. We could get lost without supplies, and winter doesn't offer the best wild food as you can see from the lack of berry bush thus far." While speaking, she shifted her phone out of her purse around togepi, and flashed the light on to use as a temporary flashlight. When the glow illuminated her face, Ash could see there the flush of her pale cheeks, unkempt, windblown hair in every direction, and the puffiness of her tired eyes. Looking at her made his own confidence dwindle and he looked longingly into the distance. Pewter City couldn't have been too far... but she had a point.

Getting lost would be a far more detrimental problem to their situation. Following her lead, he slithered off his back pack, gently setting pikachu on the ground beside the green pack, and fully unzipped the zipper to rummage inside. Misty came to his side a moment later.

"I stored some water bottles at the bottom of your bag." She motioned, standing shoulder to shoulder with him.

"Couldn't have mentioned that sooner?" Ash grimaced while revealing the small bottles of water. Misty smacked her lips together, taking one.

"I figured we might use them all if we started earlier." popping the lid off, she placed the tip to her mouth and sighed gregariously, taking small sips. Ash followed suit with his own; but struggled with sips, wanting to chug the bottle instead. How did he not realize how _thirsty_ he was? If he hadn't been hungry before, the feeling was now amplified and his stomach gave a loud growl. Misty replaced the cap of her bottle, and then hunched over slightly to dig through his pack without permission.

"We will build a fire first; after wards we will scrummage for anything to eat nearby, berries are always a safe bet." She assured Ash, revealing the box of matches and stuffing them into her coat pocket. Now that they had become stationary, the chill flood beneath their coats and Ash exhaled, seeing his breath only barely thanks to Misty's phone light.

"I'll go get some fire wood." He suggested, sticking his hand out to collect her phone. He could see her face scrunch up. "I'm better for it. You're afraid of bugs, anyways." he retorted, watching as she quickly slipped the phone into his hands at the mention of bugs. He couldn't stop himself from grinning.

"I'm not _afraid_ of them. I just don't like them." She corrected him, her shoulders dropping as she turned to rummage through his things to set up camp as he stalked off into the forest. Fighting or not, at least he could depend on her in this way. He had to admit; if she didn't show up in Viridian City earlier that day; where would he be right now? Surely, Gary would have shown up—maybe talked him out of walking into the depths of the forest, but he wasn't so sure now.

Perhaps it was the calm before the storm, but the forest of subtle sounds seemed to halt entirely when they stopped moving, the wind only casually blew a heavy gust, but even then, it was only ever enough to cause a faint chill. They had been really lucky to have such nice weather for early December, usually, the frost would have eaten them alive by this point. Not wanting to wonder out too far, mostly because he feared he might not find his way back; Ash grabbed a few pieces of kindling first, recalling his time at the pokemon camp as a child. He stacked the kindling with larger twigs, then finally some broken branches, and stalked back to camp where he found Misty trying to flatten out his single-man tent. He hadn't noticed she even packed such a thing for him!

She had also found a light; and was using it the best she could, placing the tent off center of the road so that they wouldn't be in direct line of the blowing wind.

"I found some wood." he said, dropping the sticks near the resting pokemon. Watching their sleeping forms in the night made his own body ache; he was ready to fall asleep on the road, if the weather would have permitted it.

"Awesome. Switch me, then. You set up the tent and I'll start the fire." She suggested, handing him a post while squatting next to the bundle of sticks. Ash's face fell.

"I can start the fire." He said smoothly, watching her press the kindling at the bottom of a quickly formed teepee.

"Have you ever made a fire before?" She asked, her hands stiff from the cold. Ash leaned over to watch her work.

"Once, when I was really young. My dad showed me, I think." Ash mused, face falling while Misty spared him a brief, tired glance. Surprisingly, instead of fighting him on the matter, she slipped him the box of matches carefully, and then turned and walked away to the tent without another word. Watching her careful motion, he sighed gently. She was trying; in her own stubborn way, to apologize for treating him like a child. What was more scary, Ash glanced briefly back at her before fixing the fire himself, was that he noticed it at all.

Resetting the kindling at the bottom, as well as pulling out a little bit of pocket lint from his pocket, he swiped the red tip of the match against the rough side of the matchbox, and then watched the small flame engulf the tip. Pressing the lint to the top of the fire, he pressed the now-burning fuzz to the kindling at the bottom, and watched the flames slowly trickle against the cold wood. He had only picked up the dry stuff, but it still struggled to catch. Impatient, he lit another match, and dropped it into the kindling while listening to Misty fight with the stakes.

The ground had been soft enough to stomp the stakes into place, since they didn't have a hammer; with the small tent prepared, she trudged back to the campsite and collapsed next to Ash. He didn't bother to look at her as he, too, fell onto his rear end where they simultaneously blew out a sigh of relief at the ticking heat that spread over the sticks in front of them. Glad to be resting, siting stationary for a few moments, Misty finally leaned forward to pull her purse into her lap.

"Didn't find any berries or fruit?" She asked shortly, Ash shook his head, which she watched from the corner of her eye.

"I didn't really look. It's too dark even with a flashlight." he murmured, feeling his shoulders sag of exhaustion.  
"Probably safer that way. We could accidentally pick a few poison berries and make the situation worse." She added as an after thought to his explanation. Eyelids lowered he watched her dig through her purse after carefully placing togepi into her lap. Watching the sleeping form of pikachu across from him, he leaned sideways to drag his bag nearer as well as pikachu into his lap. Taking the small water from his bag once more, he sipped it tiredly.

Since the start of their journey, they hadn't stopped for breaks; they were both too prideful or determined to admit when they needed to stop. Plus, that added to the awkward air they were forced to share until they reached Pewter City. Instead of stopping, they had slowed their pace at several intervals due to waning exhaustion. Two hours after nightfall, sitting in the winter chill was the very first time they had given any thought to rest; and doing so was like a flash flood of emotional trauma. They were done.

"Ah-ha." Misty chimed, gathering Ash's attention back at her from the fire. He blinked once at her as she revealed a crumbled granola bar. His mouth salivated. "I guess I should thank my sisters after all." she added while ripping open the bar.

At first, he watched the pressed dried oatmeal and fruit with eager eyes, hoping she would share the subsistence, but when she pulled the full bar from the package and didn't give much of a glance at Ash, he forced his eyes forward. It wasn't like he was going to ask, or anything! He was fine anyways! He wasn't hungry; touching his hand against his stomach which ached in return of his thoughts he fought the urge to droop his head.

"Here." Her soft voice brought his attention back to her as he watched her snap the bar in half and hold out one for him. Unsure of what to think at first, he took his greedily, and pressed it to his lips.

Ahhh, food, how he missed thee. However, he also knew better than to eat the whole thing in one bite; as that would not alleviate his hunger. Slowly, he nibbled on the corners of his half in silence.

"...thanks." he offered quietly, to which she did not bother to respond while she crumpled the wrapper into her purse and gently rubbed circles on togepi's shell to calm her nerves.

A time had passed, watching the fire grow with each branch they placed over it. In zombie-like states, they weren't aware of the passing time, or the gentle chill from the air. The fire provided enough warmth to subdue nature and Misty poked her frosty hands out to warm them. Watching her subtle movements irked him; perhaps it was his own inability to think straight given the circumstances, but he cocked his mouth to one side and blinked tired eyes at her.

"Why did you come to Viridian City?" he asked suddenly, pressing his chin into his palm. Misty's frown deepened.

"I already told you." She offered, but Ash couldn't recall that she did mention.

"No, you said you were sorry; but not why you showed up." He said nonchalantly, mirroring her callous procedure. Misty mimed him and exhaled.

Too tired to avoid the question, her shoulders slumped. "Because no one should have to go through that alone."

Ash's face scrunched up. "How did you know it was going to be... like it was?"

"Well, I don't know how it was, exactly. All you've told me is that she had a son; otherwise, you've been pretty quiet about the whole thing." She looked at him with her sea-green eyes, flashing emerald at the dance of the fire within them. Ash's face flushed gently against his knowledge.

"No...I guess I hadn't mentioned what happened, huh?" He said, looking forward once more.

"You don't have to. I know it was bad given that she call the cops on you." Misty assured him, rubbing her eyes with her wrist.

"She thought I was there for money." he admit, though he couldn't peg the reason he was telling her; he was _still_ mad at her, of course. "She also said that Professor Oak was the person who paid for my extended stay...I honestly think if she had it her way, she would have pulled the plug on me years ago..." he said pathetically, earning a look of sympathy from his companion.

"But you have pikachu now; and Cole adores you. That's two good things, right?" Misty offered in light of the situation, and Ash forced a smile over his cheeks.

"...I suppose." he pet pikachu's head, scratching his ears as the tubby older-pokemon breathed a sigh of happiness in its sleep. Even in this world, it was as charming as ever to have the pokemon around. Actively participating in all of Ash's actions and comments. He wondered if the pokemon could battle still—or if he needed to retrain him; the same way Ash needed to retrain his own body.

"Besides... Maybe Delia just needs time to adjust. The late professor's passing might have shaken her up a little. Just give her some time?"

Ash's eyes lowered, he wanted to believe that; he did. But reliving the moment of his mother's harsh words in his head, he shuddered—he wasn't sure it was that simple. She had been cut and dry with him, not even inching emotionally unless it revolved around Cole. He, too, hoped there was something more...but he couldn't fathom a decent reason for her cold behavior, at least none that made any sense in his mind.

After a wash of silence, Ash glanced upward at his friend. "Misty." He called for her, getting her too look at his chocolate eyes with her green. "Why did you lie to me about this?"

That question again; he kept asking her, each time she avoided the question or apologized; no reason apparent aside from trying to protect him. The Misty he knew from the last few months must have had a good reason; he just needed to hear it. He understood Gary's reason; his mother was a lost cause in most cases, and plus hearing he had a brother might have been _a little_...devastating right away, not to mention pikachu—but Misty was known for harsh truths; accepting things as they rolled forward.

She wouldn't have lied without a _good_ reason.

Visibly, she looked uncomfortable, mentally, she was on the verge of unconsciousness, nearly slipping in and out. If it hadn't been for the gentle breeze or the occasional smoke of the fire hitting her face, she might have already slipped and fallen into a dream world where she was asleep in her soft, warm bed and not the cold dirt. Unable to keep eye contact, she let out a dramatically loud side and shifted her attention to the crackling flames.

"My parents...er.." She stumbled, unsure of how to bring about the matter. "They left when I was really little... Right around the time Daisy was turning ten." she muttered, hoping that was enough of an explanation and he wouldn't press the idea any further.

However, it was Ash, and not only that, he was exhausted; so he poised the question further. He already knew her parents left her... "Why would you not tell me because of that?"

W _ell isn't it obvious?_ She thought with an eye roll, but inhaled bravely. "My parents left my sisters and I because of the rigorous schedule of the gym..." She started, but then shook her head, too tired for the sentimental stuff.

"My parents didn't want us, okay? It was a horrible experience and after listening to what Gary had to say and the fact she lived only a few blocks away from the hospital. I don't know. I'm sorry. I didn't want to see you go through what my sisters and I went through." Not breathing between words, she exhaled quickly and then tucked her arms around togepi defensively. "I thought life at the gym would be better than walking into _that._ " She offered pathetically.

Without asking, he could see the own hurt on her face from her parents rejection, and finally understanding, he made a brief "oh" and leaned forward, eyebrows lowered.

"Would you have told me if I didn't say I was leaving already?" he muttered, shyly glancing at her from the corners of his eye. Misty huffed.

"I thought about it everyday. Gary promised to smooth things over, and really, that's all I was waiting for. He made no progress with the woman and so... I don't know. I guess I would have told you when I thought you were ready." She said pathetically, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"When would I be ready?"

"I told you, didn't I?" She said, glancing at him coldly. Ash's body shivered even though he was so close to the fire and he glanced down with a soft, determined smile.

"Thanks, Misty." was all he managed, watching the embers of the fire as she awkwardly dusted off her tights with a ever present frown.

"You're welcome." She muttered, unsure of what else to say.

Really, there wasn't a lot more to say; in the end, she had only been looking out for him—whether or not he needed it was not up to him. Even after blowing up on her, she still came back; apologized, stood tall for him even after his own mother—his family—rejected him. While he had plenty of reason to still be mad, there was _no_ good reason to be upset with her. He glanced at her figure, watching her head bob gently, sleep drawing ever closer as the tall flames bled into short embers. Surely, he might not ever blindly follow her again—but maybe that was a good thing? She had always pushed him to be better for himself, perhaps this was what she meant by it? Even Agatha made a point to tell Ash to never follow blindly.

Standing up, Ash watched Misty snap away as he football carried pikachu and tapped her gently with the heel of his foot.

"We should sleep since the fire is dying." He suggested calmly, getting a lackluster reply.

"Only one sleeping bag..." She grimaced, rubbing her temples as she pulled herself to stand along side him.

"Then we'll play rock, paper, scissors, loser gets the blanket." Ash grinned, watching her lips curl in disapproval.

"Alright." She said motionlessly, both popped their hands forward; as they would play many times in regards to chores around the gym, neither were strangers to the rules. Best two out of three.

"Scissors beats paper." Misty chimed, feeling gleeful in her timidness, Ash puckered his lips bitterly, going again.

"Hah! Rock beats scissors." Misty threw up a peace sign at him, but he seemed unaffected by her victory—when in reality, he usually threw a fit, but this time he only offered a weak smile in slue of their situation.

"Alright. You get the sleeping bag." He grumbled halfheartedly, dropping his bag to the ground to pull out the neatly rolled covers.

Misty took them happily; not a sense of remorse in her entire body. He could see her legs shaking as she moved away from the dying fire; she was dressed much less efficiently than him, and for that much colder. Had he won the match, he would have most likely given the woman the sleeping bag anyways—save himself the worry of her freezing over night.

He grinned at her as she tossed the sleeping back onto the floor of the tent without much of a second thought and then collapsed inside, following shortly thereafter by Ash, who wrapped himself and pikachu like a burrito with his black blanket. He curled up as close as physically possible without actually touching the girl now curled inside of his blue sleeping bag that _she_ bought for him. His head landed against the dirt with a satisfied sigh as he inhaled. The tent was no more than a pop-up, enough to break the wind and save them from rain, but it provided the reflection of their body heat as well, and so for that he was grateful.

"Hey Ash." she mumbled, surprising him; her soft breaths would have convinced him that she was already sleeping.

"Hmmm?" He grunted, already half asleep the moment his body laid flat. He could hear the smile in her voice.

"Thank you."

"Mmhmm." He grumbled turning over to face away from the redhead. Still chilly himself, it was going to be a long night.

 **Xoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo**

Morning came in like a wrecking ball; the small splatters of rain against the plastic tarp of their pop-up tent lulled them both from sleep slowly. Ash shivered under his blanket, content with never moving again, as doing so only provided a breeze to catch under his body. Misty, on the otherhand, had slept three times better than the coma patient, and sat up tiredly, green eyes blinking at the sound of rain.

"Ash?" She called after him in a raspy voice that made his head spin. He grunted in response; the best he could offer her at the moment.

"It's raining."

 _No, really?_ He thought bitterly, but instead, replied with a grunt. He wasn't ready to get up yet. Hearing her shift, he could tell she had sat up, and began rubbing her jacket's arms for more warmth as she looked at the murky light outside. Their bags had been only partially stowed into the tent, and so she cursed quickly, lunging forward to drag them inside, accidentally rolling the egg away from her body and onto the cold dirt as she did. It didn't wake, but started to shiver none the less.

"Shit, we didn't bring our bags in." She grimaced, a statement finally important enough for Ash to crack one eyelid open to see the faint glow of morning staring back at him. He shifted, still wrapped in his blanket with pikachu snoring, _loudly_ in his arms still.

"Are they soaked?" He muttered with an ever present yawn. Misty lifted her purse, feeling the extra weight from the water pooled at the bottom and grimaced loudly as she reached for her phone at the bottom.

"Wonderful..." She sighed, flicking the water off the screen; Ash didn't see the problem as he scoot his bag, which he had closed before crawling into bed, closer to him. The water rolled off the green fabric, and Ash blinked once or twice.

"Is that water proof?" He asked, forgetting her angst over her damp phone she tried to shake the water out of.

"My phone? It's supposed to be." She grumbled, unaware that his question was directed at the bag.

"No, my bag."

"Yes. Most things I buy are. You know, because of it being a water gym and everything." She muttered while watching her phone click on with a sigh of relief. At least _that_ still worked! The rest of her items in her purse were ruined, however. She fished through the objects, careful not the wet the sleeping bag while Ash yawned tiredly beside her; trying to blink sleep from his eyes. Last nights words and actions were foggy at best in his mind, but he no longer felt the searing anger he had for the red head. Instead, it had been replaced with a bit of admiration; but not adoration.

"When did you find out about your parents?" Ash asked suddenly, and Misty groaned her disapproval of the subject.

"Can we not talk about this?"

"You seemed so talkative last night." He said playfully, while she scooped out the last of her valuables and glared at him.

"I was also exhausted." she reprimanded him, only earning herself a grin in response—damn him and his morning personality; while hers was as vicious as usual. Only made worse by the thought that coffee was _not_ an option.

"Why does that matter? You can talk to me about stuff like that; I won't judge you, Mist." He assured her calmly, eyes shut, possibly still half asleep. He missed the blush that traced over her features, even the skip of her heart as she furiously, tossed her water-soaked purse out of the tent once more.

Unsure of why she felt so embarrassed, she shifted out of the cover of the sleeping bag carefully and once the cold hit her legs once again, she let out a long sigh.

"You seem awfully happy with me, considering your anger yesterday." She chortled, but Ash raised an eyebrow; she couldn't let it go, could she. He pursed his lips.

"I forgive you." He said naturally, also removing his blanket to prepare for the trip that was going to be cold, wet, and damp. Misty eyed him from her corner of the pop-up and gnawed her lips.

"...thanks..." She offered awkwardly, feeling her face heat up as he turned at her mischievously.

"That doesn't mean you weren't _wrong."_ He admit with a sheepish, daring grin that made her skin crawl. He knew how much she _hated_ being wrong; or even told that she was wrong.

"It wasn't wrong to want to help my friend!" She denied, starting to roll the bag up. Ash whistled, folding his blanket into the bottom of his green back while Pikachu stirred from its slumber.

"But it was _wrong_ to lie to that friend for an _entire_ month, Misty." He placed careful emphasis on her name, watching her shoulders shudder as she stomped the bag into its smallest form.

"I only did it to help you" She growled under her breath, snatching the green back from him aggressively and stuffing the tied sleeping roll into the confines of the bag. Ash whistled once more.

"But if you _had_ told me sooner. I would have met my brother _and_ pikachu so much sooner."

"Shut up! I'm sorry okay!" She yelled, waking both stirring pokemon with her shrill voice while simultaneously standing upright fully, accidentally unhooking the the tent from both side and letting lose a howl of laughter from Ash, who held his stomach. It was at that moment, fighting to wrestle herself from the tarp that she realized Ash had been playing with her, and she huffed dangerously.

"Ash Ketchum..." She growled as he helped untangle the mess of the tent over head, and fold it into a believable square that he tucked into the outer pocket of his bag as to make sure nothing else got wet. Unmoved by her threat, he only shook is head at her while throwing on the hood of his coat. She collected the stakes from the ground and tucked them away into her already ruined purse—what could a little mud do?

"Misty Waterflower." he challenged, which she clearly did not like and stomped her foot. Beside them, pikachu streched, shaking the wetness from his fur now that his trainer had robbed him of his own protection and sniffled as he made his way to protect togepi as Ash and Misty traded glances.

"Piiiika!" he chimed, patting the egg on the back with a hopeful demeanor. The small egg glanced at Misty once more, and made a soft chirping noise to better reflect pikachu who looked at his own master. They were at it again, bickering; but not as hostilely as yesterday; for that much he was thankful. The small mouse looked up at the sky, hearing the distant crack of lightning its cheeks sparked with electricity before it ran to paw at Ash's leg; who was mocking Misty as they scattered the remains of the charred fire and cleaned up their damaged area. The rain was coming down just enough to be a disturbance, but not enough to soak through their entire bodies right away.

Really, it was the wind that cut through them the quickest. Misty, having Ash's attention stolen away by pikachu, turned to fetch the egg pokemon which had been waiting so patiently for her return. It smiled happily at her grasp and the moment she scooped it up, it nuzzled into her bosom and she turned to face Ash while unzipping her jacket to tuck togepi in.

"What is it, pikachu?" Ash asked neatly while pikachu pointed up at the oncoming thunder storm. Ash's face and spirit fell dramatically as he shared in his companions worry.

"Not to worry, Pikachu. Just don't do any electrical attacks." Ash motioned while scooping the pokemon up into his arms.

"Pika, pikachu." it groaned, rubbing his face as if to indicate that he couldn't help himself; but Ash narrowed his eyes.

"I swear if you put me in another coma, buddy. I'm going to wake up and..." he stopped himself short of threatening the mouse jokingly as a shot of booming thunder ragged overhead, indicating the start of a downpour.

"Forget it!" Misty pat Ash on the back aggressively, launching him forward. "Just run and stay beneath the tree line!" She yelled, her voice suddenly being covered by the sound of pouring rain that nearly soaked through his jacket.

 **Xoxoxoxxoxoxoxxoxoxxoxoxo**

In the end, it had been a good decision to camp when they did; as the path split up ahead; one leading further into the forest, and another that would take them to Pewter City. Ash growled, looking at Misty sigh from their cover under the trees. They were still ten miles out—but he supposed they had made some decent time after all.

"I thought there was another city somewhere between Viridian City and Pewter City?" Ash asked, practically yelling as Misty pounded forward.

"Maybe in Ash Ketchum dream land!" Misty mocked carefully, pulling him along with her.

"Caaa!" The rodent squealed in return, defending Ash. Ash nodded his approval and then launched himself forward, chasing her back.

"That's still about two hours out of town! So much for that three hour marker!" he chanted back, getting a snarl from Misty that was hidden by the rain.

"If you would run, it'll go faster!" She yelled angrily back at him, though their stamina was depleted, even after sleeping last night. They still hadn't eaten, and thought of finding something in the storm was impossible. Figures it was their luck.

Ash made a face, running beside Misty. His legs being just slightly longer than hers, his strides were more natural."In my dream, Mist, Brock made a joke."

"He did?" Misty groaned, trying to fight the urge to rub her face.

"Yeah, he always cooked everything for us, because, apparently even my imagination knew that we were absolutely terrible cooks..." He said, leaping over a small rock as she groaned her annoyance, telling him to get on with the story.

"Anyways! He carried a frying pan with him at all, times, right? I don't know where or how he managed that—but...!" He was laughing at the memory, pikachu wailing in return to Ash's comment. The familiar nature of running through crying forests left him tickled.

"What's the joke!?" Misty yelled, patience shot.

"He held the frying pan above his head and declared:" He paused, mimicking his best Brock voice, as well as his actions as Misty watched him. "I guess it's a drying pan!" he finished, laughing as a huge grin tugged at his lips. Unexpectedly, Misty's feet gave out beneath her, and she landed flat on her face at the terrible pun—covering herself in mud.

Panic filled Ash's eyes as he came to a roaring stop to collect Misty off of the ground. She laid there for a moment, hunched upward enough so that togepi wouldn't have been crushed from her weight and breathed into the dirt.

"You're killing me slowly, Ketchum." She groaned, but her response only made him laugh louder as he helped her out of the mud.

 **Xoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxxoxox**

Two hours later, they arrived at the Pewter City pokemon center. Most of the mud that had covered Misty had been washed off by the blowing rain as they trudged through the forest. They were disheveled, Ash was dirty, though not nearly as evident as Misty. Her normally spiky hair was matted to her neck and forehead, laced with clumps of mud while Ash had his hat to cover most of his damage. His jacket was also black, where hers was a lighter tan, so the stain of her fall was ever apparent on both her arms, and her pants.

The nurse who stared at the two of them from her perch behind the desk watched with wide eyes. Misty's voice boomed before she could voice her concern.

"We need a room." Misty motioned, the drip of her clothes not lost on either of them. Now that they had arrived in the center; Ash read the time as being only a quarter after nine, and he grimaced slightly.

"A room? You need a shower." The nurse half-mocked Misty, her blue hair reflected a bout of concern.

"There isn't a nurse Joy?" Ash asked carefully, whispering into Misty's ear. She twitched in turn of his question.

"Only in Viridian, Ash." Misty chimed as the lady wagged her eyebrow.

"I'm Joy's cousin; but it's nice to meet you." She spat hostility, while slipping Misty a key while the redhead traded her a few bills. Ash felt alarmed at the hostility but scrunched up his eyebrows and shifted his gaze about the room.

"...Was just a question..." he mumbled while Misty tugged him away from the counter with a bit of disparity. He watched her water soaked head with only the slightest amusement as she dragged him from the counter, to the room number provided on the key she received; outside, she could only hear the storm grow rose as the chuckle of opinions roared around them.

 _"Why would they be out there in that weather?"  
"They must be new!"_

 _"How stupid!"_

Misty slammed her fist against the door, causing it to give away after the twist of the key and stormed inside. The only thing she hated more than being lied to were nosy people. Nosy, _unhelpful_ people that would rather mock the duo than help them. Catching her anger, Ash and pikachu cowered into the corner of the room at the western bunk and dropped his pack on the ground as she quickly stripped off her practically ruined coat and tossed it onto the wooden chair at the corner of the room. Togepi hoped from the trainers arms and onto the table at the motion. Meanwhile, Ash's breath hitched in his throat and he tore his eyes away from her wet body, and focused back on pikachu as he peeled off his own damp jacket.

"I didn't know you had to pay for rooms in pokemon centers." he admit honestly, getting a nod from pikachu. Misty sighed.

"Of course you do. Nothing is free here." She growled, kicking off her mud coated shoes. Her socks sloshed against the wooden floors and Ash let himself snicker, mimicking her actions with his own shoes. He wasn't nearly as wet as she was, though, as he did not fall into the mud like she did, aside from the cuffs of his jeans, he was mostly dry. He would have hoped that she would dry off; but drying in a storm was like trying to put out a fire with gasoline.

"I'm going to have a shower." She gasped, yanking her ponytail out so that the rest of her hair would fall to her shoulders. Daringly, he looked at her again, her wet, skin tight clothes leaving little to the imagination; though he was not entirely sure why that affected him the way that it did. It must have been because she was cold—he felt bad for her.

"Do you have a change of clothes?" He asked suddenly, shuddering.

She paused thoughtfully, glancing at her purse for a moment and then back at Ash. "Can I borrow some? You packed a few changes, didn't you?"  
"B-borrow?" Ash asked nervously, though unsure of why that would bother him. Misty turned on her damp heels to face him.

Short, Misty nodded skeptically, holding out her hand as if he would drop clothes there soon enough. "Right. Otherwise I'm sending you clothes shopping. You decide."  
"You didn't even ask." He chided in return, pouting his lips as he pulled his pack nearer him.  
"I don't have to ask! I went shopping for you!" She yelled, patience short; Ash grinned at this response, but felt his mouth twitch nervously.

"I didn't ask you to!" he bit back.

She growled with a sudden approach, closing the short distance between the two of them and then without permission slipped her fingers around his bag and with one reef pulled it from his grasp and dropped it onto the floor.

"Misty!" he yelped, determined to retrieve the pack, though she waved him off, unzipping the smaller compartment where his clothes were stored. Her purse was stuffed tiredly at the entrance of the room where the door had still been cracked from their entrance.

"C'mon, don't be so weird!" She whined, shrugging off his hands. "It's not like I haven't seen your underwear—I _bought_ those for you, too, remember?"  
"That's not the point." He offered, eyes closing and face turning red. Misty's eyes snaked up at him.

"Then what is the point, Ash? I can't walk around naked, can I?" She glowered dangerously, keeping a tone so innocent his stomach dropped. Her uncouth glare silenced Ash's next comment before he could even open his mouth. His face was shaded by a deep red and he threw up his hands in distress; alerting her that she had won _this_ argument as he stepped away. Pridefully, she grinned while snatching out a pair of his dark blue jeans and his black shirt with white sleeves before standing upright.

"You can shower after I'm done. In the mean time, why don't you check out the pokemon center. Pewter City center is known for its odd trainers—maybe you'll find someone to battle." She courted while shuffling into the washroom. Pikachu's ears perked up at the mention of a battle, as did Ash who looked between pikachu and togepi eagerly.

"I thought I wasn't allowed to battle other trainers?"

"Oh...right. I forgot." She motioned, looking at him helplessly, mournfully. "Then I guess you can just sit and be bored..." She mocked him with upturned eyebrows and lowered eyelids. For a moment, Ash wondered _why_ he wasn't still mad at her as he started to fume.

"You did not forget!"

"But you did." She stuck her tongue out at him before slipping behind the closed door. A silent warning that he was not allowed to mess up under her gym's name.

"...Pika..." Pikachu motioned, scratching his head as sweat fell from the back of his head.

"Bbbriii" the baby pokemon echoed and Ash could only fold his arms in agreement.

"You're right. She will never change." He said determinedly while scooping up togepi and allowing pikachu to climb onto his shoulder awkwardly; his larger framed body now struggling with gripping his arm.

"Let's go ask around about Brock—maybe find some food." He added the last part, remembering the pit in his stomach with faint regression as the sound of the shower started to run. He grimaced.

"Maybe even find some coffee for the demon in the next room." Ash mused playfully, looking at togepi who blinked its confusion.

Carefully, he slipped from the room and back into the hallway, clicking the door shut behind him so no one would intrude on Misty's privacy while he ventured through the complex. Beneath his clothes, while they were mostly dry, his skin still felt clammy from the rain—moist from the exertion of running for so long. Tiredly, the memory tugged at his aching muscles once again, reminding him about his body's own weakened state. He glanced at the trainers sharing short battles together; some as young as ten, others as old as him or more as he turned the corner of the room with a shudder—trainers later.

Food first.

Pikachu sighed at its trainer and pat Ash's damp hat with a sympathetic paw. At least Ash had his priorities straight.

 **Author's Note:**

 **_edit_** _03.13.2016_ First off, just wanted to say that I'm super sorry for the late update. It's been about a week, which is super abnormal for my normal updates. My computer, which had the outline and rough drafts for this story blew up; so I'm just catching up and feeling a little bleh over all because I had quite a few of the chapters already at near completion. Needless to say, I've finally updated, so I hope you all enjoy and that I can get back on track sooner rather than later!

Furthermore, some points: In an old pokemon animation written by the chief writer of the Original Series, it was stated that Misty's parents abandoned Misty and her sisters because of harsh regulations of the gym. While this is not canon, it makes sense why a bunch of girls would have been running the gym. -shrugs- plus it adds some background to Misty's character that I get to go more into detail with later. I dunno, I always felt it would add a layer to her character, and since we're already breaking the rules of the pokemon universe, here I am, breaking it more!

From this point on, we're past Ash's original goal; he finally found his mother, so obviously, he must find a new goal.


	18. Chapter 18: Introduction of Brock

**Locked Away, Chapter 18**

The Pokemon center was swamped—but it was also a lot larger than Ash had ever imagined. Even with as many people as they found that morning, most of the hallways were still empty and there were plenty of staff to treat everyone fairly. The hallways were lined like hotel rooms; spanning several sections of bedrooms down the south wing, where his and Misty's bedroom was. On the east side spanned the front lobby, while the west cradled a cafeteria area; which was primarily where a buzzing Ash was going. His pants were still riddled with dirt from his run to Pewter City, his bones ached beneath every twist and pull of his skin, and yet he marched on—driven both by curiosity, and the blind necessity to be as far away from Misty as possible.

She simply had a way to dig under his skin; talking about walking around like _that_. Jeeze! How lewd!

Besides; the crater in his stomach only amplified the closer he walked to the cafeteria, his entire body swaying with thirst as he licked his lips. How long had it been since he last had water? He was suddenly starving on top of that; not to mention the ache in his back where he slept on a rock all night prior.

"Pika..." The small rodent on his shoulder echoed the trainers thoughts and the raven haired boy nodded his head. Ash was only a skip and a hop away from devouring the entire kitchen, only to be stopped by the observation of the outrageous prices listed above the counter top.

"Eleven dollars for a sandwich?" he mused painfully, nearly dropping togepi from surprise. The egg shrilled at him in distress as he made his way to the counter, eyebrows knit tiredly.

Well, he thought bitterly, _at least water is free_. He reconciled as he approached the woman behind the counter and inhaled, searching for the cheapest prices possible.

After taking a few minutes to order two sandwiches, oddly enough the cheapest item on the menu, two sealed cups of water and a dish of "New and Improved" poke food, Ash found his way to the cashier, fishing for his wallet in his back pocket—still an oddity in his life, as he never recalled having to carry one before waking up. Even after hours of shopping with the Waterflower sisters, spending money was still a concept he struggled to grasp eloquently.

"That's it for you?" The snarly woman across the black counter from him smacked gum between her lips. Ash nodded with a curt smile and handed her a few bills—to which she gave improper change back, shorting Ash a few dollars, but he was in no mood to haggle her for it—no, at the smell of food; his mind was blurred and sought for only that.

"Thanks." he mumbled, snatching the tray the substance was placed on and rushed away from the counter—breakfast was still being served at the small waffle place beside the sandwich counter, but he was not willing to fork over twenty-some dollars for a smaller amount of food. What kind of place was this? He suddenly missed mornings at the Cerulean City gym when he woke up to the smell of burnt cereal and the flood of dark-roast coffee. His stomach churned at the thought, managing to flip it self as he glanced at pikachu who seemed lost in trying to open the container handed him.

Ash wondered, very briefly, if the electrical pokemon would enjoy life at the water-pokemon gym... it would be different but...  
"Did you hear about the recent league champion?" A trainer hissed from a seat not far from Ash's, derailing this thoughts as his ears twitched slightly. Ash maneuvered his tray to the table and then rest togepi and pikachu on the table. After careful consideration, he brushed off the conversation he overheard. It was impolite to listen in on other conversations; besides, food.

 _Food_.

"Here, pikachu." Ash grimaced, popping the lid off the new can of food that togepi and pikachu immediately began to devour with little remorse. Ash's face scrunched up as he unwrapped his simple ham and cheese sandwich. The yellow mouse smiled at its trainer, hunger finally dealt with-a sensation he had long since forgotten since waking up; how odd it was to be reunited with the small rodent, they shared a short smile before togepi interjected with a cute shrill.

"The family is all back together." Ash muttered painfully; _almost_ he added as an after thought while casting his eyes at his bread.

Seeing his gaze, pikachu pat the trainer confidently on the hand, as if suggesting Ash shouldn't over think things about Brock; or the pokemon in general. He needed to keep his eyes focused on his goal; whatever that was right now, though, he wasn't sure. Where was he supposed to go from here? Taking a bite from his sandwich he blinked at his companions. He had togepi, who was still a baby—devoid of any real personality, and pikachu—who was somewhere between where they left off, and _where they left off_ , electrocuted on the side of the road; still as disobedient and lazy as the very first day he got him; and yet as caring as he always remembered him. Ash grimaced at Pikachu. From beside pikachu, togepi nodded its approval the best that it could while wagging a pellet at Ash's head with a determined look in its eye.

"Thanks, guys." he smiled, amazed at their understanding of his confusion; but it was short lived as a long sigh was drawn from pikachu who pointed to the red container at the edge of the table and pouted brown, watery eyes at Ash.

"pika?"  
"No." Ash said sternly, pushing the ketchup bottle away from his overweight companion. "What in the world did Cole and Mom feed you?" He added while sparks flew from pikachu's cheeks, insulted by his choice of words.

"Pika, pika-chu!?" It hissed, poking up its chubby paws for Ash to wave his hands at defensively.

"I'm not saying you're _big_." He spit the words nervously, scratching at the back of his head. "I'm just saying that you need to eat better. No Ketchup, it's full of sugar." He added, pouring some of his water into a dish beside the whining pokemon who had frantically sunk to the base of the table, withering in its own mesh of pity while a chuckling Ash was left to finish his sandwich.

"Pika pika..."  
"You're the one who wanted to travel with me again. You're too old to eat so horribly. Besides; if Misty saw me feeding you people food she would ring my neck." He grouched at the yellow pokemon which spat its teeth at its trainer and hissed.

"Pika." He taunted, causing Ash's shoulders to rile up.

"I am not scared of her!" He hissed, gathering a look from one of the people who sat near his table; watching as he muttered to his pokemon as if it were human. Apparently, as togepi looked around from its small spot on the table, speaking to pokemon in such a way wasn't a normal occurrence.

"Toge...briii~" It sung to Ash, who blinked, and then followed with a scowl as he broke his break, head down.

"Yeah, I guess." He said; its words causing pikachu to crawl back into the seat of the table and nibble on the dry, hard poke-food that Ash purchased for him. A pleasant silence engulfed the trainer and his two pokemon as they gnawed through their food, the groups around them—which Ash still paid no mind to, returning to their bode of conversation.

"I heard Team Rocket is behind it!" He overheard from the hiss of rain outside the window he sat beside.

Intrigued, his eyes shifted from watching togepi delicately gnawing on a poke-pellet and glanced over toward a small group of trainers seated around a red table in the center of the cafeteria. He hadn't noticed before, probably due to the growl in his now sated stomach, but there were several groups of trainers scattered around the small cafe, with Ash seated as the only lone trainer in the midst of people between the ages of ten and thirty-five. People from every walk gathered in the hall to avoid the storm outside, and Ash wondered how he hadn't noticed before.

"I think it's about time the championships are getting hit anyways; it's about time they get treated like us coordinators."

 _Coordinators?_ Ash thought skeptically, eyebrows raising while pikachu, watching Ash's entire head turn from the table slipped back onto the table to carefully remove the bottle of ketchup. Gleeful at his success, it was short lived as Ash, who knew the pokemon like the back of his hand, snaked the ketchup out of his partners greedy paws moments before he could unclasp the lid. Effortlessly, Ash tucked the ketchup bottle beside him, listening to the conversation beside him as pikachu whined to togepi about how 'unfair' Ash was being.

"This is the third one. I think it's because the current champion doesn't want to be dethroned. Real trust worthy politicians, huh?" A girl with brown hair hissed to her friends who snickered; they spoke loudly, almost like they wanted people to hear what they had to say. Such was the fearless life of standing in a group of six.

"Of course we could. After all these stupid unfair regulations they keep mandating, they should have a run for _their_ money." Ash sipped his water, listening carefully to the short bursts in conversation; some of their sentences being muffled out—and only catching the loudest, rudest comments that came from a boy in a purple sweater.

"You think it's okay for any trainer to be kidnapped?" Silence hissed through the room at the sudden interruption while Ash calmly watched the events unfold while a woman probably around Misty's age with purple hair stood up from her seated position near the wall opposite Ash; she had three other trainers beside her who remained seated, but had stern, angry faces plastered in the direction of the coordinators.

"I think it's okay for a _battler_ to be kicked off their high horse, yes." The same boy from before hissed at her while also standing. Ash blinked, licking his lips slightly, instinctively tucking the sandwich he purchased for Misty beside togepi.

"How is getting kidnapped synonymous with that?" The purple haired trainer, who Ash could only assume by this point was a battler herself snapped. "That trainer and their pokemon could be seriously injured!"

"So what? One less prick walking on the streets!" Another from the first group of coordinators chanted, breaking the uneven silence. He quickly added "When coordinators go missing no one bats an eyelash!" while slamming his palms onto the table. "But the moment a _precious_ battler goes missing it makes regional news? Talk about hypocrisy!"

"Well maybe if you all weren't such pompous assholes people would care more!" A male shouted from behind the woman. Ash's gaze, worriedly switched to them and he blinked, sharing a glance with his two pokemon seated at the table with him.

"See, even now! You think you're so much better than us!" the coordinators shouted, a rowdy tension echoed between the groups who were standing on their feet.

"Because we _are_ better than you!" The purple haired girl hissed, and at this moment Ash was starting to rise as the coordinator moved towards her.

"What did you say!?" He screamed vehemently flicking his wrist upward, pushing his bangs from his face as if he would hit her when Ash stepped in, throwing his hands up—followed easily by pikachu, who threateningly sparked electricity from its cheeks as a warning.

"Stop fighting!" Ash screamed, standing between the two groups of enraged people.

Ash's bellowing voice, deep with age and thick from the coarse run of that morning silenced the individuals squabble; only to have said silence disrupted by the same purple-sweater wearing man.

"What the hell do you know?" he questioned as Ash growled.

"I know this is stupid! You should be ashamed of yourselves!" Ash screamed, finally catching a glimpse of the male coordinator in question, his hair was green; his eyes reflected the same color of his hair, and his mouth was turned downward in a snarl; beside him, a man with purple, shoulder length hair sat with narrowed eyes as Ash glanced at the group across from them; to the battlers, making no immediate movements; at least he had their attention. With Pikachu at his feet growling with electrical current amplified by the brewing thunder, no one moved.

"As trainers and human beings; you have no right to complain about each other—look at yourselves. When did training pokemon become about titles? We should be working together." Ash grimaced, hoping for his words to reach the trainers; but both groups only rolled their eyes.

"What do you know? You're the worst anyways; traveling with a _gym leader_." The battler he had just tried to defend spat at him; followed with a quick agreement by the green-haired coordinator. The words stung, and _at least_ they found something they could agree on. Not only that apparently word spread fast—and word was that people didn't like gym leaders; how uncanny. Ash fought the urge to bite back at them, and in stead inhaled.

"Whatever; just stop acting like children. We're all trainers; show some respect." Ash growled. Pikachu, who didn't like the jab at Misty, echoed his reverberate with a pulsating shock from his red cheeks that branched no further than his paws. Both opposing parties backed down at the snarl in his cheeky expression and rolled their eyes.

"They're not worth it anyways." Both groups uttered in unison while slumping back into their seats of their respected tables, whispering amongst one another while Ash was left standing with his hands at his sides. Ignored, and yet wholly embraced.

Ash's shoulders slumped, almost expecting more to have happened, but as he pensively looked between the two groups, they turned away from him dejectedly, and Ash whole-hardheartedly seethed. What was wrong with people? In the distance, he could hear the report sounding off a list of missing person reports as he stalked away to his table where he collected his few things and then stormed out of the cafeteria, as if making a statement; each group watched him leave—specifically the boy with green hair who sipped tea.

 _How stupid._ Ash thought bitterly while tracing his steps back to their room; Pikachu followed on his heels while Ash carried togepi under his right arm like a ball; the rest of his goods were tossed lazily into the plastic bag he was given when he ordered his food as he stomped down the hall way, out of the lobby and back into the south corridor of rooms.

Never in hundred years would he have actually _believed_ Misty when she said coordinators and battlers didn't get along! Sure, she mentioned it, but wouldn't they have patched that up by

now? Suggesting that anyone _kidnapped_ deserved it, not only that, adamantly disrespecting gym leaders for no good reason. _What was wrong with people_? He had briefly heard the news of the last few years big trainers going missing when he was living at Cerulean City; but because of Misty's insistence that he stop living and breathing the news station; he missed most of the reports— _Team Rocket_ said the coordinators; but they were disbanded weren't they?

With these thoughts in his head, he crashed back into the shared room, swinging open the door thoughtlessly; almost missing Misty who was curled up on her bed, combing out the knots in her growing hair. He snarled while dropping the plastic bag onto his bed and tugged on the collar of his light jacket before pulling it off and placing togepi on top of it. The nerve of those trainers! Misty watched him with glowing cerulean eyes as he kicked off his muddy shoes and pikachu passively sent words of support that fell on deaf ears. Misty inhaled sharp.

"Did something happen?" She asked, finally catching his attention with a sharp shudder. He didn't turn to face her; but she could see the intense blush on his face, having been caught in his tantrum. Slowly, he turned and slumped onto his bed where togepi rolled over to him and pikachu pawed his thigh. He cradled his head with his right hand, pinching the bridge of his nose while frowning.

"...Misty." He muttered, unsure of where to start. "What happened between coordinators and battlers?"

"What?" Misty blinked, Ash still hadn't looked up at her. "Why?"

"There was a spat in the cafeteria." He muttered, as her eyes fell on the bag rested beside him; her stomach growled loudly, and without hesitation he tossed the bag at her which she caught with ease.

"You didn't get involved did you?" Misty grimaced her tone pained, worried that Ash might have already been starting trouble; and where he started trouble reflected on the gym as a whole.

"No. I actually intervened...or tried to, at least." He muttered pathetically, rubbing his brown eyes. Misty made a face while digging through the bag of goodies, discovering a sealed cup of water and a crumpled sandwich. She took both out, and rested them beside her as she started to unwrap the bread.

Effortlessly, her voice pitched. "And what happened?"

"They blew me off." He muttered a half-truth, finally gazing up at her only to find himself immediately looking away from her toned body shrouded beneath his baggy black shirt and pants. At least it wasn't as curve hugging as her last attire—or _wet_.

"That's to be expected. Coordinators are still pretty upset about the current political system." She admit, biting into her sandwich; giving no fault to the battlers. Ash gave her a baffled look.

"Only coordinators? Why?"

"Because they have little to no chance of getting a distinguished title outside of 'top coordinator' but you already know that." She suggested, having had this conversation with him some time ago. Ash's face drew into a deep frown.

"And you're okay with that?"

At his words, Misty's emerald eyes turned to him, though her face was still turned down so she looked menacing, but Ash kept their gaze glued to one another; refusing to acknowledge anything but those intimidating eyes. He had to force himself not to look away, and he swallowed hard to do so.

"I'm... on the fence about it. I think the whole system stinks." Misty said subjectively, effectively ending the questions. He inhaled sharply; Misty didn't like the traditional political system where the best 'trainer' was the leader of their region; hell, their country. She was never shy about such things; so he exhaled quickly, his skin itching.

"So why did you become a gym leader? Aren't you expected to have some say in... well, everything?" He asked suddenly, digging his fingers into the mattress below.

"Why, huh?" She laughed dismissively, flicking her wet hair back over her shoulder as she straightened her back. "I already told you, my parents were the gym leader before my sisters and I; really, I've always been a gym leader, I suppose..." Misty suggested, suddenly losing her appetite as she felt the conversation curve into uncharted territory between the two of them—suddenly, she missed the absent minded Ash who followed her tirelessly through this whole ordeal, never asking questions; but, as she looked into the determined brown eyes before her, she supposed those times were gone.

"But, Mist." he paused, eyes narrowing at the use of her nickname she so barely recalled. "...You don't like it."

"What ever gave you that idea?" She snapped instantly partially insulted, and his back straightened.

"Well..." His face turned red, and he gnawed on his lip. "Its just that... Well, you know, 'Gym Leader Misty' and 'Misty' are two different people. You complain about the gym a lot and..." He stammered, rubbing his neck half-way through, having lost his nerve upon seeing Misty's hostile reaction.

"I love being a gym leader." She argued, though the venom in her voice carried enough that Ash looked into her sea-green pools once more. "...I _loved_ being a gym leader..." She corrected morbidly, tearing her eyes away from Ash's while rubbing her temple. She didn't want to talk about this.

Invigorated by her weak reply, Ash inhaled bravely. "So what's changed?"

"Giovanni soiled our good name... People think we're all cheats... Plus, it's a job—money...and secondly I.. uh..." She looked at Ash and her nose scrunched up. "I want to become an Elite-Four member." She said hesitantly, watching the light enter Ash's eyes as if her knowledge of the subject made so much sense now; basking on his quick reply.

"But you said they were all corrupt!" He suggested quickly, squeezing his hands into fists. Misty's mouth drew into a line as she swiped a stray hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, I know; that's why I applied." She said calmly. "You were asleep for most of it, but before Giovanni was captured and Team Rocket was put away, things were growing hostile between everyone who trained pokemon differently, not just coordinators and battlers. That girl, Dawn, she was... a very loud advocate for coordinator equal rights, and led a few..." She coughed to clear her throat and then looked at Ash, fidgeting her fingers in her baggy jeans. "What she did doesn't matter—what matters is my application is still being processed; as a Gym Leader, I had one of the first acknowledgments to become an Elite Four member; but since Giovanni turned out to be the scum of the earth, the chief exects. and champions are re-thinking their process."

She paused, inhaling and crossing her arms. "the back ground check is extensive; that's why I'm a little crazy about the gym. I need the position; I don't dislike being a gym leader, it's just.. stressful right now." She clarified, glancing at the floor, really, anywhere besides Ash.

"You want to fix things from the inside?" Ash asked suddenly, blinking. Misty flushed at the comment; she hadn't thought of it that way.

"Sort of, I guess." She fidgeted, rubbing the back of her neck.

"So that's why you've stayed a gym leader for so long, even though you don't agree with everything?"  
"Well, gym leaders don't have much authority anymore, like I said before, we're just the scapegoats...but that's why I'm still a gym leader; and will probably always be a gym leader."

Carefully, his mouth tugged into a grin, eyes closing as he smiled wildly at her. "That's kind of heroic." he said amused and Misty pouted at him, eyes narrowing.

"I guess. But really, Agatha shouldn't have stepped down as an Elite Four member when she did and we might not have so many friggin problems." Misty mused, dodging the subject from venturing further into her private life. Ash grinned at the mention of the old woman; a small twinkle forming in his eyes.

"If it's so important, why don't you go back?" He asked suddenly, shoulders lowering comfortably.

"Back to where?" She asked, caught up in her own thoughts.

He pointed at her. "To the gym."

"...well, I would, but _someone_ had to run away like a jerk." She hissed, pointing at him accusingly as he flinched away from her. He knew it was more than that, but he wasn't about to back down from the challenge.

"Me? Don't blame this on me, you _lied_ to me." He teased, but the effort was lost as she launched a pillow directly at his head, causing him to tumble backwards and over top of togepi.

"Find a new excuse!" She hissed, suddenly starving once again as she practically inhaled her sandwich. Ash winced at the sight—she could wolf one of those back when she wanted to. Eyes wide like saucers, he sat up with an intense glare in her direction as she sipped her water and then flipped to lay on her back. With a deep sigh she blinked slowly.

"...Are we okay?" She asked oddly and Ash blinked and raised his eyebrows.

"...I guess so." He said happily, "Just don't lie to me again... _please._ " He warned her and she gave a weak smile.

Glancing at him from the corner of her eye, she smiled. "I wouldn't count on it."

His heart pattered in his chest and he inhaled. "Because it was my decision you know..."

"...Yeah, yeah. I was wrong; is that what you want to hear?"

"...Well, I wouldn't object to marking it on the calender: the day Misty Waterflower admit to being wrong." and then another pillow flew at his head, leaving him snickering as he cradled them in his hands; they still smelled like her.

"We should nap, and then visit Brock. I'm tired." Misty whined, forcing her eyes closed as she turned away from him. Ash snickered.

"You can nap, I still need a shower." he gestured to his dirty clothes, but Misty didn't look up to see him, instead; she wrapped her forearm above her eyes, hiding them in the crook of her arm. Her chest rose and fell quickly with a sigh where Ash pursed his lips skeptically and scooped up his two pokemon companions as he marched over to her bed, and dropped them on top of her without holding back.

"ofp" She grunted, wheezing as the two pokemon growled at Ash as he tucked his hands onto the bunk above her bed and looked down at her.

"I should say sorry as well," He paused, glancing at pikachu who hissed, trying to untangle himself from the shrilling egg pokemon. "For exploding on you the way that I did, at the gym, in Viridian... you know... But... well, you've always stuck your neck out for me regardless, so instead I'll say thank you." He muttered, a level of calm that surprised even himself as he grinned once more. She blinked once, tucking her hand over her chest.

 _Ba-thump_. Her heart pounded in her chest as a faint blush crawled over her cheeks as she gazed up at his shadowed face from the position he was standing; the way his eye crinkled ever so gently when he smiled and the tug of his natural smile that came so easily. His tanned features only stained red from the winter wind and his hair matted to his neck from the rain; her breath escaped her.

"...You..." She stammered, which was strange for her—she rarely stammered. "You're welcome." She decided, trying to press herself further into the mattress, as if trying to hide from his gaze as he opened his eyes once more to watch her.

"And thanks for sharing... You don't have to be scared to talk to me, Mist. We're friends; right?" His voice, which seemed so much raspier and deeper than usual breathed fire into her veins, and once more, her heart gave a brief, electric pang.

"Right." She assured him, but mostly just wanted him to go away—fighting the urge to kick and punch at him. However, after his comments he seemed to turn away on his own; allowing her room to breath again now that his penetrating gaze was no longer on her own. She reached for, and then squeezed togepi protectively, as if it would offer her support where she needed it, while pikachu shared a snark, knowing gaze at the red head.

"Pika." He said briefly, its furry brows raised to question her reaction; but it fell on non-understanding ears as Ash gathered his bag to head into the washroom.

"I'll be out in a few, and then we'll go straight to the gym." He said while pikachu snarled a tease in Ash's direction which went right over the boy's head. He was such a lady killer, and he didn't even know it. Hopeless.

 **XoXs**

"Should I be worried? You know, since Brock was your supposed repressed sexuality and everything?" Misty joked, walking along the path with a purchased umbrella to protect them from the pouring rain. They shared the large umbrella, Misty wore Ash's spare light jacket, and their wet clothes were tucked into a plastic baggy attached to the front compartment of his green traveling bag; she had long since discarded her ruined purse and instead stuffed her belongings into Ash's front pocket, aside from her cellphone, which was nearly placed in her surprisingly spacious back pockets—she questioned why she never wore men pants before! They were amazing.

She glanced at his scowling face at her remark—not only that, she had plenty of time to recover from _whatever_ that weird sensation was. This was only Ash; after all.

Ash didn't think so. The way she rolled his pants up to her middle calf, the way they sagged off to the left side of her hip and how his shirt. _His shirt_ fell off her right shoulder made his skin heat up for unknown reasons. When he had offered his spare jacket to her; he had done it only to keep her attire in check, and less because he thought it was cold—in fact, even in the rain soaked weather, he felt like he would over heat. Face bright red, he exhaled at her comment.

"He was not! Sebastian had no idea what he was talking about." Ash mused defensively shifting the umbrella over their heads and almost causing the splotches of rain to fall on Misty's shoulder, she shrunk closer to him, growling at his antics.

"Dr. Abby was the one who mentioned it to me. I had no idea Sebastian said such things." She joked as they turned the corner of the street; hearing a sigh from togepi, who opted to walk alongside the plump pikachu as they made their way to the gym.

They could see it in the distance, just at the end of the street; the bold lettering "PEWTER GYM" screaming at them from the tops of the building and Ash's breath sunk in his chest.

"It doesn't matter because it's not true." Ash denied, looking away from the redhead. Misty hummed quietly as she shook her head. The rest of the short walk was met with silence as they pressed forward, walking past the large boulders for which the gym got its name, and into the inner garden—or inner dirt area that lead into a stony path to the tall metallic doors.

"So what if he doesn't remember?" Misty snapped suddenly, inhaling as Ash reached to tug open the door.

"...We will deal with that when we get there." Ash mused quickly, throwing open the door with a loud screech following the rusty metal sidings.

Inside was darkness, the smell of dust that reflected the smell of a desert. The sound of the screeching door echoed loudly though the empty auditorium, and Misty had half the mind to suggest that the place was empty—Ash knew better however; remembering this from his _dreams_. A grin played on his lips as he looked forward, dropping the umbrella quickly enough that Misty glanced at him and paused as pikachu and togepi waddled into the gym, closing their personal umbrellas.

"Maybe he's g-"Misty started, but was silenced when Ash shook his head, and a powerful booming voice echoed from the far end of the gym.

"Who enters the Pewter City gym?" Lights flashed on, the blazing intensity of the white light in the dark room forced the entering travelers to flinch slightly, covering their eyes with their hands. Gasping, misty rubbed her burning eyes and winced.

"And people complain about _my_ introduction." She muttered under her breath, noticing his dramatic flare; Ash didn't seem to mind as he raised his hand.

"I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, and my companion is here to battle you!" He shouted confidently with such zeal, Misty nearly choked.

"What?!" She screeched throwing up her arms when Ash glanced sideways at her with a knowing and confident grin.

 **Author's Note:**

 **_edit_** _3.25.2016_ Against my better judgment, I broke this chapter into two; originally, all of Brock's meeting was in this chapter; but after writing it, I decided to put that all into the next chapter so I could explore it more in detail without worries of making a gruesomely long chapter. Mostly because I wanted an entire chapter to be focused primarily on interactions with Brock; that being said...Next chapter should be up within the next 2-3 hours (or tomorrow morning, (So like ten hours) depends on how tired I am to edit). Instead, you guys get a little foreshadowing about the state of the coordinators and stuff.

Oh boy guys, I am so, so sorry (again) For the late update! On top of my computer crashing, I had a midterms week from hell and I've only now recovered! We're on a short break because of Easter now though, so I have the time to get my writings caught up once again! Hopefully I will be right back on that 1-3 day update schedule I was following previously. :D

As always, thank you for all the support you guys have shown me for this story. I really appreciate it; sorry for the brief hiatus -tears- getting back into the groove of writing, especially after losing all of my previously written chapters is a challenge; I'm a bit rusty. Bleh.

Do you guys like longer chapters or shorter chapters? Just a question.

Enjoy!

NINT


	19. Chapter 19: Pewter City Battle

**Locked Away, Chapter 19**

Why was she surprised? Misty should have been used to this behavior by now! Gawking at the dark haired trainer beside her, who looked smuggly at Brock with his fist raised high into the air; she silently squeezed the bridge of her nose and let out a long, elaborate sigh. She would have growled save for being in the presence of another gym leader. She had to collect herself, pulling and cursing underneath her breath as she did.

"I can't battle Brock." Misty hissed quietly to Ash as he crossed his arms.

"Why, are you scared?" He whispered with eyebrows raised, obviously missing Misty's clear signs of frustration.

"No, I _can't_ battle him, Ash it's against league-" She said, but Brock cut in before she could elaborate; having heard nothing of her evasive nature.

"Then step forward!" He boomed, the echo of the gym accenting his bold voice. Brock rose to his feet, walking from his perch at the end of the gym toward the platform of the rock stadium when Misty threw up her arms in distraught.

"Hey gym leader Brock!" Misty yelped as the lights came on, causing her to wince at the sudden electricity and bright lights. Ash covered his own eyes as they adjusted quickly to the surroundings; the gym was mostly the same as he remembered it from his dream—unlike Misty's which was larger, expanded in every direction and equip with several new kinds of pokemon tech, Brock's gym was a standard dirt stadium with white stripes to indicate the battle area. The only difference rest against the far wall where bleachers used to sit; a large television screen danced beside them and the moment Brock walked into the trainer square, his name and face appeared on the screen.

Ash's mouth fell agape, a score board; such a high tech one at that! When he was a kid battles were monitored solely by defeat—he wondered for a swift moment why Misty hadn't installed such technology, but was pulled out of his thoughts by her worried voice.

"It's me, Misty; the Cerulean city gym Leader." She said quickly, stammering as she pressed her hand against her chest. Watching as Brock's eyebrows raised, automatically, Ash saw Brock's face soften from one of a determined gym leader to that familiar, almost motherly look as he gazed upon the redhead.

"My friend here is just confused about the rules, is all." Misty added quickly.

Suddenly, the spark that Ash had missed so often the last few months ignited in Brock's eyes as he made leaps and bounds to meet them at the door, throwing in a twirl that made Misty face palm and Ash scratch at his cheek. The indication of battle on the screen beside the stadium darkened once again as Brock twirled before Misty.

"Ahh, the fourth sensational sister, it's been months!" Brock cooed cheerfully, falling to a single knee and taking her pale hand; an action that made Ash's hairs stand on end as he stomped his own foot to indicate his presence which was quietly ignored.

"What have I done to be graced by your dominant presence?" Brock managed, wagging his eyebrow at her with an alarmingly charmed smile. Ash nearly choked. Was Brock hitting on Misty? In what world was this ever okay!? Misty's own face reflected this same disgust as she tried to rip her hand away, but Brock's surprisingly soft hands held her firm as he gazed to her green orbs.

"I'm not a very good swimmer—but I've heard you have exceptional life-guard experience!" Brock gushed, his lips puckering toward the redhead.

"he-hey!" Ash managed finally, though it fell on silent ears as he watched the familiar twitch form in Misty's eye—one that he thought was long lost in this world.

Brock's hand massaged her's, daring to work up her arm but was stopped by Misty, whose intent to kill rose from null to one thousand in a split second. Her mouth twitched. There _it_ was; the demon of the Cerulean City gym he knew so well from his fake childhood; those glowing green eyes shut as she snapped her hand away, and very swiftly upper cut Brock with a flick of her wrist, sending him backwards, holding his chin.

"PERVERT!" She bellowed, a vein popping on her forehead as Ash reeled backwards, cowering behind pikachu, who cowered behind an oblivious togepi—like pokemon, like trainer.

Watching Brock flop on the ground a few feet away, comically in more pain than he truly was, Ash winced.

"...Nice left hook." Then her sharp gaze fell on him and he held up pikachu as a mercy plea.

 **XoXs**

They were seated in the kitchen section of the gym, which was designed with wooden floors and wooden panel walls. Brock busied himself by making snacks while Ash and Misty were seated indian style on pillows. Ash rubbed his sore arm, which Misty had ferociously smacked moments before apologizes were passed between the group and Brock led them away to ice his chin—thus inviting them to sit with him. She was fuming in her seat; though Ash wasn't surprised. Never in his life had he imagined the day Brock Harrison would hit on _Misty_.

Already, he started to doubt that Brock remembered anything; but he still had his hopes up—he did generously invite them in, even after such a display of violence on account of Misty. Ash swallowed hard, looking anywhere but at _her._ Maybe Brock was just pulling his leg? Brock always did have a keen sense of humor.

 _It isn't every day another gym leader_ _stops by!_ Brock had said to them while he adjusted his sore jaw as if getting hit was a natural occurrence in his life. This action, rather, acceptance from Brock was only a layer of frosting on Ash's cake of memories. Pikachu seemed rather pleased himself; being treated with sugar cubes which Ash had to fight away from his small paws—but one demonic mutter from Misty ended pikachu's playful banter and it was now seated with beads of sweat trailing down its neck beside Ash, who felt the same.

 _"No._ " was all she had said, and the infliction of her venomous tone was enough to make Ash, pikachu, and togepi sit quietly and await their dark friend's return in utter silence.

Well, at least until Ash couldn't take it anymore.

"...How was I supposed to know you couldn't battle other gym leaders?" he manged quietly, barely audible.

"I thought you would assume!" She snapped automatically, still rubbing her fingers that Brock had been caressed-borderline molested-against her jeans. Ash grimaced at the view; not understanding why it was such a big deal—she was clearly over reacting. After Ash's mistake, Misty fully explained that other gym leaders were not supposed to battle one another in order to save themselves from arguing who the strongest trainer was—it only caused turf wars, so the league created rules to prevent said action.

"It's not that big of a deal, is it? You sucker punched him—shouldn't that have alleviated some stress? You're lucky he didn't call the cops, or something." Ash scolded her, but she glowered at him slowly, before her face fell and she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I guess." She paused. "I just don't like it."

"Like what?" Ash asked, pressing for any conversation to ease his own blistering nerves.

"Being hit on like that—He has _never_ acted like that at any league parties; that's why I thought _you_ were _crazy_." She grumbled, finally settling her hand down on the table; Ash watched her hands carefully and his fingers twitched. If Brock's germs were so nasty, couldn't Ash have shared _his_ to make them go away? He thought better of it as he tucked his hands beneath him to prevent any unnecessary gestures.

To draw his attention away from Misty; he smacked his lips and nudged her with his injured shoulder.

"You didn't have to _hit on_ me so hard." he gestured jokingly to his upper arm, which wasn't likely to bruise, but he would fish for any brownie points that he could muster from the redhead, though, Misty seemed careless as she slumped her shoulders.

She glanced at Ash, a small, fabricated blush flushed over her cheeks and she pursed her lips, displeased with his reaction. Brock was a pervert—just like Ash described him when they spoke about Brock in the hospital. The professionalism he carried with himself at the league parties ended in so few seconds that she wasn't entirely sure what to think. Sure, she and Brock were far from friends, but they were acquaintances at the _very least,_ and she would have never suspected the professional man to ever act so...

She groaned inwardly, _revolting._

"Sorry, I got carried away." She admit smoothly, balling her fists. Ash pat her on the shoulder. A nervous pikachu chimed in; to which Ash nodded, and slapped the disheartened redhead on the back.

"Pikachu is right, maybe his being a pervert is a good thing! He's more like my dream than I could have imagined!" Ash suggested, but Misty wasn't hearing it; instead, she cupped her cheeks with her hands, slid her elbows onto the table before her, and narrowed her eyes.

"I worry about you." She slipped, an amused small smirk bordering her lips that forced Ash to purse his own mockingly.

"Someone has to." Ash chuckled with a broadening grin and eye contact that lasted few-too-minutes as Brock rounded the corner, holding three mugs and a pot of brewed tea.

As opposed to his typical facade, the gym leader had on dark brown pants that accented his long legs—he stood at least 6'4, and that wasn't including the spikes of his dark brown hair. He wore a plain, green long sleeved T-shirt with a V-neck collar, bordered with black trimming over what the travelers could only assume was a well-toned chest. His face was slightly hidden behind shaggy bangs, but the omnipresent smile, and slanted eyes were a familiar feature to both trainers for different reasons: Brock looked nothing like Ash remembered him—older, taller, _much_ taller than Ash was, but he still radiated the same beaming personality. For Misty, the familiarity died right after his looks—the Brock preparing tea, and spouting a pink apron, was nothing like the gym leader she had come to know at their league gatherings. She almost stuck her nose at him. He set the tea down quickly, and smiled broadly.

Awestruck, both visitors stammered for the proper words.

"Sorry about your chin." Misty gestured to her own with a wince while Brock poured three glasses and set down a tray of water for the pokemon.

"I can't say I haven't been struck before." Brock mused playfully, striking a powerful grin that made Ash inwardly roll his eyes; he _knew_ that look. Even though dream-Ash had been too oblivious to acknowledge Brock's flirtatious nature, this world's Ash was grossly uncomfortable around it—especially when it was directed at Misty. Ash fidgeted and Misty's lips flat lined from frustration.

"So, Ash, was it?" Brock asked, scooting the steaming tea in Ash's direction—void of asking if the raven-haired man even liked the bitter substance.

Truthfully, he did not, but wanting to be polite, Ash took a very calm sip. His taste buds recoiled as he fought the urge to gag as the bitterness washed down his throat. This had not gone unnoticed by Misty, who raised her eyebrows sipping her own tea nonchalant—accustomed to black coffee, tea was nothing in comparison.

Ash bit back on a cough; "Yeah, I'm _Ash._ " Watching Brock carefully, he placed careful emphasis on his name, but watched nothing in the older trainers eyes spark—he looked as carefree as ever. Ash grimaced inwardly.

"Well it's nice to meet you." Brock paused, and raised his eyebrows. "Though I have to ask why you came to visit me?"  
Ash's lips sucked inward at his astute question, luckily, Misty swooped in to save him.

"We just came back from visiting some friends in Viridian City; he wanted to check out the gym—you know, see the different leaders."

"Ahh—so he is a student of yours." Brock said calmly, re-directing his gaze to Misty, now purely made up of professionalism. "Though, don't students usually travel on their own?" He asked, nodding in her direction. Ash was sure he could see the small curl of Brock's lips.

Pursing her lips, Misty glanced at Ash who had been watching her. "He got into some trouble; I bailed him out." She answered vaguely, though it had sparked Brock's attention.

He was grinning when silence enveloped the trio, Ash and Misty spared a glance at one another; his creepy gaze stinging them both unpleasantly. Brock didn't miss a beat.

"...Oh." he said glumly, then a small smile trickled over his features. "I didn't actually expect the rumors to be true." Brock suggested, wagging an eyebrow at Ash who looked confused; trying to keep his emotions at finally speaking to Brock again at bay.

"What rumors?" Misty questioned, keeping Brock's attention on her once more. Ash watched the two of them—his two best friends in the world nothing more than strangers; his shoulders slumped. Brock certainly didn't show any reminiscence of Ash.

"About why you missed the last league gathering, of course." He pressed and then nodded gently, tucking his tea mug toward the center of the table, Misty took a sip of her drink while Ash pursed his lips curiously.

A mischievous gleam formed in Brock's eyes. "Though I never thought the tomboyish mermaid with _your_ reputation would ever _date_ your own student."  
It wasn't graceful the way Misty spit her tea from her mouth; coating the man before her in a film of mist. Brock was stunned by her reaction, her eyes bugged out and her lips twitched. Ash hadn't even had time to fall over in reaction as he was drawn to Brock's pained expression as he wiped his face off with the dry part of his forearm.

For a moment, no one spoke.

"...Oh..." Misty muttered, her face turning red instantly as she came to realize what he insinuated between the two of them and her reaction to such.

"I am so, so, so sorry. You just took me by surprise." She gestured frantically towards him, flipping her arms forward to try to wipe off the tea she had sprayed all over the gym leader with a napkin. With Misty's sudden jolt, she rattled the table, lifting its edges which caused the pot of tea to roll over. Spilling near-boiling liquid down the side of the table and directly on course to Brock's lap as Ash danced away, rolling with the pokemon to avoid the back splash.

"Misty watch out!" Ash tried to warn her, but the deed has already been done.

A nervous, red faced, embarrassed Misty watched from only a few inches away from Brock's face as he let out a terrifying yowl and dashed from the dining area and into the kitchen for some cold water in a matter of seconds—leaving a surprised Ash and a red Misty standing over the tipped table. In her panic, she had managed to scald the gym leader, and as a result, pinched her eyebrows together painfully.

"Do I hear a fourth?" Ash asked sarcastically from his position on the ground, safely a good foot away from the puddle of boiling liquid that seeped into the wooden floors as they listened to Brock yelp and the sound of running water.

"You've punched him, spit on him, and now you've burned him: what's next? Maybe we should bail before he really does call the cops or something? Try again later..." Ash said worriedly and sat up before his eyes fell back on his companion who had finally taken to letting her red face fall into her palms and shoulders droop.

"Shut up." She grunted, though Ash couldn't hear her, as her hands muffled her words. After, she breathlessly pinched the bridge of her nose.

"...what?" Ash asked, sitting up to stare directly at her. Still red in the face—which he assumed was from anger—she spun on her heels at him.

"Shut up!" She yelped in correction, and then with a spin; she trudged out of the dining room and back into the gymnasium; slamming the door behind her. She needed to clear her head.

Gawking, Ash was left alone in the dining room with pikachu and togepi who were left as awestruck as he had been—never had he seen her react so...horribly. What even caused that? He didn't have time to recall as he heard the water in the kitchen shut off, so he shifted to begin cleaning up the steaming mess with the help of pikachu who provided a dry cloth that hung from the wall.

"pi..." The small mouse mused sadly, and Ash sighed.

"I don't know." He whispered back as the door opened once again; Misty returned after gathering her breath; her chest falling dramatically once she saw Ash cleaning up the mess that _she_ made. She moved to help him automatically, though neither spoke.

This was just her luck. The league was more likely to talk about her personal life than her battling life—thus the existence of being female and in the league. They couldn't talk about how she defeated a three man team with poliwrath alone? It had to be about a relationship with _Ash?_ She glanced at him—he was trying his best to limit his contact with her, worried that she would shout at him again. She fumbled with the rag and set the table upright once more; picking and placing the tea pot and mugs back on the small table.

 _A non-existent_ relationship with Ash, she corrected herself. Where did they even get that idea? They were only friends, after all; if anything, Misty had been his _care taker_. her heart pounded and a sweat formed over her brow as her eyes turned to watch Ash and pikachu fold the soaked rag into another dry one to avoid drips. Eye brows knit together, she exhaled; why did it bother her so much? It wasn't like Daisy didn't joke about it—oh _mew_ , Daisy joked about it. Suddenly, Misty's face went red again, and she slapped her forehead to reduce the heat with her forever frozen hands. Just what in the world was she thinking?

"What in the world were you thinking?" Ash suddenly hissed worriedly, wondering if they should go visit with Brock in the kitchen—to check on him. Misty twitched, his words echoing her thoughts terrified her and she snapped her attention at him.

"I...you..." She stammered and then shook her head vehemently to regain her senses. _Calm down!_ She told herself. "I was just taken aback is all. Don't worry about it...I'll... do something." She looked at the kitchen, and then went to pull Ash up by the upper arm, but then immediately retracted her hand upon making contact with his warm, muscular—had it almost been so?-upper arm.

"C'mon." She motioned to the kitchen, shaking the unprecedented thoughts from her head.

Unknown to her, Ash's thoughts were full of something else—the dormant race of whether or not Brock would be mad—and more importantly, whether or not he remembered. Thus far, it wasn't so—and unlike Misty—Brock and Ash had _no_ relationship at all, which meant that Ash was staring down one of his _best friends_ as a stranger.

...and it might have been more painful than the moment he realized this Misty was not his Misty.

Tiptoeing around the corner with Ash only inches away from her—his body heat too close for comfort—she eyed the tall man dusting off his pants with a dry cloth in the kitchen. Ash breathed behind her, eyebrows knitting.

"...Are you okay?" Ash called to Brock timidly, a small smile twitching over his lips. Brock's eyes turned to his guests, his eyes wild when he saw Misty and took a few comforting steps away from her—as if the length of the room was not long enough.

"Yeah, it didn't go all the way through my apron, so I'm not scalded." Brock gestured to the pink cloth which was stuffed into the sink.

Misty grimaced. "I'm so sorry."

"I never thought you were one to be so jumpy." Brock admit quickly, pulling out a chair and motioning them forward from the doorway. Ash went forward immediately, hiding his surprise of Brock's hospitality behind a worried smile, though Misty was reluctant to move forward herself.

"She gets like that sometimes." Ash frowned, no she didn't—not unless it was about pokemon. In fact, her nonchalant behavior _when someone suggested that_ they were _dating_ was usually on the cold side of responses; or a simple melancholy shrug. _About_ that _._ Ash's frown deepened.

"But never about that." He echoed his thoughts, pointing accusingly at her. Brock followed his gaze amusingly; having caught a glimpse of their relationship—he grinned, resting his chin over his intertwined fingers.

Misty's face flushed, but she swallowed it down. "I was just alarmed that people are focused more on my _personal_ affairs than my battling." She lied easily, feeling on _a little_ guilty at the notion. She slipped into the chair beside Ash who shrugged his shoulders. Willing to accept that as her answer without a doubt.

Brock, however, pursed his lips.

"But shouldn't you have led with that?" Brock asked, gesturing to his damp shirt. "You know, before you sprayed me? You could have asked what else the rumors where." Brock mused with a sudden grin, enjoying the twist of Misty's lips as she grew more uncomfortable. Luckily for the both of them, Ash was slow to pick up and found himself helping pikachu to the table.

Misty almost spat at him, but instead, she crossed her arms defensively. "I was just taken aback that you would lead a conversation with that... You're usually so," She paused looking directly at him. "reserved." She decided was the best description. Ash looked at Brock who rolled his shoulders.

"I suppose that I am..." He muttered with a shrug that tore the tension away from the table. "Now, before I get physically maimed again, why did you two come to visit?"

Once again, Ash and Misty shared a look: Clearly, this Brock didn't know anything—or else this entire conversation would have gone smoother. Though, Ash still hoped that he had such wonderful patience because he recognized Ash at _some level_. Ash's mouth flat lined as Misty steeled herself to look at Brock once more.

"I wanted to know if you knew Ash from anywhere?" Misty asked suddenly, watching Brock's curious expression turn to Ash.

Ash's breath stilled in his throat, awaiting Brock's reply.

"He's the coma patient from Viridian City some ten years ago? Ash Ketchum. You made quite a few headlines back in the day." Brock nodded, thinking of the 'better' days; when the world wasn't quite so murky and they were all still young. Ash inhaled.

"That's it?" he blurted out, and Misty's eyebrows knit together pathetically.

"Yeah, that's it." Brock admit, grinning slightly due to embarrassment of the question. "Should I know you from somewhere?"

Ash's features fanned out and he slumped his shoulders. So, people didn't remember. Did that make pikachu a special case? Maybe only pokemon remembered? But if that was the case, he needed to find another of his pokemon—and where would he even start?

"So you've never had someone beat you by turning on the sprinkler system?" Ash asked, eyebrows raised. Pikachu's ears finally twitched, being motioned by it's trainer to join him. Togepi rest forgotten in the background, watching Misty pathetically as the redhead raised her eyebrows.

"With the sprinkler system...?" Brock asked, eyes going wide and eyebrows rising—as if he had never thought of such a thing happening before. "...er... No. That's never happened." Brock said while scratching his neck. Ash inhaled and he turned at Misty, and then back at Brock.

"Can I battle you?" He suggested and Misty gawked.

"You're not allowed, Ash!" She hissed, knowing well that his temporary license did _not_ cover battling gyms. Brock seemed flabbergasted at such a request and tilted his head.

"Do you have your license?" Brock asked, scratching his chin—completely unsure of why Ash would challenge him in such a way.

"I don't. But I would just like the practice—I can't pay you or anything... but... an unofficial match? Please?"

Misty growled beside him, but after watching his determined eyes watch Brock, followed by pikachu perking up beside him and togepi stepping towards the seated trainer's chair, her face softened.

"Just one match?" He asked, borderline _pleaded_ Brock; who seemed shocked at such a request—accepting could have his license removed if he was caught—allowing a trainer with no league business battling a gym.

...it would be like it was ten years ago, when such a case was not jail-worthy. His heart pattered, watching Ash's determined brown eyes, and before he understood it himself; Brock found himself nodding his agreement.

"Alright. I accept your challenge."

"Really?" Misty chimed, blinking wildly. "Just like that?" She added while Ash threw his chair backwards and pumped up his fist.

"Thank you!" he cried as Brock chuckled. Never had he seem someone want to battle him as much as Ash did—he hadn't seen such an excitement to battle in _years_ of being a gym leader.

"I'll meet you in the gym. I will go and change my clothes quickly." Brock suggested, standing up slowly and with much less enthusiasm than Ash who smiled happily.

As Brock moved to exit the kitchen and travel to the living portion of the Pewter City gym, Misty finally turned to look at Ash once Brock's figure was hidden behind the wooden door, and her face contorted into something of worry.

"I could get fired for this—you could get banned from ever holding a license." She warned him with a pout.

"Who's going to tell on me?" He asked suddenly, looking down at her with such confidence her skin burned. "You?" He grinned and she rolled her eyes.

"I'm just saying is all..." She muttered pathetically while she scoot out of her chair to look at him. He gathered pikachu and togepi—his only two pokemon and she sympathetically watched him.

 _You're going to get slaughtered._ She thought, but thought better than to voice her concern. "You should borrow some of my pokemon. Rock pokemon are weak to water pokemon." She suggested calmly, and found his charming grin alarming.

"You know, you said something along those lines in my dream world, too? Almost the exact same." He grinned at her, and she couldn't stop the flush of her cheeks—but chose to ignore it.

She snorted instead, "Did you blindly challenge a gym leader you weren't prepare for there, too?"

"All the time." He assured her as they entered the gymnasium from the side door; Misty pursed her lips thoughtfully.

"And how many of those battles did you win?" She asked, eyebrows raised—amazed that _this_ had never come up before. However, after being told that his dreams meant nothing by Dr. Abby, he seemed to stop talking about them as frequently; or at all. Only after discovering pikachu again did he begin to voice his wonderland again.

Surprisingly, he turned at her with such a confident smile her heart skipped; "All of them."

"No way!" Misty hissed automatically, unable to believe that he defeated _her_ by luck alone. "No way you could have beaten me."  
"Well, I didn't." Ash laughed, scratching the back of his neck as they walked toward the opponents box. "Your sisters sort of just gave the badge to me after I defeated Team Rocket."

"Defeated Team Rocket?" Misty echoed, " _gave_ you the badge?" She added, slightly more alarmed.

Ash laughed, a haughty laugh that she grumbled at: "It's a long story. There never went a day when Team Rocket wouldn't try some strange antic to steal pikachu, right buddy?" He gestured to the small pokemon who poked up it's right paw in support.

"Pika!" it cheered, and Misty shook her head, feet scuffing along the dirt of the gym floor.

"That's..."

"I know it's silly." Ash said, and then silenced her with his next comment. "But maybe if I battle him—he will remember _something_." he admit to her, and finally understanding his meaning, her face softened and she sighed at his hopeless case.

"Maybe you _can't_ remember because we met in person before it happened... but maybe Brock is..." Ash mumbled, glancing at the floor. "He's so much more than a gym leader, Mist." He added and then offered a smile at her right as Bock entered through the same side door they had only moments ago.

Both watched him from the corners of their eyes as she circled the gym, wearing black jeans and a burnt-orange T-shirt under a green vest. Ash inhaled; the familiar outfit crashing into his brain like a tidal wave.

Now the real battle would begin.

 **XOXs**

"Since this is not an official match, and from the looks of it you only have two pokemon—this battle will only consist of a two on two match." Brock motioned, taking his place on the platform opposite of Ash.

Once both trainers were in position, the large screen beside the stadium kicked on. Brock's name was once again illuminated on the screen while Ash's remained empty—possibly because he had no viable license for the computer's network to connect to. Ash inhaled sharp as Misty slowly took a seat at the bench level with the stadium.

He put her out of her mind, as he had the moment he laid eyes on Brock. Right now, he focused on the gym leader, hoping that _some_ memories still existed for the two of them; they had traveled through three regions together in Ash's dream world—to just believe that was _nothing_ to Brock; that everything was made up by Ash was...

Ash inhaled, before the start of the match, knelt before his two pokemon. Togepi was frightened, as it should be; but pikachu looked as determined as always, grinning behind pointed teeth.

"I know we're not ready for this." Ash admit quietly while Brock crossed his arms across the ways. "But we still need to give this our best shot; alright? Maybe if we do well enough—if we try hard enough, he will remember _something_."

"Pika!" The yellow mouse echoed his confidence in his trainer—even if it had technically been ten years since they trained together; togepi, though its time with Ash was much shorter, also nodded—the baby pokemon's bravery elated Ash as he stroked both pokemon's scalps.

"Thank you guys. Now let's give him a run for his money—even if we have the disadvantage?" Ash grinned, watching the fear leave togepi's eyes as it gestured forward—volunteering.

"You're using togepi?!" Misty hissed from the side lines like a worried parent, Ash waved her off with a smug grin—wiping his nose with his index finger in an over confident way as togepi waddled confidently away from Ash. Even Brock seemed against the idea.

"Is that a baby pokemon?" Brock asked, unfamiliar with the egg pokemon which seemed to confidently stare him down.

"He isn't a baby! He can do this!" Ash said positively, pumping up togepi's battle spirit as it spared a glance at Misty who fidgeted. She didn't like this _at all._ Baby pokemon were supposed to be cuddled and held—not battled against pokemon; _rock_ pokemon, at that! The term _scrambled egg_ never resonated through her mind more in her life. Ash was already at a type disadvantage; now he was throwing an _egg_ at a rock.

 _Oh boy; this couldn't get wors_ e. She thought while hiding her face behind her hands. Brock, through not approving of Ash's methods watched the small, brave pokemon with concerned eyes.

"Alright..." Brock muttered confused. "Then I choose Geodude!" He called forth the rock pokemon, its tough fists poking out the side of its round body as the pokeball bounced back into Brock's hand; on the screen beside them, Geodude's health bar of sorts appeared on the screen and Ash watched it amusingly.

 _That's new._ He thought, but then turned his attention back to the battle. He had worked with togepi for over a month at the Cerulean City gym; togepi could do this. Stilling his breath in his chest, he grinned once more.

Brock didn't hesitate, though he wanted to. "Geodude, use tackle!" He yelled, causing Ash to raise his own fist.

"Togepi, dodge it!"

"It can't move that fast!" Misty whined, covering her eyes with her fingers, waiting to see the egg turn into a _scrambled_ egg—but at Ash's own confidence in the pokemon, and because of its own practice over the last month, the egg side stepped away from the tackle moments before geodude went rushing beside it.

"Great job!" Ash cried, "Now use growl!" Ash called, though Brock rubbed the back of his neck—Geodude followed suit; it wasn't very effective as an attack, but it _was_ very effective in confusing the pokemon; togepi was such an innocent pokemon—even its threats were _cute_.

For a single moment, geodude looked worriedly at his trainer, as if asking "are you serious" to Brock, who could only shrug and throw out another command.

"Geodude, use rollout!"

"Togepi don't get hit by that! Jump into the air like we practiced!" Practiced, in reference to when Ash would teach togepi to jump onto his shoulder; and as such, the pokemon was able to jump over the torpedo like rock pokemon flying at him—Ash jumped gleefully as geodude rolled away in a furious spin towards one of the large rocks on the stadium floor; much to Brock's surprise.

"So you can dodge! That's impressive—but you won't get anywhere unless you can deal damage!" he shouted, throwing up his hand for another command and geodude came flying at togepi once again. He was pumped up for some reason; a huge grin drawing across his face.

Confidently, watching as geodude _once again_ simply charged blindly at togepi, Ash grinned: "Counter it with charm!"  
"No, dodge it!" Misty screamed, not wanting to see the pokemon get hit even once; but had to cover her mouth in return. Her out cry confused the egg, and togepi's short glance at Misty cost it its opportunity to counter; and was instead met with a direct hit from geodude.

"Misty!" Ash shrieked painfully, watching togepi fly backwards and roll nearly out of bounds of the stadium. He disregarded her intrusion quickly, he would talk with her later—right now he needed to focus on the egg. In the center of the stadium geodude put up its arms, to which Brock shook his head slightly.

"Togepi are you okay?!" Ash yelled to the pokemon, expecting to see a shattered shell once the dust cleared—but when it did, the pokemon rose to its feet bravely; a small crack started at the center, chipping the front of its shell, but other than that, it was mostly bruised. Misty's heart pounded, unable to watch the battle—she covered her face once more.

"Call him ba-" Misty tried to argue, but Ash put his foot down before she could finish.

"Would you stay out of this!?" he yelled, inciting a rather amused chuckle from Brock. Seeing Misty, who was known to be cold to her peers whine over a pokemon was almost... heart warming.

"Now calm down you two..." Brock interfered, "This is his battle, _Misty_ , let him battle." Brock scolded his fellow gym leader who felt anxious in her own skin watching togepi.

Last time togepi took a hit—from an oddish, no less-it cried; but looking at it now; it stood with strength and determination; she never would have thought only a few days ago, this same pokemon cowered in fear. She tucked her hands into her pockets, and she swallowed hard.

"Pi-pika chu!" Ash's long time companion cheered for the egg with such vigor that Ash balled his fists.

"Don't give up;" Ash tried quickly, though Brock effectively cut his cheers off.

"You, too geodude, finish it off with rock throw!"

"Togepi!" Ash cried to the pokemon that looked up to him with worried eyes, tears dared to peak out of its black orbs; the pain was excruciating. It didn't look at the on coming rock pokemon, or even at Ash- in fact, it looked past Ash, to the redhead sitting on the bench with her eyes covered and its small, pale cheeks inflated as the small nub arms ticked back and forth at the oncoming launch of rocks strewn in its direction.

"C'mon togepi!" Ash cried in the background, though his voice was drowned out as a white light ignited through the area, followed by a huge gust of wind that threw the rocks in every direction of the stadium as if they had been reflected by a tornado. Gust had been activated by togepi. Standing amazed at his side of the gym, Brock was only half as surprised as Ash; who cheered. The wind whipping on his face was refreshing; and invigorating! He had never battled outside of the gym; and feeling the adrenaline rush he was was unlike anything he had felt before.

"Hell _yes!_ " Ash growled, kicking up his feet in excitement, followed by pikachu who twirled and togepi who glared at geodude. "You used metronome, togepi!" Ash yelled gleefully, inching forward as Brock nodded his approval.

"That was nice—but it wont win you the match..." Brock said flatly, feeling his palms sweat from excitement, geodude pumped its fists up. "Metronome is a gamble! You got lucky!"

"Maybe a little bit of luck is all that I needed!" Ash said and then pointed forward, glancing over his shoulder. "Are you watching this Misty? Don't doubt togepi anymore!" Ash growled quickly before setting his sights back on geodude.

From her seat, Misty exhaled; watching the baby pokemon which she had taken to pampering over the last month rather than training and her heart twisted in her chest. She hunched forward; aching to protect the egg—and yet also trying to find it in herself to have the same overbearing confidence that Ash had. Her eyes fell on him a moment later; the way his shoulders stood stout, and pikachu, which was typically gorging itself on food and lazily mocking the two of them, even stood prepared and on edge. Even Brock, who she had known to be the calmest gym leader in Kanto, a gym leader not by choice-a wise guru of sorts-seemed worked up, and enjoying being challenged by a _baby_ pokemon; from an unlicensed pokemon trainer.

Simply put, Ash had a way about him that made it _so damn hard_ lose faith. Misty cupped her lips with her hands. That's right. She had to trust him; just a little bit.

"Kick some ass!" She cheered in support, trying to bury her worry—her words of encouragement seemed to have an effect on the egg though; its resolve standing a bit firmer as it prepared to launch itself forward, even before Ash's command.

"Togepi, use charm!" Grinning, Ash yelled as the egg activated its move; unable to dodge the attack, geodude froze in place, followed by a gentle blush of its stony features which caused his pumped fists to lower slowly. The rock swayed both ways before pounding its fists on the ground, and shaking its entire body. Ash snapped his fingers.

There was no way he was going to win using growl and _charm_ they would only confuse the pokemon at best, and that did not include the fact that togepi _should not_ take another hit. He looked carefully at the pokemon which bounced on its own accord to prepare for geodude's next attack. It's shell was chipped. _Chipped_. He had seen togepi take damage hundreds of times in his dreams and _never_ had it been _injured._ For a moment, he thought to end the battle—but as if reading his thoughts, the pokemon trembled and danced on. Ash grinned and shook his head.

He would ask togepi later why this match was so important; but for now...

"Geodude, use rollout once more!" an aggravated Brock called. Sure; he was naturally going easy on the young pokemon—Brock wasn't cruel, and Ash knew that; but there was also no reason a _baby_ pokemon should have stood even a slight chance against a seasoned pokemon like geodude—this was absurd! Ash threw up his fists as togepi waited a command. A fluke, if Brock got serious, Ash was in big trouble—so he needed to end the match before that.

"Use metronome!" Ash cried, and the pokemon did once more as geodude rushed forward; as the attack set to land, another light flashed; and seconds later, an ear-shattering, window breaking, smoke rising whistle blew through the air, followed by a white light, and both egg pokemon and rock pokemon flying in seperate directions. Ash covered his eyes, temporarily blinded by the resulting explosion, and then blinked the spots away.

Misty was on her feet, rushing past Ash and towards togepi who had landed against the far wall.

"Explosion." Brock echoed, whistling himself as he returned geodude to its pokeball; uttering a quick 'good job' before turning to Ash. "You must really have some luck after all." Ash rubbed the back of his neck shamefully as he watched Misty scoop the egg into her arms like a mother hen.

"I suppose so." Ash chuckled, but with great concern as he watched Misty carry togepi.  
"Are you alright, togepi?" Misty asked, eyebrows lowered. Brock paused for a moment.

"Does that pokemon have a ball yet?" Brock asked, watching as Misty brought the pokemon over to trainers box so that Ash could check on togepi himself, though, Misty wouldn't let him touch the pokemon. In her defense, he did just make the egg explode.

Weakly, it looked up at the two trainers.

"...brrrrriiii" it cooed an apology, but Ash smiled down at it and put his index finger forward to bump its nub arm.

"You did great for a first battle. Thank you." Ash mused; Brock's hands fell on his hips.

"I'm impressed! I really am! I haven't seen beginners luck like that..." He paused. "ever, actually!" Misty snapped her head at Brock who was laughing loudly and her eyelids lowered.

"You have no idea." She suggested, recalling Ash's mention that he won _all_ of his badges from luck, and then shared a very knowing glance at him.

"I'll take care of togepi, you finish the match." She pat him on the shoulder apathetically, mentally noting to talk with him after the match—had she not interfered, what kind of luck _would_ he have had other wise? She stared down at togepi which looked up at her with pleading eyes and she pressed her forehead against its'.

"You did a great job." She whispered as Ash nodded his approval for pikachu to take the stand.

Flabbergasted, Brock blinked several times. "You do know electrical attacks have no affect on rock pokemon, don't you?"  
"I'm aware!" Ash said with a cheeky grin; Brock found grinning back at Ash.

"Let's see how lucky you are against Onix!" As he spoke, he threw out the pokemon in question and Ash let out a breath. This was _just_ like his battle before—only he did not have pigeotto or butterfree. Only pikachu.

"Did you turn the sprinkler system off?" Ash joked, though Brock pointed up.

"You won't have time to set it off!" Brock chanted. "Use smack down!" Brock called to his giant pokemon; the assortment of large rocks moved quickly, _too_ quickly—it was a numbing feeling watching onix move forward with a blind rush that ended with pikachu squealing painfully beneath the weight of the large pokemon.

"That was fast!" Ash said, shaking his head; pikachu groaned, rolling out from the pokemon as onix reared back to smack the pokemon again. It stumbled backwards, _staggered_ backwards. Already, pikachu's pudgy body ached and it squealed painstaking.

"Pikachu, use quick attack!" but, given its current state of physical capability; it was instead launched once more, rolling like a ball to Ash's side. He knelt down to look at pikachu, which had swirls forming in its eyes already.

"C'mon, buddy! Don't give up yet." Ash said, but the mouse struggled forward, pressing its paws into the dirt. He heard Brock scoff from the other side of the stadium.

"See, it was just a one time thing." Brock mentioned; thought not rudely...almost, disappointingly?

Ash's tempered gaze feel on Brock "I don't think so." Ash mused and then stood up confident.

"Pikachu, jump up and use thunder!" Ash yelled, pointing toward the ceiling for emphasis—he moved a lot during his matches, Misty thought as she rocked the baby pokemon back and forth.

"Don't let him! Onix, use tackle!" The rock type pokemon pressed forward; its speed once again astounding to Ash, but given the order early; pikachu was able to bound over the rock pokemon and charge its attack. _Thunder_. It had used it once before in battle. In Ash's dream world, it was the attack pikachu knew best; it was his fall back—it was a devastating move that a _pikachu_ wasn't supposed to know.

Once the growl started, the electricity poured into the pokemon's cheeks—the present curl of his paws into his chest and the upturn of it's sharp teeth; Ash felt it. His entire body felt numb—the same way his body reacted during thunder storms. Ash was anxious, and his stomach did flips. Suddenly, he could hear nothing as pikachu let lose one loud, devastating hurl, igniting a spark along the entire stadium area that effectively shocked onix and activated the sprinkler system; as Ash had intended.

"Now you can't use electrical attacks! You'd electrocute yourself!" Brock screamed; though couldn't stop himself from standing amazed at the technique—rather, the creativity of the attack; would this technically be classified as street battling? Was this fit for a gym? The Rock trainer inhaled; as did Misty who was on her feet once again, yelling at Ash who seemed to wobble strangly.

Brock shook his head; appalled—but his words fall on deaf ears as Ash's own eyes went deafening wide when pikachu fell from its height, dripping wet from the rain that splashed over their bodies. It landed with dust rising from its feet—and without a proper counter attack from Ash, pikachu was coiled between Onix's body and Ash was left breathless; wrapped in his own memory of _that_ day.

Spearow had chased him out of route one's river; he peddled on Misty's bike violently trying to get away. Thunder roared above his head, rain pelted on every corner of his body, and his injured friend laid in the basket staring up at him with dopey brown eyes. He told himself he would save pikachu—that they would survive this. For a moment, he was ten again; living in that moment when electricity echoed through every fiber of his being, his core—his muscles, his nerves and his bones.

It did not hurt; it did not burn. No, electrocuting himself was numbing, he felt tingly all over. When his eyes cracked open—the sound of rustling above his head—the image of vibrant, golden yellow flying over his head followed by a colorful rainbow stared back at him. Ash's breath left his body, looking upon the blue sky so far ahead of him—the rainbows etched above his head. Though he wasn't there _now_ , he could see it; the rainbow covered bird that transcended his entire being moments before the image of a tear stained ten-year old redhead shook his body into consciousness.

"Stop the match!" Misty screamed while running at him. The two images crashed into one another; the sweaty ten-year old with dirt on her face mashing into an older woman with traces of make-up and an intense worry. Waving her hand above his face, his eyes finally reconnected to the match, to the gym, to the onix which was squeezing pikachu to an inch of his life.

He was on his back and his head ached.

"Ash!" Misty called for him, slapping his face gently. She was holding him up right; no, she had caught him. Her arm was draped tightly around his shoulders and his head was somewhere near her lap. He could feel the sprinkler water still drenching him through his clothes when he exhaled.

"...rainbows." He muttered, looking up to see the colorful refraction of light that created a halo of colors over Misty's red hair before a sudden and abrupt darkness stilled his every movement.

 **XOXs**

"Does he usually pass out like that?" Brock's voice echoed in Ash's head. A weight rested on his head; what he could deduce was a warm damp cloth and inhaled deeply as Misty's sweet voice cracked the silence. _Sweet_ voice. He wondered when that became an observation.

"No, this is the first time since he woke up that this happened." She muttered; if she looked as pathetic as she sounded, Ash worried for a moment he might have actually really messed up. He could feel the pressure of her fingers glide down his face, and he fought the urge to stiffen his features at her touch. He wanted to appear asleep. Curious what they would say.

"You're sure? Because that was pretty strange." Brock said, sounding a bit worried himself—though he had no good reason, Ash figured, Brock didn't know him in this time line—not even a battle could bring him back. _Damn it_. Ash had hoped following the same pattern would stir some emotion.

"I'm sure. I think it had something to do with pikachu's thunder attack." Misty grimaced; he could hear it in the infliction of her voice—as well as the shifting of a body on his chest he hadn't realized was there before. Pikachu was heavy on his chest, and let out a whimper under his breath to repeat that he was sorry for using the attack and _causing this_.

"It wasn't your fault, pikachu." Misty assured the defeated pokemon as she stroked its back gently. Ash smiled inwardly at that; though Brock rolled his shoulders.

"And you're telling me I should know him?"

"Well," Misty paused. "You _shouldn't_ know him. But we thought that since you were in his world you might... remember some things."

"That's kind of, you know, crazy." Brock ushered, and Misty's sigh sounded like one with a shrug attached to it.

"It _is_ crazy." She turned to Brock, her voice weaved with concern. "But...scarily accurate."  
"And you know this...how?" His skeptical voice made Ash's heart heavy.

"He knew me before I opened my mouth to who I was." Misty suggested and Brock finally shrugged. "And his pikachu knows about everything, too." Misty added, as if that was enough of a reason.

"So you thought I might remember because I spent the most dream time with him?"  
"He thought if he battled you, you would remember something... I don't know." Misty spoke frustratedly, standing up beside Ash's bed. "Like I said, it's a really long story." She assured him, biting her thumb nail.

"And...in this dream, what role did I play?" Brock asked skeptically, but before Misty could answer—and she would have— _honestly._ A flustered Ash peeked opened his eyes weakly.

"Misty...?" he grumbled, cutting her off before she could reveal that Brock was his "Sexual frustration", that wasn't exactly an ice breaker he was wanting to explore at the moment.

"Oh thank god you're awake!" Misty mused, rushing back to his side and yanking him into a hug as he moved to sit up and roll pikachu into his lap. Beside him, at the crook of his neck, he hadn't noticed togepi was sleeping; wearing bandages on its head to account for the wounds it sustained in battle; as well as a gel over the crack in its shell. It hummed in its sleep.

"Ow, Misty. You're hurting me." He groaned, feeling her arms slack against his back before she wheeled backwards and glared at him.

"You, Ash Ketchum." She said dangerously, forgetting about Brock, and he gulped in response. "What the hell was that?"

Ash feigned innocence, "Was what?"

"You _fainted_." Misty groaned as Brock stepped beside the bed. Ash couldn't look at him though—slightly ashamed of his admittance that Brock, this _stranger_ was apart of his dream world. Why would Misty tell Brock? How long had Ash been out?

"I did? How?" Ash asked, scratching the back of his neck.

"I don't know. One second you were standing up, and then the next second you were lying on your back. We ended the match there. Brock was kind enough to lend you his couch." She scolded, trying to look at him in the eye—perhaps he had only gotten light headed.  
"Maybe you just got too excited?" Brock asked and Misty shrugged her shoulders; as did Ash.

"I'm not sure." He muttered, rubbing his head—vaguely recalling the image he saw before he passed out. "Sorry about the match..." Ash said, rubbing his shoulder and feeling a bit ashamed of himself.

"It's no problem—though next time, just ask if I remember anything. Misty explained your situation, at least the gist of it, while you were sleeping." Brock said while crossing his arms. Ash scratched his cheek timidly.

"I'm sorry, it's just weird I guess." Ash admit and Misty nodded. Brock understood that; though looking at these two trainers before him—one being a gym leader he had met a thousand times, but felt he only really met _the real Misty_ today, he was simply astounded by their personalities.

"It's no problem." Brock assured him. "I would have done the same thing."

"Really? So you believe me, then?" Ash asked eagerly, hopefully.

"I didn't say that." Brock mused, taking a step back. "Misty explained some of it, but...well.."

"It's _weird._ " Ash finished and scratched the back of his neck once more, rubbing the skin raw under his calloused fingers.

"Well, she said you gave her proof—where's my proof?" Brock inquired, intrigued by Ash who glanced at Misty for approval; the later shrugged her shoulders gently.

"Well; to start, I know you always wanted to be a pokemon breeder—and that if you had the chance you would become a pokemon doctor; also that you have a billion siblings you were forced to take care of after your parents abandoned you."

"Yeah, that's right. But that isn't really uncommon knowledge." Brock guessed, but Ash wasn't finished yet.

"And your father came back to take over the gym—which makes me question why you never left." Ash pointed at Brock, who's face grew pale; as did Misty's.

"My father is dead." Brock smacked his lips, and then something cold washed over his face—the amusement gone. Ash's brown eyes grew wide at the notion, and his mouth hung open pathetically—he had obviously hit a sore spot, but wasn't sure how to fix what he had said.

"Okay, I played along." He addressed the line to Misty who knew the gesture better than Ash and gathered her things to leave quickly.

"But trying to use someone who woke up with 'dreams' to bribe me into voting you in as an elite-four member... That's low for you, Misty." He hissed and the red head chuckled and shook her head.

"I'm not lying about it—he knows things." Misty grimaced, pulling a wobbling Ash to his feet and staring firmly into Brock's eyes. Under her breath she added: "I'm not bribing you with anything."

"What's going on?" Ash asked her, while she carried togepi and pikachu climbed onto Ash's right shoulder; Brock hissed at them. Ash grimaced as he came to the conclusion that Brock _really_ didn't remember anything—no, the angry gym leader was the opposite of Ash's memories.

"You had me going for a minute there, I will admit. The battle, the lack of experience; but that _story?_ Bringing my father into it? Really?" Brock scoffed and shook his head unpleasantly. Misty licked her lips and bucked backwards, pulling Ash.

"What happened to him?" Ash asked, and Brock almost growled in return.

"None of your business. Just get out." He growled, pointing to the exit door that Misty didn't give Ash time to fight her on. Still wobbly from fainting, Ash allowed Misty to drag him away as he watched Brock's eyes cast downward as he sat back to look at the palms of his hands. Ash only looked forward when Misty flipped open the umbrella by releasing his hand.

"What happened?" Ash asked and Misty glanced back at Ash as the door swung shut behind them.

"Why did you bring up Brock's _dad,_ Ash?" Misty groaned, rubbing her temples as Ash blinked innocently.

"Because Brock's dad is the one who took over the gym." he said matter-of-fact, confused beyond reason. He thought that their conversation was going well—he even got to battle, why was he _now being_ escorted out so quickly?

Misty lowered her eyebrows at Ash and then pat him on the shoulder. "We'll come back later to talk with Brock." Misty said, avoiding the answer that Ash wanted; he seemed to suck back air and glower at the female.

"Why, what happened to him?" At first, Misty clucked her tongue; not wanting to delve into a gym leader's personal life, but since she and _Ash_ were a rumor; what was the worst that could happen from telling Ash.  
"I don't know a lot about Brock, or why he stays as a gym leader—these are things you would have to ask him." Misty said to verify and then a small, weak smile graced her lips. "But I do know that his father died some five years ago... Brock used to spend a lot of time running in and out of meetings to visit his father in the hospital."

Ash's mouth fell open as he glanced at Misty who smiled back at him; recalling Dr. Abby's words about why Brock had been so familiar in his dreams. His voice hitched in his breath.

"Do you know why he was in the hospital?" Ash asked weakly, and Misty shrugged her shoulders.

"There's been...rumors." Misty cleared her throat. "That Brock's father knew about Giovanni, and it was Team Rocket who caused the whole ordeal by blackmailing former gym leaders... but... it can't be proven."

Ash gaped at her comment: "Then we need to go talk to Brock and help him!"

"Ash, this happened years ago." she groaned, slapping her forehead. "Giovanni is in jail, and Team Rocket has been disbanded."

"I need to apologize." he said frantically.

"Do it later." She said hastily. "I told him everything—let him mull it over on his own time." Misty barked in return. Her stern composure made for Ash to lower his shoulders; feeling guilt wash over his entire body.

"How was I supposed to know?" Ash said pathetically looking down at his shoes.

Surprisingly, Misty wrapped her right arm around Ash's shoulders; a friendly hug that she followed by forcing herself to pat his shoulder and rock togepi. At the sudden touch, Ash looked up at her with wide, questioning eyes and a faint blush.

"I know Ash." She said reassuringly, "There's a lot you don't know." she said, and then grinned, looking ahead. "But that just means that there is that much more to learn, right?"

When she turned to look at him, his height, which had always been nothing more than a number to her—as she always viewed him _smaller_ than her, seemed to escalate, and under the umbrella she could see very well how much his body had changed since he first woke up. He stood only an inch taller than her, but his spiky hair accounted for at least another inch as his brown eyes gazed down at hers. Physically, they were only a few inches apart; his arm was crushed beneath her raised arm which had wrapped around his wide back to pull him into the hug they were currently embraced in. In the protection from the rain, noise on the street disappeared and Misty found her breath stilled in her lungs and pain burst in her chest with each thump of her heart.

Ash watched her with a quizzical expression; probably wondering why she was looking at him with such wide eyes, and why she had insistently pulled him into a lopsided hug. Ash had to stifle his comment; watching the crinkle of her nose as she dropped her arm quickly, and reared backwards; into the rain.

"What are you doing?" he hissed, watching the droplets of water stain _his_ clothes wet and tried to approach her once again with the umbrella; but she seemed uninterested in it as she ran forward, face as red as a tomato.

"Misty!" he called to her, running after her as she shook her head violently. "What's gotten into you!?" He shouted painfully while a still slightly injured pikachu laughed from his perch on Ash's right shoulder.

 **XOXs**

Brock watched their exchange with a glum expression; his body lax against the window sill as he watched Misty and Ash leave the gym. Misty knew without words that Brock was tempted to call the league on her for deceiving a gym leader—though he knew that he would _never_ have done such a thing. Not to Ash; though he couldn't exactly recall _why_ it was he couldn't bring himself to harm the trainer; or his pokemon. Geodude should have easily beaten _togepi_ , whatever type of pokemon that was, and had Ash not violently passed out; Brock would have defeated pikachu, too.

...Only, he did not want to. Some part of him wanted this stranger to be unreasonably successful. Brock hummed to himself as Misty took off in a sprint—and smiled weakly. Seeing gym leaders with trainers again; that's what intrigued Brock the most. Ash went out of his way to not only battle Brock, but try to _talk_ to him. Most trainers wanted the badge so they could move onto the next big league match, the next tournament—in the end, gym leaders were only stepping stones for trainers; and they were usually treated as such. Brock grinned at their backs, though a swirl of uncertainly crossed into his chest.

Ash shouldn't have known anything about his father—surely, Misty didn't either. Yet he comes in here asking—maybe Brock was a little rude to throw the trainer out; but... he couldn't take that chance. When his father died, so did Pewter Gym's association with Team Rocket—if Ash and Misty were delving into that—if this was Misty's way of threatening Brock with that knowledge... well...

Ash knew him, huh? Brock glanced at the computer resting in the corner of his office; and he approached the desk and slid out the chair and plopped onto the seat where he smacked his lips together and cracked his knuckles; typing into the search engine "Ash Ketchum".

Brock would simply have to learn about Ash Ketchu, too.

 **XOXs**

When they arrived back at the pokemon center bedroom they shared; a news paper article headlined as "rampaging charizard" had been tossed beneath the door that Misty stepped on during her jolt to the bathroom.

Ash groaned at his friend—she was soaked, _again_.

"Pi!" The yellow mouse yelped from Ash's shoulder as he moved his foot to see the news paper he had been standing on; and his face lit up as he quickly scooped up the article and looked at the mouse which has a bandage on its right cheek.

Could it be?

 **Author's Note:**

Holy crap; on a scale from hell to more hell, this chapter was hell reincarnate. I re-wrote it THREE times; and this is it; this is what I'm posting; I refuse to do it _again_. I am still not pleased with this chapter—but it is what it is.

HOPEFULLY; that will be better next chapter lol. A lot of plot questions get answered in the next two chapters, as well. So sorry for that build up.

So let's talk about Misty's reaction for a minute—without Ash when they were kids, I don't think Misty would have learned to deal with certain _feelings_ without reacting in a frantic or violent manner. Over the start of the series, we saw her as an easy-tempered redhead (who covered emotions with such, as we have seen), to a mature trainer—but without Ash there, her emotional prowess to understand when _enough_ was _enough_ would be lacking; at least, in my opinion. So while Ash gets fidgety/confused, Misty gets panicked/denial; that's just how I see their personalities. :o Misty's not good at expressing her feelings. When traveling with Ash originally, she learned to contribute her persona outside of anger and teasing; but without him, she never grew out of that.

I realized that I wanted Brock to be Ash's first real battle; like it is in the anime. Originally, I didn't use togepi; but then I was playing SSBB, and togepi fucking KO'd my ass with exactly what outlined in the story and I was like "...yes, yes please." I felt like it really shows the contrast between how Misty would train the pokemon and how Ash would train the pokemon—and frankly, I liked it. I imagine that under Ash's control, togepi would be a little bad ass.


	20. Chapter 20: Route 24

**Locked Away, Chapter 20**

Ash and Misty started out of town before night fall.

"Shouldn't you be going back to the gym?" Ash asked, eying Misty from his diagonal position away from her. He could see her shoulders slump slightly under the weight of her recently purchased back pack—compliments of the gift shop in the Pokemon Center—as her gaze shifted from watching his back, to the ground.

The easy answer was yes, she should have gone back to the gym hours ago; taken the first train to Cerulean City and called it a day, but something compelled her to follow Ash further; most likely his heroism and ignorance—and most importantly, his plan on facing a rampaging Charizard that had become well known around the Kanto region as nearly untouchable. Not even league masters could thwart the raging pokemon.

Ash was _crazy_ if he thought that _this_ charizard was his.

Misty let out a long, exaggerated sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose: "I will once I know you're not dead.."

"Jeeze," he rolled his eyes mockingly, "You worry too much. I'll be fine." He grumbled, stuffing his hands into his pockets. At the pokemon center in Pewter City, Ash had used a bit of his allowance to not only heal togepi, but to purchase pokeballs for his adventure—if he was going to hunt down charizard, he was going to need the ability to capture it.

"How do we know that this is even _your_ charizard anyways? Didn't you say that it was stuck in a rainstorm as a charmander? Wouldn't it's tail have gone out? How do we even know that's what _really_ happened?" Misty glowered as she asked her questions, adjusting the straps of her bag.

Misty still had on a pair of his baggy jeans and a black shirt that she had changed into once the other set was soaked again. The rain had parted hours ago, small trickles of sunlight poured through the thick clouds. In the distance, they could see the roaring storm clouds growing with a vengeance, but the duo decided that they should leave town before the rain pelted down once more. Misty offered a side glare at Ash, sparing a single glance at the oncoming storm. _Actually_ , Ash decided they should leave; Misty wanted to go back to the gym to speak with Brock, and possibly apologize for the misunderstanding. She seethed.

"I don't know—but what's the harm in checking? Besides, charmander was a fighter, there's no reason he wouldn't be in this world, too, right?" Ash asked, back turned away from her as he marched on ahead through the damp forest. Misty let out a strangled noise at the back of her throat, and followed him.

"We _don't_ even know if he _will_ remember anything, Ash!" Misty whined beside him.

It was true, charizard, if it was Ash's, wasn't even guaranteed to remember, just because pikachu knew about Ash's past, didn't meant that the fire pokemon would. Ash stiffened at the suggestion, and his pace quickened. Misty's frown only deepened. What worried Misty the most though was remembering Ash's battle with Brock; and how easily Ash was defeated. He got lucky—but not even his luck could help the level gap between the pokemon. Togepi was _still_ healing and wouldn't be one-hundred percent for a few days, its shell was still cracked and pikachu wasn't even healed at the pokemon center. Ash wrapped pikachu's wounds, but it was sleeping in his bag for preparation of the next battle. Ash carried togepi, who seemed to stare forward into the forest without complaint.

"What if it's not the same one? Then we'll have a crazy charizard on our hands—and have you _seen_ a crazy charizard?" Misty leered at Ash, scrunching her nose as he sighed, frustrated finally.

"If you don't want to come, Misty, then go back to the gym; but I have to do this! Brock was a bust-" Ash paused, stopping his wavering voice with a swallow to keep his emotions at bay; "But if my other pokemon remember anything, I need to find out." he added solemn, and Misty let her head hang. His face was hidden by the shadows of his hat, coupled with the fact he was turned away from her, she couldn't see the pained expression underlying is features, but togepi could feel them.

"Toge-brrii" it purred happily in his arms in an attempt to cheer him up, but he sighed in return. Ash did not want Misty to see him upset. He spent too many months whining over his problems—he had to take action now; he had a goal. If Brock couldn't remember, then his pokemon _had_ to. Pikachu did, after all.

Maybe Brock was a fluke, maybe people weren't affected the same way that pokemon were. Hadn't he read that pokemon were more spiritual creatures, that they created a bond with their trainers?—maybe Ash's, if he was lucky, held bonds that defied the natural order of this world. Perhaps... he wasn't as alone as he thought.

Defeated, Misty let out a sigh that drew his attention back to her; "Fine." she muttered, finally matching his pace by picking up her dragging feet, and looking forward confidently. "But if it comes to battling—you let me take care of it." She grimaced, and Ash's eyebrows raised at the suggestion.

"You would battle charizard?" Ash asked skeptically and Misty, scowling, nodded her head.

"Togepi is _not_ taking part of a battle with a damn near-crazed dragon," She pointed at him accusingly, eliciting an evil glare to demonstrate her ideals, and then bit the inside of her cheek.

"toge-piii" It chirped happily in Ash's arms, reflecting her ideas with relief, Ash pouted.

" _And_ while piakchu might be affective—he's out of shape _and_ you passed out the last time he used a thunder attack. I don't think I need to tell you how devastating that would be in a non-formal battle, do I?" She asked with an appropriate grimace that he could only nod in response.

Ash's face fell as he sighed. That was the other thing—he passed out when pikachu used electrical attacks. Would that be a normal occurrence? Ash honestly believed it was a one time thing—seeing that golden bird with the rainbows again-maybe it was the weight of the memory that made him collapse. He might have even gotten a little too excited, as Brock suggested—it was his first match, after all. Ash grinned nervously at the situation he was plunging head first into now; his second match would be with a charizard that had terrorized route twenty-four the last four years.

Misty might have been right to call him a little crazy.

 **XOXs**

Brock tapped his fingers against his desk, reclining back in his desk chair with his feet kicked up onto one portion of the desk. His expression was thoughtful—peaceful, but his fingers tapped frustrating against the hard wooden desk.

Ash Ketchum: there wasn't a lot of news about him. The raven-haired boy was born in Pallet Town. His mother was Delia Ketchum, and he had no recorded siblings or known father that could be found with an internet search. Most of his stories consisted of the tragedy that befell his tenth birthday; a young boy caught up in a thunderstorm was electrocuted by his starter pokemon's electrical attack. He was carried to the Viridian City hospital by Misty Waterflower, the youngest sister of the Cerulean City Gym leaders, and was placed into a comatose state for ten years. Sending out a reminder to professors everywhere why ten year old's should not be given an electrical type pokemon as their starter pokemon.

Ash had only woken up recently, three days after his birthday: the Viridian City news called it a "miracle" but never sought to publish the headline outside of local papers—in other words, Ash's story never reached outside of Viridian City, and Brock was curious as to why.

When his father, Flint Harrison, passed away five years ago, the shot was heard around the whole region. Mourning the former Pewter City gym leader, and the eleven children he would be leaving behind. An incurable illness over took the father, something no doctor, no matter how far Brock searched could cure. Brock simply thought something as crazy as someone waking up from a ten-year coma with no immediate physical or mental illness would be ground breaking science...

Brock licked his teeth beneath his lips, his face falling flat as he slid his feet off of the desk and onto the floor. Surprisingly, Flint shared the room right beside Ash's for years without Brock ever realizing it. Now that the current Pewter gym leader thought about it—he had seen the young red-head visit the hospital every once in awhile—but back then, he hardly recognized her. Outside of the still-tomboyish clothes he last saw her in; she had changed too much. As a child, she was scrawny, masculine, and a little boy-ish, as a woman; she was—well, Brock shook his head free of the distracting thoughts. Misty was _still_ Misty. Something was off about this whole situation, and not just the crazy dream land Ash had created- maybe Misty knew that?

Brock turned back to his laptop, rubbing his index finger over the top of his lips, and then clicked open a minimized screen that had a portrait of Misty and her battling marks as the gym leader. Not only were her battling statistics superb, but her test scores for elite-brain were phenomenal; the highest rated of known-water pokemon applicants.

Brock scoffed though, knowing about Misty's inquiry into the Elite-four and given the track she had been on, her involvement with Ash was even more curious. Was she doing it for public attention, or did she genuinely care about him? Brock frowned at the first thought. While he wasn't close with the youngest Waterflower, he knew enough about her to know that she wouldn't use a recovery story for public gain; she had no reason to. Her battle record spoke for itself—she was ranked at the top of Kanto with Sabrina for leading gyms the last four years, and her technique has been compared to Lorelei. At the rate she was going, Elite-Four was entirely in her grasp... Had it not been for the set back caused from Giovanni, she might have already obtained the title. All gym leaders were now under constant scrutiny, only made worse by the public distrust.

A long time ago, Brock thought ruthlessly, gym leaders were revered in their chosen towns; but since gym leaders were shown to be working along side Giovanni, such as Erica ans Surge; people simply did not trust them any longer. While most gyms were able to cite 'black mail' as their reason for following Giovanni, Brock knew better. His father was 'black mailed' in the early portion of team rocket and Brock had been powerless to stop them. He gripped the fabric over his knee and let out a loud exhale. It was stupid, Brock knew, but a part of him—a large part of him, wanted to believe what Misty had told him about Ash.

Since his father's passing Brock was left at the gym, forced to support his siblings; who were all out on their own journeys now; living their own lives while he stayed at home; thwarting his dreams.

He leaned back once more, tapping his fingers on his desk frustratingly again; Ash had said that Brock was _more_ than a gym leader in his dream land—so much that he bluntly asked why Brock was still the gym leader. Brock grit his teeth; he was still the gym leader because of his siblings and because it was home now; besides, he was stuck here until he could someday find a replacement—a trustworthy replacement.

Yet, the only reason Brock could deduce that Misty Waterflower, the hardworking gym leader, would ever sacrifice such a well-earned title would be because some part of her must have believed in Ash Ketchum. Brock remembered the incident following Ash passing out; when Misty described the truth behind their visit—she was so earnest; so honest with her explanation. How long Ash spent in therapy, only to find out that Pikachu remembered everything from his dreams as if he had been apart of them.

Brock understood Ash's reasoning for coming to him. He did.

But something more than that bothered him. Why was Brock selected to be apart of Ash's dream world? Misty was a given, she rescued him—but what did Brock do? He spent a lot of time at the hospital; but he never made any contact with the raven-haired boy; Brock was too busy looking after his father during that time...so why him?

Scratching his face, Brock shook his head playfully and smacked his lips in humorous disbelief.

"I can't believe I actually believe this kid." Brock grimaced to himself standing up to fetch his phone in order to call the Cerulean City Gym. After all, what could asking a few questions hurt? Like if his father was alive, what he did in those dreams—if they were related to breeding, or making pokemon food. Ash's intentions seemed legit, and if they weren't; Brock had no problem dishing out his own justice.

Maybe he had been too quick to toss them out; if he was lucky—they would still be in town.

 **XOXs**

Brock's call to Cerulean City fell onto empty ears; even though he left a message with Daisy, Misty's phone was dead from the moment she left the pokemon center to visit Brock the first time; in her three days traveling with Ash, that hadn't changed.

"We should have stopped in Cerulean City for supplies; Ash." Misty grunted, standing at the edge of the path that led through the forest connecting route four and twenty four.

"I said if you wanted to go, you could—but we're too close to go back now." Ash spoke to her smoothly with togepi on his right shoulder, and pikachu following beside him. Misty sighed from the front of the group—unaccustomed to traveling for so long; she missed her bed, and her shower.

Touching her dirty hair which she had tied into a pony tail days ago, she sighed to herself. She _really_ missed her shower.

"You keep saying that, but you're not getting rid of me that easily, Ketchum." She grumbled in return, stomping to catch up with him.

Naturally, he smiled at her and adjusted his hat as he watched her carefully walk over rocks in the road and keep a determined eye forward. Her face was dirty; but so was his. She had tugged up the sleeves of his shirt that she borrowed, and rolled his baggy pants up to the ends of her knees. She was dressed comfortably, but most importantly, she was dressed for travel. As she had stated previously, her skin tight pants and tank top were not hiking clothes; and she would likely rip a hole in them even if she did wear them—so, she reluctantly stayed in Ash's clothes during the rest of the journey. Thankful for the millionth time that Misty was more than a girly-girl, he looked forward with a grateful sigh.

"I think it's just an excuse to keep wearing my clothes." he poked with his lips pursed playfully.

" _Your clothes?"_ She spat, clearly embarrassed. "I bought them for you."  
"Is that what all employers tell their employees?" He wagered with a deep chuckle that had Misty throwing her arms up and storming off ahead of him and down the hill before them.

Winter had not been kind to the forest. It was warm today, the rain storms did not seize for the first two days. Most of Ash and Misty's walking were done under the shade of hibernating trees, and the bare branches provided little protection from the rain. Misty had brought an umbrella from Pewter city, and a set of ponchos to protect their clothes; so aside from the cold, they were at least dry. Due to the terrible weather, they spent the majority of the first two days travel in determined silence; concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other until night fall, and then making camp, and sleeping until sunrise. Because of the rain, fires were useless, so they survived on body heat when sharing their tent. Since Misty purchased a new sleeping back in Pewter City before leaving, they were no longer in fear of freezing, but as the December winds whipped through the thin fabric of the tent, they wouldn't deny huddling closer together; even though both of their backs were turned, and if asked, each would deny it. Togepi especially enjoyed the closeness of the trainers, often time sharing the spot where their backs would touch with pikachu,

It was awkward, and far from comfortable; but when exhaustion kicked in, anything was okay. Not even Misty, who flinched lately when ever Ash would accidentally bump her cared when the sun was down after a long walk—she only cared about sleep; and Ash couldn't argue with her. Watching her for a short moment, Ash smiled to himself and flicked a stray droplet of water that fell from the branches overhead from his shoulder.

Beside him, pikachu struggled through the worst of the road—but it had a new found determination to find charizard, the same as Ash. Since the start of their journey, his cheeks had flashed uneasy sparks because of the thunderstorm—until today because they had a comfortable break in the weather much like the first day when they set out. The mouse was content, but also tired. Its old bones were worked numb, and his paws were sore and hot to the touch—but he refused to be held. _Training_ , he had told Ash the first night. After its defeat from Brock, pikachu had taken another demeanor entirely, both refusing to use electrical attacks, even though Ash had asked the pokemon to on several occasions, and by working harder to exercise. Ash didn't even have to fight with pikachu about eating snack food... and that scared him.

On his shoulder, finally capable of balancing itself, togepi chirped happily at the lack of rain—it got stuck under the poncho during the rain storm, and while Misty smelled wonderful on most occasions; Ash was starting to reek. In the rainstorms, the egg pokemon preferred Misty, but it was impossible for the young woman to carry the egg for ten hours straight—so she and Ash took turns. Togepi's stamina had definitely increased over the last few days, having to hold its breath around Ash.

Togepi wasn't the only one to notice the smell; and while it did not bother Ash, Misty wasn't as shy to mention it.

Misty held her nose as she waved at Ash jokingly.

"We could have had showers."

"Pfft." Ash scoffed, as if he had heard her complain about this before. "Do you complain about everything? It's not like I can help it."

"Well, you could have helped it if you didn't forget to pack your bath set—how could you forget that?" She laughed, and Ash fought the urge to roll his eyes—he knew she was trying to make small talk to pass the time, but did it have to be about this?  
"I don't know. Probably because it wasn't an issue when I was a kid, and it's only a thing now." He admit painfully, pinching the bridge of his nose as Misty laughed awkwardly. It wasn't a horrible smell; most of his scent was covered by the earthen trail, and he tried his best to wash himself—but he had been walking for nearly three days straight; he didn't understand how Misty could still smell nice even after so many days. What was more weird was how he _noticed_.

"So you didn't bath as a child?" She asked while walking over a particularly large rock; Ash puffed out his cheeks.

Pikachu snorted below him. "Pika." it said sarcastically, as if agreeing with Misty, and Ash's face turned red.

"I did so, and I was not smelly when you first met me! I had just woken up!" Ash argued to pikachu before turning to look at a grinning Misty.

"You get flustered so easily." She admit and at her words, his embarrassment only grew as he came to a stop to rub his face.

"Well, fine. You can spray me with your girly spray-thing if it bothers you so much."

"Girly-spray? What makes you think I have _perfume_?" Misty asked as pikachu waltz besides her.

"How else do you not smell?" He said bluntly, and her face drained of color first, but then was quickly replaced by a red hue.

"Why are you smelling me?" She hissed, turning away from him and covering her face.

"How can I not? I'm with you all day." At his response, her eyes turned nearly-demonic, taking his words negatively.

"Are you implying I smell bad?" She hissed, and Ash, confused at her low glower took a step away from her for safety—noticing that as she had gotten closer to him; she was no longer afraid of play 'taps'; but she hit a lot harder than she looked.

"No, the opposite, I swear."

She let out a mix of a gasp and sigh and shook her head confused. "What?" She grumbled, rubbing her face to clear her red cheeks. Ash didn't noticed, suddenly embarrassed by his words.

"Piiiiikaaa-" The rodent grinned while togepi made a noise relevant to a kissing sound, and Ash spun around to silence pikachu by playfully knocking him over.

"Don't even suggest such a thing!"

Dumbfounded, Misty's arms fell to her sides and she inhaled. "Don't you think that's weird?" She asked pointedly, watching as a flustered Ash turned to look directly at her.

"What's weird?"

"How you can understand togepi and pikachu." Misty said seriously, crossing her arms in thought.

Awkwardly, Ash raised his eyebrows: "You can't?"

"Not even a little—I understand my pokemon from having trained with them for so long—but body language and actually _speaking_ with them... those are two different things." Misty admit suddenly, rapping her fingers on her forearm. Ash blinked once, and then twice, and then his shoulders drooped—togepi slipped off as a result.

"I guess I never realized. I assumed you could talk to yours, too."

"I can. But I can't _understand_ them." Misty confirmed, causing Ash's face to grow red.

"ka-chu, pika." The small yellow mouse said while pulling on Ash's jeans. Togepi rolled in the grassy plain of the field they had stumbled into, and Ash had only now glanced at his surroundings. They found an opening in the forest, where the grass was a yellow green that rose to Ash's knees in length. Misty stared at him with expectant eyes—she wanted an answer on _how_ he understood pikachu and Ash looked down at his long time companion, and then at togepi who watched him with big eyes and then finally back at Misty.

"...I...I guess I don't know." He said while rubbing the back of his neck. "I never realized it was strange in this world." He added and Misty's shoulders dropped respectfully.

"Ah, well. I guess it doesn't matter then." She said, dropping the issue as she tugged off her pack. Ash blinked worriedly at her.

"That's it?" He asked, surprised at her acceptance to drop the issue so quickly.

She rolled her her shoulders and motioned to the dry ground beneath them which had a couple of rocks to sit on. "That's it." She confirmed. "But we should break for lunch."  
"Togepiii!" The egg yelped from the ground, rushing forward the moment that Misty sat down on a larger rock and hoping directly into her lap. With a soft smile, she pet the pokemon's head while Ash took a seat beside her on a rock closer to the ground, where he stretched out her legs while she unpacked their scarce rations.

After a short moment of silence where the wind whipped around their heads Ash glanced embarrassingly at the forest clearing they had just come from.

"I don't _really_ smell, do I?"  
At this, Misty snorted, seeing the faint of a blush on his cheeks as pikachu took to climbing onto his thighs. "You smell like the forest Ash, but don't worry about it; I can't notice." Misty said, speaking mostly truths while Ash looked at her admirably, taking a mental note to wash a little bit the next chance that he got.

 **XOX's**

After their short lunch, Misty was quick to pack up the remaining food; there wasn't a lot of it, but it would last until they found charizard—route twenty-four was close enough to Cerulean, that she was sure she could talk Ash into returning for a few days at the very least when this was all said and done. He plucked at a string on his gloves and gave a soft sigh as he tucked his water bottle back into his pack, preparing to start the trudge once more.

"This feels a lot like my dream, you know?" Ash said with a soft smile. Misty watched him curiously; since the first few days were spent with horrifying weather, she hadn't heard him speak about his dreams much—or really at all, and so she smiled at his words.

"How so?" She questioned while rubbing her fingers soothingly over togepi's shell.

"Well, maybe not exactly like this; no one smelled in my dreams...but landscapes themselves seemed to lacka scent, too, so that's something... but just traveling with you again. It's familiar, It's.." he choked on his words, _nice_.

Unable to finish his statement, suddenly feeling very hot under the collar and his neck and face heating up once more, Misty's chuckle sated his embarrassment.

"it's nice." She reflected his sentiments and he looked up at her wide-eyed as she continued. "I haven't traveled since before I took over at the gym five years ago; it's a lot harder than I remember it being but..." She smiled earnestly at him. "It's very rewarding, don't you think?"  
Her smile brought the heat back to his face, how her lips turned upward, and so he looked away and exhaled. "It'll be more rewarding if charizard is mine." As he spoke, his eyes fell on pikachu who looked up at him with equally as hopeful eyes as the typically snark pokemon burrowed his head into the crook of Ash's arm.

Misty's smile faltered and she looked off to the side, her fingers intertwining around togepi as she set the pokemon down onto the ground. The rose simultaneously.

"So, I was thinking..." Misty murmured, glancing down thoughtfully.

"Oh no." Ash joked breaking the serious atmosphere, looking back at her through tangled, unkempt hat-hair.

Misty puffed up her cheeks and glared at him, having lost her nerve; "What about the rest of your companions? Do you think they would remember you?"

"Well.." Ash said automatically. "You've met Dawn, haven't you?"

"That's right." Misty confirmed, nodding her confusion.

"And she never mentioned me? Never visited me?" He asked Misty, eyebrows raised. Misty looked up at him, meeting his brown eyes and she sighed; she had been worried he hadn't thought about this at all, but the resignation in his eyes told a different story.

"No, she didn't." Misty said glum and Ash scoffed lightheartedly and looked forward once more, watching the trail break off into a field.

"Then I don't think anyone else will—I mean, if anyone remembered, they would have visited me, right? At the very least said something to me. Pikachu tried, but had no way of getting to the hospital—right?" Pikachu nodded at the inadvertent question while Ash continued. "So I think if Brock doesn't remember, then..." _no one else does, either._ Ash stammered off, unable to say the words himself as he pat his hands on his blue jeans. Misty nodded her condolences, and gave a short sigh.

"Then shouldn't the same principle apply to your pokemon?" She asked skeptically, watching his face for answers. His shoulders dipped.

"I thought about that, but how would my pokemon know where I was? Humans have this internet that they can use; but if my pokemon remained in the wild—then I doubt they could have known anything about me in this world. If they do remember, they might not even know that I am real, especially because they never met me before."

Misty blinked surprisingly at his thoughts, and then smiled earnestly before frogging him gently on the shoulder. "You put some thought into this." She said happily, though Ash didn't reply with her same glee.

"It's all I can think about." Ash admit tiredly, glancing down at pikachu whose ears flattened, but togepi, who had been jarred by Misty's playful punch, pat Ash on the back of the head with it's small arm. The crack in its shell had all been healed thanks to the gel they were given by the pokemon center, but it was still weak.

Misty's own glee dwindled at Ash's comment, and she looked away shyly. That was right, unlike Misty, Ash didn't have a lot in this world; he had no pokemom license, and thanks to her phone dying, no way of knowing when Gary could get him one. He had no family—where is mother's whereabouts plagued him endlessly before, but now that he knew, it was nothing more than a kick in the head. Pikachu was the one highlight that he had—and on a good day, his younger brother Cole—but everything else was...

"Have you thought about what you're going to do after all of this? If charizard doesn't remember?" She asked quickly, asking her original question.

The breeze of the wind caught Misty's hair just enough that strands danced in the front of her face, and Ash's light jacket blew open. He watched her sea-green orbs with a distant look in his chocolate eyes; both confused, and pleading. He thought a lot about where he would go if this was a dead end—and truthfully; he wasn't sure. A part of him wanted to return to Viridian City, to live close enough to his mother that he could work out the kinks in their relationship and visit with Cole more. A piece of him wanted to return to Pallet Town—but he knew that would never be home again, but at least Gary was there.

...And an even larger part wanted to go back to Cerulean City gym, where he spent the most _normal_ days since he woke up—no worries, with a full time job, and the ability to train his pokemon peacefully without ever missing the chance to watch a battle. Daisy, Lily, and Violet were there, too, who he had grown attached to like his own family—but he couldn't find it in him to ask Misty to open up the gym to him again. Perhaps, his own pride prevented him from doing so, but he knew that his options were limited. Not many people would hire a ten-year coma patient. He had no experience, hell, he only had limited mental experience; he still thought like a child would on most occasions.

Catching his train of thought, Misty scrunched up her nose and pressed her hand forward to touch his shoulder to bring his drifting gaze back towards her own.

"Ash, you know you always have a home in Cerulean City..." Misty mused as he looked up at her only for his eyes to wide like saucers.

Seconds later, she was on the ground, flat, with him hovering above her.

"What the he-" Before she could get a word off, fire engulfed the area above them and she gasped, terrified.

Blazing hot, bright flames projected above them, scorching Ash's flowing jacket as he ducked just in time to avoid the blast. Beneath him, Misty grunted, her limbs tangling around his as a deafening roar echoed from the direction of the fire as it enveloped the damp grass of the field, igniting the dry parts.

Above him, the sound of flapping wings soared, causing a gust of wind to pull at him on the ground, begging him to run.

"Move!" he urged Misty, pulling her up by her upper arms; now that he had a grasp of the situation, he cursed at himself for not noticing before—many of the hibernating trees were scorched in this area. Glancing at Misty's red face, he could see her acknowledge the same facts as she pushed him into roll, tucking togepi between them as the red-orange pokemon swooped over them once again. They were on the ground once more—and the red pokemon above them gave no indication of letting up.

"Pikach— _Fuck_!" Ash groaned as Misty clawed her fingers into his collar and rolled him a few feet away from another attempt at grabbing them from the pokemon above. Misty didn't have time to comment on his careful choice of words—Ash rarely swore, and when he did—it was never..

Again, Ash rolled a few feet with her and togepi, the later of which grunted painfully as its cracked shell opened once more at the jarring movements. They needed to do something, and so quickly, Misty thrust togepi into Ash's arms, and she was on her feet a second later. He followed.

Ash couldn't see pikachu in this mess, fire mixed with smoke, and he was suddenly finding it difficult to breathe in all the smoke. Misty rolled off of Ash, ignoring her aching body, or the fact that she was covered in mud; instead, she wrapped her fingers around the pokeball on her belt and exhaled. Ash looked upward, he could see charizard, a _pissed off_ charizard flying above them in circles, crying roars of terror above them. Its tail flame was huge like the pokemon itself. It stood at least seven feet, with large, teal and red wings stretched out in every direction; its lower body was heavy, but muscular, and Ash could see the faint glimmer of hardened scales along the pokemon's body. Ash couldn't see its ferocious eyes in the distance, but he could see the snarl of its wide mouth which carried equally as sharp teeth.

"Holy shit." Ash breathed, the first time seeing a real-world charizard and Misty sprang forward.

"Don't tell me charizards were bunnies in your dream land." She hissed, mocking his surprise as she plucked the button on her pokeball for it to grow and Ash swallowed.

 _No_ , he wanted to say, but found that as charizard turned and launched himself towards the duo, all Ash could do was jump out of the way with togepi tucked beneath his arm like a football. Separated from Misty, his mouth fell agape at the blast of intense fire between them.

"Mist! Are you okay!?" Ash yelled worriedly, his question echoed by togepi.

At first, silence answered him back, but shortly after he was enveloped by a bright light, and an even taller monster stood in front of him with a mouth half as tall has charizard, with sharp, white teeth pointing at each corner of his wide mouth. Terrifying purple eyes rested behind blue scales at the top of a snarling snout. Its long, blue snake-scaled body towered over charizard in almost all sizes, and Ash almost fell backwards—even after spending a month with Misty; he had _never_ seen gyarados used in battle.

...and the dragon-looking serpent left him trembling and speechless.

In the distance, he heard Misty call confidently out to the large pokemon, giving a command he didn't quite hear as he fell backwards at the intense roar shared between the two pokemon. He clung to togepi as he landed on his rear-end. His ears rang at the pitch of gyarados's roar, and he closed his eyes long enough that when Misty gripped his shoulder to pull him up; he thought that he was a goner.

"Misty!" He called to her, watching as she fanned his lower shirt clear of flames he had clearly not noticed.

"Don't zone out!" Misty called to him, and then spun back to look at gyarados, who had taken his master's run as a leap to follow his own instincts. The large pokemon had shrieked at charizard moments before; challenging the raging beast to a battle that it so gladly accepted. Misty watched the fire burn in the back of charizards throat as it faced gyarados, she exhaled.

"If you think that's your charizard, you better figure out a way to calm it down." She hissed, unable to take her eyes off the challenging pokemon, and then clenched her fists before shouting at gyarados. She had no idea charizard would have stumbled upon them like this.

"Counter it with hydro pump!" she called to her mighty pokemon, its own attack was let off moments after charizard's own fiery blast, matching the eruption of flames with a waterfall of liquid that ended in a bath of steam filling the area.

Ash swore as Misty threw him backwards to avoid the burning steam, and once again, they landed on the ground with a thump. The smell of burning grass filled Ash's senses and he looked up, eyes burning from the smoke to get a better view of the situation—possibly find pikachu in the mess.

Ash's mind raced, he never recalled battles being so intense—the steam literally reached them and _burned_ them. He could feel the heat of the attack and winced at the pressure of the battle as charizard broke away from his attack in time to charge the unsuspecting pokemon which still used its hydro pump. Believing that it had successfully over came charizards powerful blaze—Misty, with the wind knocked out of her sat up to see charizard side tackle gyarados with such force, it flew directly at Ash and Misty.

Moving before speaking, both trainers were to their feet in seconds and running sideways to avoid being smashed by the large dragon; just as Misty whipped her head back around to see charizard coming back down for another attack.

"Gyarados, use aqua tail!" Misty hollered, still being pulled away by Ash who didn't let go of her arm even after they stopped moving; he felt sweat trickle down his neck—the same adrenaline rush he had during his battle with Brock sending vibrations through his entire body; only on a whole different level.

As soon as Misty sounded off the attack, Gyarados sprung back to life with lightning like reflexes, his head whipped around as charizard barreled forward blindly, and then spun 180 degrees until its tail swatted the fire pokemon out of the sky with such a speed and ferocity that Ash was left inarticulate once again. Charizard was thrown into a tree, which snapped the entire trunk in half under the pressure.

Eyes wide, he wanted to make a comment—but had no real reason to; he shouldn't have been surprised that gyarados could create such a force with its attack; it towered above charizard in size, roaring triumphantly before the battle was over; but Misty was able to rope Ash back into reality again.

"Ash?" She asked, or demanded, he couldn't tell; her eyes never left the battle, shifting around the field to look for where and when charizard would attack again; and Ash took that as his cue to speak to the pokemon.

"Charizard!" Ash yelled, cupping his mouth with one hand, as the other clutched a trembling togepi. "Pikachu and I came back for you!" He screamed, though the sound of his voice sounded desperate and silly now that he was saying it; this charizard was indeed crazy; enraged beyond reason—could it really be _his?_

Behind him, he heard a squeak, and Ash spun to see pikachu trailing in the grass towards him; its tail had been scorched by charizard and Ash's lips flattened upon seeing his old friend with such an injury. His response from charizard was a deafening growl as he shot out of the trees and back into the sky above; flames pouring out of his mouth.

"I don't think it recognizes you." Misty hissed, swearing at herself for being put into this situation. "Try again!" She commanded with a powerful voice that made Ash look at her with a strange kind of admiration, but only briefly. Misty raised her hand and pointed at charizard.

"One more time, hydro pump!" Misty called to her pokemon, which reacted by immediately acting on the command, concentrating on charizard above; it let out a violent torpedo of water, its body trembling from the force behind the blast and Ash tried again.

"Charizard; its me! Ash Ketchum! Do you remember me?" He called hopelessly, feeling the intense aura from the pokemon flying dangerously above them—and upon dodging the hydro pump, it set its eyes on Ash with a demonic glare. Misty's face paled, and she grabbed Ash in preparation to pull him out of the way, but he pushed away from her.

"Do you remember me?!" Ash asked loudly as the red dragon spiraled out of the sky, directly for Ash. For a split moment, their eyes connected, and Ash's heart skipped looking into the familiar eyes. Misty threw up her arms.

"Gyarados, use aqua tail to stop charizard!"

"Wait Misty, stop! Don't do it!" Ash yelled, looking hopefully at charizard, but Misty shook her head.

"It'll kill you!" She argued back, though Ash was doubtful that charizard would, and ran forward with said belief.

Misty screamed at him. Blinded by hope, he connected with charizard right as the pokemon out stretched its arms to grab him, and Misty threw up her hand to cancel gyarados' attack.

"Ash, stop!" She screamed, but the dragon already enveloped Ash and she covered her eyes, expecting the worse case scenario. Rather than crushing Ash in a single moment, charizard whipped into the air, preparing to launch Ash in a toss. Ash inhaled; great job, nothing like breaking every bone in his body to wake him up!

"Charizard! Were you left on a rock by a trainer!? Do you know me!" He screamed, though his voice was strained and his eye sight was blurry from the circling of the attack. His hearing might have betrayed him, but he thought he heard a loud, pained growl from charizard as it spun aggressively. From the ground, Pikachu popped itself onto Misty's shoulder with its cheeks alert with lightning and togepi, who had been placed on the ground prior to Ash's poor decision yelled in an attempt to calm charizard.

Time moved in slow motion for Misty as her finger twitched. Attacking charizard directly at the moment was out of the question. The large pokemon would likely fall on top of and crush Ash. No, her finger twitched as she moved her hand to grab for her remaining pokemon, she had to buffer his fall when he was released! Togepi knew metronome—an attack that could use gust to sweep Ash off the ground—but it wasn't reliable. She was as likely to get gust as she was explosion! For a moment, her heart pounded and she shook her head. How stupid! How freaking stupid! Running directly towards charizard! What did he think was going to happen!?

"Gyarados use bite! Try to grab onto charizard without hurting Ash!" Misty yelled a split second later.

She had to act fast, though she knew the moment that gyarados launched himself forward, charizard would release Ash and defend. As she expected, the moment the blue dragon stretched itself high enough to grab the red dragon out of the sky, the later tossed Ash downward quickly, flinching only slightly when doing so—as if Ash's words meant nothing to the pokemon. Misty made a strangled noise and instinctively threw out three other pokemon.

"Use water gun gently on Ash right before he hits the ground to break his fall!" She hissed, watching as starmie, golduck and lapris emerged from their pokeballs, doing exactly as she had commanded them.

In the mean time, charizard used the distorted balance of gyarados, who was on the end of its tail, to press another hard tackle into the pokemons underbelly, knocking it to the ground with a loud roar escaping its monstrous jaw. Had the ground been dry, dust would have stirred, but the damp surroundings allowed for the entire scene to play out in front of Misty. She watched, her attention torn between saving Ash and battling as charizard followed with a slash and a flamethrower that caused a gushing of red to cover the two dragons. A huge gash formed over gyarados' chest, made worse and bloody by the fire blast. Unable to focus on the battle; she dismissed Ash once the trio of pokemon effectively used their water guns to shoot him into the field, probably injuring him, but bruises were better than broken bones.

She waved her arm. "Gyarados, return!" She screamed the red light engulfing the bleeding pokemon; worried that charizard would go for a killing blow next, she met eye to eye with the enraged pokemon—seeing the hatred burned into his eyes and growled as it charged directly for her.

"Starmie use water gun!" She shouted and then raised her other hand. "Lapris, Ice beam, now!" She added, watching as charizard, who effectively dodged the first torpedo of water, was struck quickly by the ice beam.

As the battle raged on—with unfair numbers, Ash rolled over; holding his sides, in pain. He squeezed his eyes shut, looking up at the cloudy sky above him—the sun had disappeared behind the gray storm clouds, and he winced once more. What was he thinking? Running at charizard—did he have a death wish? He grunted, looking at himself. Misty, who had thought fast enough to save him from being a pancake still battled with charizard; who refused to go down, even though he was fighting a losing battle with his tail on the verge of going out. He still rushed at Misty with full force, but she was able to counter effectively with starmie; and if need be, she followed up her attack with another pokemon.

Ash blinked tired; an unfair advantage on her part—but charizard wasn't exactly an easy opponent; actually, he glanced once more at the pokemon, watching as it got up time and again to continue the battle—he wondered how many trainers had failed to defeat the pokemon; if they wound up dead by some tree some where. Ash saw the blood trickling down the pokemon's body with each critical hit, and he exhaled, pulling himself to his feet as pikachu bound towards him.

"pika! Pika chu!" The yellow mouse scolded Ash as he waved the pokemon forward. He watched charizard, the way its body lurched forward, its body growing weaker and Ash exhaled loudly.

"I know." he hissed, holding his sides, he looked at the dragon desperately trying to win in this battle, and he found it in himself to stand up right.

Earlier, before he had been thrown when Misty made the command for Gyarados to bite, Ash had muttered: _"don't you remember me...?"_ and only very briefly did charizard hesitate, flinching enough that the toss didn't have as much power to it. Ash stood upright and directed pikachu with his finger pointing forward.

"Use Thunderbolt, pikachu!" Ash screamed, alerting Misty and the mouse who argued with him, worried that Ash would faint again.

"I'll be fine!" Ash demanded while holding his stomach. "Use thunderbolt on charizard!" Ash screamed and the yellow mouse reacted with its cheeks sparking from the weather, and then ran forward. The dragon wasn't enthusiastic about this, however, and turned to look at pikachu with hollow eyes as Misty inhaled.

"Starmie, use water gun!" she yelled, watching as the pokemon tore charizard's attention from the unfit pikachu, dousing it in a thin coat of water; the dragon roared.

"Now!" Ash yelled, watching pikachu leap, and then curl its paws under his chin, and release a loud shriek, followed by the indiscreet lightning charged electrical attack that connected with charizard. For a brief moment, Ash covered his eyes, prepared for the onslaught of pain and dizziness that overcame his body before—but when nothing happened, he looked forward with a confident gleam in his eye.

Giving a howl of pain, the red dragon collapsed onto the ground during the attack, its entire body falling limp during the electrical attack which was amplified by the water. With a loud thump, its body fell, and Misty recalled two of her pokemon as the small mouse set forth an amazing charge.

When its cry finished, pikachu fell to the earth gracefully, landing on his four paws, and staring at charizard, which was unable to physically move its body as Ash hobbled forward to where Misty was standing, a few feet away. His heart still pounded behind his ribs and he looked up to see her.

"I...Should I capture it?" Ash asked, and Misty snapped at him.

"You need your head examined is what you need!" She hissed, grabbing his arms and shaking him forcefully.

A pained cry came from the defeated charizard drew Ash's attention to it. His worried eyes glanced at the pokemon as he shrugged off Misty's hands and jogged towards him.

"You can't be serious? You don't think you still know him, do you!? It just tried to kill you!" Misty shouted worriedly, but pikachu followed Ash faithfully to the pokemon's side, and collapsed onto his knees near its head.

"Charizard..." Ash muttered, out stretching his hand to touch the dragon's face. When the warmth of Ash's palm touched his face, the dragon winced; rage filling its eyes once more before tears pooled; watching as Ash grit his teeth. Betrayed—the look in charizards eyes were betrayal.

"You waited a really long time, didn't you...?" Ash muttered pathetically, his own eyes filling with tears as pikachu found his way to the pokemon, the same spark as when Ash and pikachu met previously igniting between the two of them. Charizard groaned once more and closed his eyes before slumping.

Misty watched from a few feet away, mouth ajar and her limbs limp at her side.

"...You..." Misty grimaced. "I can't believe this, really?" She muttered, glancing down to togepi who seemed to smile bravely at the scene. Misty couldn't see the joy behind this because her entire body screamed at her from the battle—where she had been thrashed and beaten during the match, and forced to use more than one pokemon. On top of it, gyarados had been fatally injured—she would need to leave him at the pokemon center for a few days before he would recover fully. Yet, charizard seemed to react to Ash's touch—what kind of relationship _did_ they have?! To become so hostile. Misty decided it would be safer if she didn't go near the pokemon.

Ash watched as charizard blinked at him, giving another, pained growl and Ash sat forward, pressing his forehead against the dragon's.

"I'm so sorry." Ash muttered, "I'm here now." If Ash had never rescued charizard that rainy day—if it truly happened like that; charmander waited on that rock for days, the reason he's alive was a mystery; but there was no doubt in Ash's mind such a rage belonged to no other pokemon.

Ash hiccuped once, tears streaming down his face as he hugged the now-calm pokemon's neck. Both from sadness and joy—charmander was left in the forest alone, but he remembered everything; his pokemon remembered everything.

 **XoX's**

Ash was able to get charizard into a pokeball, courtesy of Misty, who lent him one of hers. His back pack had been knocked off during charizards toss and been ripped open; and so his supplies had been scattered across the field. Fortunately, togepi and pikachu were more than willing to help collect the items while Ash was picked on by Misty. With the excitement over; Ash cradled his sides as Misty took out her first-aid kit.

"I can't believe you." She hissed at him for the umpteenth time that afternoon, pulling off his shirt and exposing his bare chest to the world. Charizard's new pokeball was resting in his cris-crossed legs and he winced at the cold air hitting him. A few of the scratches on his face were already bandaged, but he was black and blue already, though he couldn't see the worst of it—Misty could see clearly where the water guns had hit him; two on his back, and one on his hip; they were already purple—but it was better than broken bones.

"I know..." He hissed as she began to wrap a tenser bandage over his waist mercilessly, getting chills and shudders from Ash, who was no stranger to pain. Luckily, he wasn't as frail as he once was, otherwise, he might have been dead from such an impact.

"You're lucky my pokemon have self control or they could have blasted you through a tree, you know!" She scolded, recalling the weak water guns her three pokemon used to break Ash's fall; he grinned at her.

"It's a lot better than being a pancake." he assured her, his eyes puffy from his tears earlier, but Misty was still sour about the entire situation.

"What in the world possessed you to _run_ at an enraged charizard?" She yelped, and Ash could only sigh.

"You wouldn't understand." he said sadly, rubbing his sore hip bone.

"Try me." She half-ordered, half-challenged him as he looked over his shoulder at her working face as she concentrated on wrapping.

"The look in his eye was...it was was pained—not angry." Ash determined, thought Misty scoffed; having seen its eyes herself, she recalled hatred and anger very lovingly.

Hearing her scoff, he scowled in return; "Charizard and I, we've always had a strained relationship; he never listened to me in my dream world until...well, it took a really long time, and even then he was still very hard to control—most importantly, he was abandoned and if I never found him in this world..." Ash trailed off, but Misty had heard enough.

Sighing, she stroked her hand comfortingly across his back as pikachu pulled a near full back-pack to the duo with his teeth and crawled on top. Togepi followed the mouse and watched the two of them.

"I get it, it was horrible—but don't be so stupid next time. We could have gotten the same results by battling it." She hissed, touching his bruise for emphasis and he shuddered, his fingers twitching in reaction.

"S-sorry." He stammered and Misty dusted her hands off.

"You should probably see a doctor.." She added, standing up slowly and handing him back his soaked shirt; he shook it begrudgingly. Recalling that Misty took his last spare clothes, he decided he would skip the shirt for now, at least until it dried—he wasn't fond of his bandages getting wet, and he was even further from prepared for the chill of the cold shirt against his flesh. Instead, he pulled out his jacket from his back pack, and then neatly pulled it over his shoulders, all the while Misty watched him with worried eyes.

"I'll be fine." He mumbled after a brief silence and then tied his wet shirt to his pack as he tugged it back over his shoulders-only to wince and drop it the very moment it touched his back. Misty sighed.

"Fine, huh?" She growled agitated. Scooping up his bag with her left hand, and throwing it over her left shoulder. Ash could feel her frustration.

"I can do it." He assured her, but Misty's determined look silenced him.

"You're reckless." She hissed, and Ash took a step back; knowing that look in her eye—it was one he was all-too familiar with; having only ever seen it back at the hospital once when he tried to starve himself; and countless times in his dream world. She was about to scold him.

"You're dangerous, and you don't think things through! You're irrational, brash, and you don't think about consequences! You're not in a dream world anymore, Ash! Doing stuff like that has very serious consequences! Look at what happened to you already!" her voice pitched and she stomped her foot. "Do you have any idea what would have happened if charizard had _really_ thrown you? He could have snapped your neck, been paralyzed, or worse, you could have _died_! Is that what you were trying to do, do you still have a death wish!?" Her fingers wrapped around his black jacket collar, threateningly shaking him as she spoke, though her words were menacing, her voice cracked. "Do you even _think_ before you act, Ash!? What if I missed, what if I wasn't here, what if...-"

"I'm sorry, Mist." Ash said pathetically, wincing as he could feel his bones ache each time she shook him, he reached forward to grab her shoulders to calm her down, but she refused to listen and shrugged him off.

"Sorry doesn't fix it, Ash! You need to think before you act! None of this bullshit blowing up at people and reckless behavior! This isn't la-la land anymore, you're not ten, you're not a child and you're not dreaming! You can _die_ here, Ash, we have _consequences_ , do you understand that?!" Misty screamed, latching onto his collar with both hands and bringing him in close; her eyebrows were furrowed, and her lips twitched, but embedded into her eyes, he could see the worry twisted inside and he grimaced, opening his mouth to apologize once again, but couldn't find it in himself.

" _You could have died!_ " She yelled once more for emphasis, scaring the stray birds in the area; her eyes watered, which only made Ash feel worse as he swallowed hard.

"I..." he muttered, glancing at his two pokemon who watched him sadly, with worried eyes—the two of them also judged his poor decision, and Ash looked back to Misty and then off to the side.

"I will try harder not to be so reckless." He assured her weakly, and Misty pushed him slightly, releasing her grasp on him as she staggered backwards.

"You'll do more than _try_." She muttered and then snapped for togepi to jump up into her arms as she turned and walked away from Ash, shoulders high, but head drooped. Ash thought she was disappointed in him, and so he looked down and rubbed his hands; what he didn't see were the silent tears that dripped down her face and onto togepi's head, who she squeezed tightly.

 _He_ _could have died_ , Ash reiterated in his mind, and then squeezed his fists closed.

 **Author's Note**

So, I imagine that in the case of battling a real enemy in the wild, the pokemon would not play by the rules—turns wouldn't matter; it would be about life or death; and given that charizard is who it is, I felt the best way it could release it's anger is by being exactly that! Unlike pikachu, I think that charizard would need to be beaten down before it would open up to Ash, so there's that. We get to see more of charizard in the later chapters, I swear! I also think battles would be way more intense in a real-world battle. Trainer and pokemon would be at risk, if you really think about it—kind of like Origins when Blue's blastoise lands on him.

I also think Ash, being ten-year old mentally that he is (he has matured somewhat, though) would believe that he could run out in front of a battle willy-nilly like he does in his dream world, especially if he believed to some degree that x-pokemon would remember, he would try to interfere in the battle.

Also, I know that Charizard and Gyarados -are not- type/dragon, they're type/flying; but for the sake of writing for them and the story, I stuck with dragon, because that's what they look like, to me, at least. That doesn't mean they have dragon benefits or w/e, but that does mean that's the description they fit. Lol.


	21. Chapter 21: Bill's House pt 1

**Locked Away, Chapter 21**

Misty wouldn't talk to him during their hike. She stayed a few paces a head of him at each interval until they found their way back onto the path that would lead further into route twenty-four; after three hours of simmering anger, Ash was starting to get anxious, and a bit sore from his injuries. He neglected to mention it earlier, primarily because Misty seemed so upset, but he was _sore_. He was almost positive something in his body was cracked, broken, or dying—otherwise, his bruises hurt like hell, especially the one over his left hip.

Yet, Misty kept moving forward, arms tucked tightly around togepi, shoulders still remained unnervingly high, and her head was still drooping, and swaying gently with each step on the ever growing rocky terrain.

Exhaling, he finally found enough courage and strength to walk up to her.

"Are you just not talking to me now?" He asked worriedly while pikachu sulked off to the back, minding his own business-mainly because if the redheads anger was anything like he remembered, he did not want to be caught in the middle of their spat, or near objects that could fly at his face, or smash him. Nope, pikachu watched Ash's pathetic attempt to talk to Misty once again and sighed, Ash was on his own on this.

She didn't answer, and so Ash took that as a yes.

How was he supposed to know? Well, he did _know_ that death was always a contributing factor to any pokemon journey—but he supposed it never made _sense_ until now. Heck, it didn't make much sense right now. He didn't die, after all. In his dreams, no one ever died; not even Jessie and James, who were shocked, beaten and blasted off on a daily basis. Not enemies, not friends, no one. Glancing at the dirt that Misty's shoes knocked up with each step, he shuddered. He supposed he never thought about it, he hadn't thought about a lot of things the last couple of days—in fact, he had been trying his hardest not to—but the silence was killing him.

"Misty, please." He pleaded, eyebrows knit together sadly. With his honest tone of voice, Misty finally heaved a sigh and looked back at him, still snappy—still angry.

"What?" She snapped with eyes like a predator. Ash immediately regretted his decision to get her to talk, but he swallowed hard against the lump that had formed in his throat. With togepi in her arms, and her head turned at him, he couldn't help but think of her as a ten year old again. She still had that same girly scowl that was only partially intimidating.

"What was your pokemon journey like when you were ten?" Ash found himself blurting out quickly, Misty's face faltered, her anger subdued by confusion.

"What?" she asked with a gasp, flabbergasted by Ash's words. Stammering, he spoke first by flailing his arms about nervously.

"Well, I never showed up which means we never traveled together—and...I've never asked." He said quickly, rubbing the back of his neck as he pressed forward beside her, her pace gradually slowed to keep with him.

"Why the sudden interest in it?" She asked monotone, looking forward once more.

"...Just curious?" he lied, and then when he realized she was still too upset to bite, he tried again. "I talk about myself a lot, well, you ask about me a lot—about my dreams, my family, my experiences... but you never tell me about what you used to do. I would like to know." he said awkwardly, scratching his cheek while feeling them deepen into a shade of pink. Misty exhaled, watching him with eyes that weighed the honesty of his confession, deciding if she should speak or not.

After a pregnant silence, Misty clucked her tongue; she would bite. Ash held in the sigh of relief.

"There really isn't a lot to tell. I spent some time in Kanto, tried to catch as many water pokemon as possible—competed in cups, tournaments, really, anything that wasn't official league business; and then moved on through Johto and a small portion of Sinnoh before I came home." she said nonchalantly, rattling it off like a list, rather than an adventure. Ash thought to make a comment about this, but he held it back instead.

"...By why did you go home? Don't you love traveling?" He asked, eyebrows raised. Intrigued, Misty pursed her lips.

"Who said I loved traveling?"

"You did." Ash said with a cheeky grin. Misty rolled her eyes, and let her guard fall slightly at his playful banter.

"I came back after realizing my dreams wouldn't be realized by aimlessly wandering." She admit, sucking on the inside of her cheek. "It was interesting to travel, but it didn't offer a lot of money, and the strain on my pokemon wasn't worth it—that's not including the issues my sisters were having running the gym." Misty told him happily, raising her index finger as if pleased to share the story. Interested, Ash nudged her further along.

"What kind of issues?" He muttered mirthfully and Misty snorted.

"You don't even want to know."

"I do." Ash said, unable to look at her. Misty's face reddened, but she tilted it away from him and exhaled softly.

"They tried to do water shows, I think I mentioned that—and the water shows were always really pricey, but they didn't battle enough to pay the bills of the actors they hired _and_ pay gym fees—so they were constantly hounding me for spare cash. Eventually, I decided it would be easier if I came home and ran the gym myself."

"That's it?" Ash asked, grinning. "After that heroic spat in Pewter City about how you wanted to change the system, you came back because of _that_?"

Misty grinned and shook her head, almost forgetting her anger. "Seeing the world changed me a bit, too... the regions are so different from one another. There's a lot of segregation amongst trainers of all kinds. What really brought me back was Agatha's retirement. Her position still remains open to this day. We're the gimpy Elite-four, we have a stand in for the time being. I plan to feel that gap." She said confidently while looking upward. Clouds were starting to form overhead once more, and it would likely begin to rain.

"Really?" Ash asked amazed, watching her.

She nodded her confirmation; "Really."

"Why didn't you ever mention that before? That there was a spot still open." He dug his hands into his pockets, glancing at togepi who still whistled along, listening with jubilee at the pleasant, conversation the two were finally having—as opposed to their usual bickering, complaining, shouting or general sarcasm.

"Well, I thought you would assume since I said that I applied for the position."

"I just thought you would replace someone in there." Ash said and Misty shook her head gently.

"Once you're in, unless you royally screw up or the champion fires you; you're in it for life until you choose to step down—most people don't, though. That's why Lorelei has been in there for so many years, and Lance and Bruce, too."

"...In it for life?" Ash echoed, "That's not really..."

"Fair? Yeah I know. I don't agree with it, either. Especially since they have so much influence on our world." Misty complained, cocking her jaw to one side and biting down hard on her bottom lip. Ash smiled at her reaction; had it been anyone else, the subtle action might have looked endearing, but with Misty's unrefined personality, it looked borderline menacing.

"You know a lot." Ash said, grinning down at her.

A pause.

"Are you trying to get on my good side with compliments?" She asked with a distinct glare. Ash nearly withered beneath her gaze and pursed his lips.

"...no?" he lied pathetically, though, he grinned. Misty swat him hard on the shoulder and shook her head with a short laugh.

"You're such an idiot."

"But I'm _your_ idiot." he mumbled thoughtlessly.

Misty blushed, almost sputtering at the possessive nature of the statement. "What?" She spat, whipping her head to look at him. Ash blinked nervously.

"What? What did I say?" He said quickly, and Misty's heart roared as she shook her head frantically and started forward faster. He obviously didn't pay attention to the words that came out of his mouth, either.

"...What did I say?!" He shouted after her again, hearing pikachu face-palm hard as he followed after his trainer.

 **XOXs**

Misty should have guessed that the rain would come sooner, rather than later. Not even an hour later, they were drenched under the heavy pelts of Northern Kanto's infamous winter rain storms. Misty prayed, thanking the heavens, that at least it wasn't snowing.

"There's a town out here somewhere, isn't there?" Ash asked, hearing the whipping of the ocean in the distance, carried over by the brewing thunderstorm over head.

It was a quarter past five, and the sun was setting behind the trees in the distance. The familiar nip of winter cut into their flesh and bone, creating shivers were warmth should have been. This close to the ocean, it was colder—much colder. Both huddled beneath a tree, Misty tried to read the map—lost in her anger, she hadn't realized she started on the wrong path to Cerulean City, and they wound up on route twenty-five, heading towards the ocean instead. At least that explained the weather.

Because of charizard, not many people explored out this far anymore. The maps were no longer accurate, and the trail was broken up and partially covered with fallen trees, large rocks, and other natural accidents. Misty faintly remembered that at one point, there was talk about building a trail to pass around route twenty-four, but the rock and trees that the league would be required to cut through was deemed pointless, and so people simply stopped traveling on it.

Ash was just glad he didn't see dead bodies anywhere, or bones; or carcases. After seeing charizard act the way that he did, Ash was convinced he would have seen dead bodies at every corner; though when he mentioned this to Misty, she suggested that trainers avoided route twenty-four. Still, Ash wasn't sure his stomach could hold up for that; not after that stingy dinner they just had. Raisins and bread. That was the last of their rations.

"I'm not sure, I've never been out past route 24!" Misty hissed, retracting the map back into her poncho. She had stashed togepi into her back pack under her poncho as well, too tired to carry the pokemon, and it seemed to fight with her every step when she suggested allowing Ash to hold him. Ash grimaced, and looked ahead. He couldn't even see through the wall of rain and fog that had presented itself before them.

"Maybe we should stop and see if the storm will let up?" Misty suggested quickly, but Ash deflated, watching the last bit of sunlight begin to drift behind the trees. He shivered; his shirt never dried, and he was still only in a jacket, wearing wet pants, and a poncho—he would likely get sick at this rate.

"I know there's a town out here if we just follow the trail." Ash tried, not wanting to admit that he was uncomfortable, and cold, and a lot of other things to Misty. She was distracted by her own mess anyways; her hair was soaked and matted to her face—the shorter strands of her hair pressed against her forehead. He grinned at this inwardly, if someone had asked him the woman he met in the hospital a few months ago would look like this, he would have called them a liar.

Yet, there was a warmth in his belly when he watched a rain drop slither down her frowning features, and off the edge of her chin.

"Ash, the trail has four inches of water on it!" She half-yelled so she would be heard in the heavy rainfall. She motioned to the trail, which Ash had forgotten flooded and pursed his lips before he shrugged.

"We can stay to the tree line; besides, where would we even sleep in weather like this?" He asked, hearing a crackle of thunder roar above him. Shivers sparked down his spine. Misty didn't seem to notice, only shake her damp hair, looking worriedly back at the trail, and then at the muddy ground below her feet.

"You're sure there's a town?" Distressed, Misty asked as her face scrunched up. Ash looked back at her, and blinked once, and then again before nodding.

"I'm sure." Giving her his best smile, he extended his hand out to her, and she sighed. "Trust me."

Obviously uncomfortable with his last statement, her eyebrows knit together and she heaved a very heavy sigh:

"I seem to be doing that a lot lately." She grumbled, mostly to herself as she grabbed his hand and allowed him to pull her forward. More for necessity than anything else. If they got separated in this, their situation could go from bad to worse.

"You're just returning the favor!" Ash shouted back to her as he pulled her along the tree line, marking the safest place to put their feet on roots and rocks as they marched through the terrain. "For all the times I trusted you."

Misty's face contorted, and she fought the urge to face palm—it didn't _work_ like that, she wanted to tell him; that trust wasn't something that could be traded; but he had a point. Thus far, Ash had not been wrong about many things—aside from people, his other observations had been annoyingly accurate. Her grip tightened on his hand as she exhaled.

She had no reason _not_ to trust him.

 **XOXs**

What started as a steady movement through the rain, ended in a scrambled mess of feet and hands and bruises. Ash thanked the heavens that he tucked pikachu away into his bag, because every ten seconds, Misty ran into him.

"Sorry." She hissed into the night, the rain still falling relentlessly around them. Ash would lose his balance briefly, slip into a divot, and have to unwedge his foot between a rock and a root—even the dirt around the trees were starting to give out, and with the lack of light anywhere, they were quite literally, in the dark.

"I just can't see." She added bitterly, trying her best not to bump into Ash once again as she nearly broke his hand with her iron grip.

Again, he wanted to ask her to loosen her reigns, but he was likely holding on just as tight, or maybe even tighter. When Misty slipped, Ash made sure to catch her—and when he slipped, she returned the favor; it was a horrible, muddy, slippery ride, and they were starting to think they weren't going to see the end of this nightmare when a flicker of a light shone in the distance.

Ash gasped, "Did you see that?"

"I did." Misty confirmed right away, struggling to keep her balance beside Ash. Her right shoulder and chest were pressed into his back, sharing the same rock to stand on while they made their way through the treacherous forest.

"That must be that town-" Ash said quickly, looking back to where he believed Misty should be standing, only to knock her backwards with a firm headbutt.

Her fingers recoiled from his hand; but he managed to hold onto her. It almost felt like her shoulder would dislocate when her feet fell out beneath her, her body falling backwards without grace. Her head hurt to, and she did her best to hold the sore spot where Ash's thick skull bonked her.

"Damn it!" She cursed, unable to catch her fall, she was held up from falling backwards, but her feet still slipped into the mud below, and she was standing knee deep in a stream of water.

Ash fought the urge to snort, and tried his best to maneuver her back onto the rock. "I'm sorry." He said, seeing the light flash in the distance once more as he all but picked her up, with her help, of course.

"Are you alright?" He asked, listening to her groan over her mud soaked shoes—luckily they hadn't come off in the stream.  
"I'll be better when we get to that town." She hissed, trying to bite down on her frustration—it wasn't like Ash could control the weather, and _technically_ it had been her fault they went in the wrong direction, anyways.

"Then, let's keep going." He pushed optimistically, firming his hold on her fingers, and listening to her sigh bitterly.

"Hey, Ash," She started, an unfamiliar tone in her voice. "Remember when I had more stamina than you?" She joked, remembering the first day he was out of the nursing home. He scoffed at the memory.

"Yes." he said bitterly.

"What happened?" She grumbled playfully, and Ash finally found himself grinning—the dire mood lifting now that light was in the distance and they could see the flicker of candles in small windows.

He rolled his eyes, smirking. "I recovered."

"But did you?" She asked and Ash stopped abruptly, causing Misty to run directly into him. She bounced off his back, luckily caught herself and stiffened when she felt Ash's eyes on hers. She couldn't see him in the darkness, but she didn't need to.

"Of course I did. What is that supposed to mean?" He asked, clearly insulted. Misty seethed, and pushed him forward gently, to keep moving.

"I don't mean anything by it... it's just you've been so—well, do you want to talk about it?"

"Talk about what?" He snapped, pulling on her arm that she winced as they stepped into a higher part of the trail that lead around the flooded trail, but was flat enough they wouldn't be micromanaging each step. It seemed, almost man-made; which made Misty's heart smile: They were close to town.

"About everything." Misty said and Ash scowled into the darkness.

What was there to talk about? Filter turned off, and too tired to comprehend her questions, he sighed; reflecting his thoughts as an exact question. "What is there to talk about?" He grumbled, and Misty sighed.

"...Never mind." defeated, she shook her head—clearly, he was not ready to open up to her anymore. Or maybe it was just the rain?

They walked the rest of the way in silence, Ash focused more on reaching his goal than on talking with Misty. With her own thoughts directed on the path ahead, she managed to follow safely behind him, and once they stepped onto gravel pathways designed with the flooding trail beside them; their connection broke. Ash dropped her hand the moment they saw the gated community at the end of the weather-ruined trail.

"We made it." Misty breathed, and Ash, wincing, mimicked the sentiment.

"I've never been so relieved." Ash said while pikachu, finally hearing the sound that they made it, squeaked it's excitement. Ash looked over his shoulder at Misty, who seemed winded, and yet still miraculously pristine, even after the long walk.

Catching his gaze, she met him and gave a rusty, devoted smile before slapping him on the back, and pushing him forward. "We're not there yet." She reminded him.

 **XOXs**

They ignored that the pokemon center had cobwebs, they even ignored that the floors were cracked and dirty—they ignored that the door squeaked when they opened it, and that the nurse working was barely awake enough to hand them a room key. They ignored that the nurse took their pokemon, pikachu and togepi included, without sparing a glace at the trainers—and only offering a faint yawn, and a promise they will be better in the morning.

They also ignored that the room they were assigned was in poor condition, and that the curtains were torn, and the bathroom had mold—and even that the furniture was stained.

What they couldn't ignore was that it had only a single bed.

Misty's face twitched insistently, to be placed in such a predicament. She wanted to go back to the nurse and complain, demand a better room—but service took thirty minutes the first time, she was afraid she would fall down before she came back the second time. Under her weight and soaked clothes, her legs wobbled, her knees chattered together, and Ash was in no better condition.

"I..I'll go ask for a transfer." He started painfully, but Misty kept him where he was by latching on his shoulder.

"It's okay." Misty murmured. "You need to sit down before you fall down." She suggested, pointing to the stained, plaid couch resting opposite of the bed. Ash raised his eyebrows, thinking she was speaking for herself. Simultaneously, they crashed into the surface of the itchy material, and coiled.

Ash hissed, his bruises catching fire as he sat; while Misty rubbed her face—they hadn't even bothered to discard their ponchos yet; in fact, they had dripped a puddle in the lobby of the pokemon center while they waited, but what else were they supposed to do? It wasn't as if they had the ability to understand common courtesy right now.

"Do you think we should have brought pikachu and togepi with us?"

"Pikachu is burned, togepi's shell re-cracked, they need to have a professional look at them." she said breathlessly, catching Ash's lazy eye. He didn't move his head when he looked at her.

"Did she seem like a professional to you?" He snorted jokingly.

Misty groaned. "She seemed tired."

Ash blinked, "I'm tired."

"..Me, too." Misty added hoarsely, her entire body aching—though as she tilted her head to look at Ash, she swallowed.

"But I imagine you're feeling worse. How's your back, and your hip?" She asked quickly, taking Ash by surprise—he had been convinced that she forgot. Shifting, he adjusted his position for more comfort and sighed. She brought it up to imply that he should sleep on the bed; but how could he? Misty was a woman. His mom did teach him manners—even if that was over ten years ago.

"Better." He lied. His injuries felt worse—but they were _nothing_ compared to the damage he had received his first few hours being off his pain killers the first time—no, this was a numbing pain.

"Go have a shower." he added, almost demanded while limply pointing at the bathroom.

"No, no, it's okay. You go have a shower." She mouthed, eyes already shut.

"No, I insist." He started, shuddering. The pokemon center was warm compared to outside; and even their damp clothes felt heated in the small room.

"No...Ash, you should. You're injured." she tried, attempting to wag her hand at him, but it was more of a shift, and less of a scold.

"Ladies first." Ash slurred his words, tilting over until his head fell on top of her shoulder, and he clocked out; followed shortly after by Misty's head on top of his, and a faint snore from the both of them. Exhaustion won. It didn't matter that the lights were on, or that they were still soaked from head to toe.

What mattered is that they were safe, their pokemon were safe, they survived the rain and forest, and neither of them were dead.

 **XOXs**

When Misty woke up, the sun hadn't even started to rise yet—she had slept through the night; to the point that her poncho felt humid over her skin, and her body ached from the strangled position she was in. She wasn't sure right away, but it felt like a body was collapsed beside her, or she was laying on the body; or the body was laying on her.

Cracking one eye open, her green orbs made their way to the body beside her—faint snores erupted from his lips. At some point during the night, he had snuggled into the arm rest, and taken her with him. His left arm was draped around the long of her back, and his right was wrapped tightly around her shoulders, keeping her up against his chest. Her legs were sprawled out across the couch, one was kicked over the other armrest, but the other had been draped over Ash's knee.

She licked her lips, her mouth was dry, even though they had been running all night through the rain. She blinked once to clear the sleep from her eyes. Her one arm was tucked close to her body, with the other one neatly above Ash's arm, and tangled somewhere in his mess of black hair. Oh boy, she hoped he didn't wake up. Trying to explain this would have taken her awhile. Her cheeks flushed a deep red—then again, Ash wasn't the brightest about _this_ , so he wouldn't even notice what the issue was.

Shifting, he shifted with her. Smacking his lips, she saw the faintest bit of drool coming out of his mouth, and she fought the urge to chuckle as she twisted her fingers around his left arm, and slowly uncoiled it until it was resting against the cushion of the couch. Then she moved slowly, wiggling her way over his legs, and out of his right arms grasp. She fell to the floor quietly, her feet more sore than she thought as she stripped off her poncho the second she was able to stand again.

With one more glance at Ash, she smirked. He looked so insanely peaceful sleeping beside her; his face flushed gently, his mouth parted gently, and a look of serenity. She smiled bitterly at the image. He almost looked as young as he felt. Gently, she brushed a strand of his hair from his face, and dipped her head to look closer at him.

He was nothing like the boy she found ten years ago; but even more so, he was nothing like the shell of the man he was five months ago. His cheeks were round around the edges, but boney enough to show his masculine features—below his eyes, strange birth marks that seemed to take up half of his face as a child, now were barely visible scars beneath his eyes. Misty tilted forward to get a better look at the lightning-bolt shaped marks and blinked once; she hadn't noticed them there before.

He swallowed in his sleep, and took in a breath of air as he rolled over, adjusting his position to suit the lack of body draped over him now, and Misty reeled backwards, in fear that he would wake up. His lips were turned into a soft smile, and his eyebrows twitched—even though he was filthy from the mud and grim, he still look genuinely happy, like a kid trapped in an adults body.

"Pikachu...charizard..." he snored louder, turning onto his back, breathing his list. "Squirtle, bulbasaur..." he grumbled, while she smiled sweetly at him, and then took steps backwards to shake her head.

How many pokemon had he captured in his dream land? How many of those were real? Misty paused at the thought, looking over her shoulder at him—what if they were _all_ real? What if there were more than the 200 some that they knew about. Her face paled at the idea before she gathered her back pack and dragged it to the bathroom with her.

She stripped out of her still-damp clothes, the quiet morning allowing her the necessities to fight back the pounding headache most likely caused from dehydration. Resting the bag on top of the counter, she rummaged through the contents to find her discarded tights and athletic tank top from her first day out of Cerulean City and shook her head. She really needed to rethink her wardrobe.

She removed her white sports bra, and underwear and tossed them onto the counter beside her clothes before hobbling over to the shower and turning the creaking faucet on. It took a moment for the water to start—thanks to the back-hill town they were in, but once it did; the water refused to heat up. After waiting several minutes, she decided she would shower in cold water, and took the complimentary shampoos and conditioner in with her.

What was she going to do now? The piercing ice water stung her skin and she recoiled only slightly—it was still warmer than yesterdays rain. She needed to go back to the gym, to get her job as an Elite Four, she needed to be present for orientations, for check ups, for observations, and for any tasks that the league requested of her. Most importantly, she needed to be _present_. Even if she didn't do perfect on the exams, she didn't pass the interviews with flying colors—she was the only gym leader applying for the position right now: All that was required of her at this point was showing a direct interest in the program, and accountability.

She was so close... A brief image of Ash flashed through her eyes when she brushed her fingers over scorched arm hair, and then rubbed the back of her neck, removing dirt that had accumulated there over the last couple of days. What was Ash going to do if she left? She couldn't leave him... She swallowed hard, staring up at the shower head. Maybe she could convince him to go back to the gym? Or to Viridian; or some place _safe_ and far, far away from crazy charizards, or _other_ dangerous pokemon from his dream.

Remembering the way charizard blew over them like a dragon caused her to shiver more than the water. Whether or not Ash would admit it or not, the fire type pokemon had every intention to kill them or run them off—Gyarados, she cursed and pinched the bridge of her nose, was injured drastically in the battle—not even a day in the pokemon center would be enough to heal such a wound. She would likely be out her strongest pokemon for a solid week after that attack.

Charizard had _intended_ to _kill_ gyarados, even after Ash said that it recognized him. While she was fearful for Ash's safety, and his reckless behavior; she was _more_ worried about what was going to happen when he tried to _use_ charizard in a battle. Her head spun at the thought, and she finished up her business without another thought on the issue—right now, she just wanted to wash herself, and figure out where they were, and what they were going to do next.

When she stepped out of the bathroom, feeling rather icy, Ash was already up, looking dead off his feet while leaning forward. She smirked at the image and raised her eyebrows.

"Sore, are ya?"  
He glared at her, or what she could assumed was supposed to be a glare—he looked more like a beaten animal and was glowering at her. "I wouldn't be if you weren't so heavy." he grumbled, and Misty's nerves ruffled.

So he did know!

"Excuse me?" She hissed. "I am not heavy!" She added, scarlet while he pointed at her.

"Do you strangle your pillows like that too? Because I think at one point I stopped breathing." He mocked her with an egotistic grin that made her skin crawl.

She stomped her feet and glared down at him. He had removed his poncho, and was now only sitting in his buttoned up black jacket, and yesterdays mud covered jeans. Dark bags hung below his eyes, and Misty inhaled sharp.

"I—you!" She hissed, unable to find the correct words for the feeling budding into her chest as she gazed into his tired brown eyes.

"Shut up." She settled, flicking her wet hair at him and turning away on her heels to fetch his bag and throw it at him. He raised an eyebrow as if challenging her about the weak rebuttal. She added hotly; "Go shower."

"Yes, mom." He grunted sarcastically, and Misty pressed her tongue against the inside of her cheek to contain her rage; though, when she looked at Ash, she noticed the slightly pink tinge that decorated his cheeks, and she cocked her head to the side forgivingly.

"S-shut up." She tossed out, getting an abnormally bright smile in return as Ash sulked off to the bathroom for a shower.

 **XOXs**

So, she wasn't that heavy. Really, Ash was sore because he was bruised everywhere. He looked at himself in the mirror, his body was black and blue. Where Misty's pokemon hit him with a water gun were the darkest; yellow formed around the redish purple bruises, but nothing was as bad as the one decorating his hip joint. He was yellow from his right hip to his waist, and half way down his thigh. His _everything_ down there hurt and he grunted while messing up his hair. Along with that, his upper arms and part of his chest were bruised as well from where charizard had picked him up. He shoulders were splotchy from landing on rocks, and he could only wonder what Misty looked like... or rather, what she _didn't_ look like.

She was, once again, wearing that skin tight yellow tank top and black tights; and he couldn't see a visible bruise anywhere on her—while he was a walking sack of mashed potatoes. He looked down at himself, even his calves and his knees were distinctly messed up. Ash couldn't see her legs—not that he was thinking about them to begin with-but he could only assume she lacked bruises there, as well. Grimly, he flexed, only to throw his hands down on the counter and hang his head.

Breathing _hurt_.

He must have cracked something—maybe a rib?

Did he need to see a doctor for that? He wasn't sure, but he hoped not. He twisted his neck side to side and clamored slowly into the shower, which like Misty, he realized was not going to warm up at all. Unlike Misty, the icy water was like needles on his flesh. Where she was mostly exposed to the cold air of the centers spare room, Ash was almost literally _smothered_ by Misty in his sleep, and her warmth radiated.

When she left, so did the warmth, and only then did Ash realize how soaked his clothes still were when he woke up with a freezing start. Inhaling, a blush scrawled over his face as he listened to the door outside of the bathroom open and then close—the squealing hinges unmistakable.

Faintly, he could still recall her fingers in his hair, and he scratched shampoo through his scalp viciously to forget the feeling: What in hell was he thinking? Should he be weird about sleeping beside her so _closely?_ Technically, they did sleep almost just as close on the road, whether they admit it or not—it shouldn't have been that weird. Yet, he couldn't get the red blush off his face—he had no idea how he managed to keep it together so well when he saw her exit the washroom.

Shaking his head fiercely, he tried to think of something else—like charizard, but his mind kept racing back to the warmth of Misty's body wrapped up against his. Panicked, he slammed his forehead against the shower wall, cursing loudly and holding his forehead. That would be a great way for Misty to find him, unconscious and naked because he threw his _own_ head into the shower wall. _Great job_ he thought to himself sarcastically.

As he scrubbed his upper arms and shoulders, he thought breathlessly as his fingers ran down his bruised abdomen and back. Maybe this was what Dr. Abby told him about? About moving on? About the weird things that would happen to him after hitting... _puberty_. Is that what she called it?

Ash sighed.

But why _Misty_ of all people?

 **XOXs**

Nearly half an hour later, Ash emerged from the wash room looking fresh while Misty cleaned her nails. She laid on her back on the bed.

"You didn't go get breakfast, or the pokemon?" Ash asked, eyebrows raised while he fidgeted in his choice of clothing. Misty whistled.

"Pokemon center isn't open yet. Breakfast is across the street." She said flatly as her eyes snaked over to look at Ash, and she snorted unapologetic at his tragic clothes.

"W _hat_ are you wearing?" A goofy grin plastered across her face as she sat up on her elbows to look at him better. Ash's face was a deep shade of red, and he glared at her while touching his lips.

Under her intense gaze, he struggled to keep his cheeks from heating up. "You wore my set of spare clothes... all I have left are my pajamas..."

"But they're _red._ " She hissed to keep a laugh buried. " _Bright red_." She corrected, throwing her head back in laughter. He shuddered and pouted at her.

"Hey! I wouldn't be in this right now if I didn't _share_ with _you_!" He whined, more embarrassed than he cared to admit. Misty wiped a stray tear from her eye and snorted vehemently towards him.

"Oh, Ash." She shook her head and stood up, patting him on the shoulder as she lead him out of the room. "What would I do without you?"

"I know what I would do without you." He responded bitterly. Misty raised her eyebrows.

She grinned; "What's that?"

"Have a change of clothes." he said and against his better judgment, he joined Misty in a bellyful of laughter.

 **XOXs**

"So I remembered where I knew this town from last night." He said while Misty chugged back her second glass of water, chasing it with a sip of freshly brewed coffee. She didn't even care that a few coffee grounds were still at the bottom—it was _coffee_. Ash chuckled at her nature and rubbed his neck.

Pikachu would surely be mad that they went to breakfast without him; togepi would probably get upset at the both of them. Hopefully not mad enough to pout all day. Charizard would..maybe he should get something for charizard?

"Mmm?" Misty asked, taking a mouthful of eggs and hash browns and shut her eyes pleasantly. "This food is orgasmic. I never thought I would miss food so much."

Ash's face fell; "O-orgasmic?" he stuttered, swallowed his own mouthful of pancakes. Surprised by her use of the word so carelessly in the open.

"You wouldn't know." Misty said with eyebrows raised; confused by his meaning.

Ash scowled, "I would."

"Would not." She corrected, pointing her fork at him. "Anyways, where did you recognize this town from?"

Ash's face beamed at the question, and he blinked happily and nodded while snapping his fingers: "The squirtle squad! This is where I caught my squirlte."

"...It's not by some chance evolved into some kind of crazy blastoise, right? I am not sure I can handle two battles like that back to back..." Her words could not have come out in more of a frustrated tone and Ash snickered.

"No, he never evolved." Ash said and looked down at his plate of food, and then back up to Misty. "Do you think we could find him here? Maybe visit with charizard for awhile...?"

"Are you crazy?" Misty asked, nearly dropping her fork. "You are not letting that pokemon out in town. What if he goes psycho again?" Misty asked with her eyebrows knit together. Her voice raised high enough that she drew the attention of the waiter, and he wondered back over to visit with the two trainers.

"Did you say charizard?" the waiter asked, staring at Misty and Ash. Misty's face scrunched up.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Where abouts did you two say you came from?" The chef behind the counter asked them. Misty looked at Ash, and then Ash replied.

"Cerulean City? We came through route 24." Ash remarked quickly, and the diner was met with silence.

"..and you managed to defeat the beast there?" The waiter beside them mumbled, his fingers rattling against the tray he hugged against his chest.

"Me? No, Misty did." Ash pointed at her, grinning like a small child, but Misty had started to shake her head violently—her way of refusing the acknowledgment.

A moment of silence washed through the small diner, and people at all tables were staring at Ash and Misty. She gulped.

"W-we're sorry?" She added, slinking into her chair. Her worried expression caused Ash to worry; did he say something wrong? He turned to the waiter, who was borderline trembling, and then shook his head; breaking the silence with a cry.

"Thank you!" He screamed, bowing his head at Misty, who in turn looked mortified and pointed at Ash.

"W-what?" Misty asked in unison with Ash.

"Thank you! You've cleared the path! That means we can open up trade routes once more! Please, tell us your name so we can thank you properly."

"Ahh...no, that's okay..." "Her name is Misty Waterflower, and she's the gym leader of Cerulean City." Ash bud in quickly, interrupting her.

"A gym leader..." Whispers filled the diner and the glare she directed towards Ash could have rivaled the devil; she kicked him under the table.

"What are you doing?" She whispered, and he narrowed his eyes.

"Getting you the recognition you deserve!" He hissed back as the waiter began to clap.

"Well, Misty Waterflower; you and your friend's meal is on the house today, for our eternal gratitude! Please! If you need anything!" He said, but another lady, a younger woman around Misty's edge butt in.

"You're Misty Waterflower; aren't your sisters the _Sensational Sisters_?"

"..Yeah, that's them." Misty mumbled, and Ash took this as his cue to leave, slipping behind one of the girls who were lining up to talk with Misty.

"Ash!" Misty called to him, panic in her eyes. "Ash, don't you leave me here, damn it!" She screamed while he flashed her a toothy grin paired with a thumbs up, and ran out of the diner.

 **XOXs**

He felt _a little_ bad about abandoning her in the diner with the swarm of people asking her questions—but it was nice, for once, to see her getting credit for her good deeds. _Maybe_ , Ash thought, if people started to acknowledge that not all gym leaders were bad, Misty would have a better shot at getting into the Elite-Four; maybe even _change_ that mind set of the people... if only a little. He also needed a break from her; anytime she looked at him his skin would crawl and his face would heat up; he needed ten minutes, max.

Honestly, Ash was proud of himself. Surely, Misty would grow to thank him—if Charizard was known around Kanto as a huge thorn in peoples sides; his defeat would sound off like a beacon; and maybe it was the push Misty needed?

Ash stuffed his hands into his soft, red pants pockets and hummed to himself, inhaling the crisp morning air. The town was small, with many of the buildings closed up and some windows boarded. It was obviously a struggling town. Ash ignored the faint glances given to him by a few people walking to work in the morning—and ignored the older, upset looking faces.

Ash yawned while walking back into the pokemon center where a lazy nurse clipped her nails at the front desk. He shuddered, recalling the time he clipped his toe nails on the coffee table back home—Misty almost throttled him. With a grimace, Ash looked forward and rubbed his neck. Since when had he considered the gym _home_? Sparing one more glance at the diner, he could see Misty at the table glaring coldly at him through the window. He grinned to himself, and shut the old-fashioned wooden door behind him. Unlike most pokemon centers, this one did not have automatic doors and so once the door was shut, the morning light was cut out, and he was in the musky building once more.

"Hey, I came to check on my pokemon." Ash muttered while looking at the clock. He and Misty had slept for nearly twelve hours.

Ash wanted to sigh; they were both exhausted from their journey. Recalling the ache in his shoes and the stinging of his muscles, he wondered if this was what all travelers dealt with on a daily basis? Horrible weather. Breakfast was nice at least, but he, glancing over his shoulder, wasn't the least bit remorseful about leaving her with the bill—she did, after all, laugh at his red pajamas.

"Mmm, the gyarados still needs some treatment, but that pikachu and togepi are all fixed up." Her dull voice pulled Ash out of his thoughts and he looked into her tired, brown eyes as she raised her arms in a yawn.

"And that charizard," she addressed, almost hostilely. "Have you known each other long?" She asked, and Ash nodded quickly.

"Yes, a very long time."

A pause.

"He is ready as well, but I don't suggest summoning him in town. People here don't like charizards very much." She admit while rubbing the back of her neck. At her words, Ash thought better than to admit to keeping the same charizard that terrorized route twenty-four for the last few years, so he took the pokeball and cleared his throat.

"Yeah, no problem" he choked as togepi and pikachu wobbled out of the medical room, yawning.

"Piiikaaaa pi!" The mouse yawned, jumping onto the counter while togepi stumbled around until it threw itself against Ash's feet. He paid neither any attention, staring down at charizard's ball with a lost expression.

"Thank you." He tossed aimlessly, and then turned around. Togepi and pikachu shared a worried look, before the two of them followed Ash out into the streets.

The thunderstorm from last night had mostly cleared, the clouds were still present above—but the smell of rain had long since faded. The streets were inactive as well, so many people appeared to sit at the diner, but on the outside, few people moved. Ash might have noticed these things if he weren't entranced by charizard's ball, weighing his options.

At some point, he was going to need to summon the pokemon to talk. Smooth things over. Their last reunion wasn't the best, and he had a feeling that charizard hadn't exactly forgiven him—but he was sure that once he _explained_ what happened, charizard would be more than happy to assist Ash in his journey to collect the rest of his pokemon.

Ash's face snapped up, looking into the pathway that would lead out of town. _A journey, huh?_ He thought bitterly, wondering when he had decided that was his next plan. Ash originally set out with the intention to find his mother—but now, he would look for his pokemon? He shook his head, amazed that he had decided subconsciously before realizing it himself. Really, though, what else could he do?

Ash marched through the trail, weaving and jumping over fallen branches and puddles left over from the rain. Togepi and pikachu played behind him—making a game out of it. They jumped rock to rock avoiding the mud and water.

Would Misty come with him? He wondered briefly, and then shook his head. No, he wouldn't let her. She had her dreams to take care of: joining the Elite Four.

...Yet the idea of traveling alone made his bruises ache even more than the walk. A reminder that if Misty hadn't been there, he might be _dead._

The crack of the tide against rocks brought his attention forward, where he saw the rough and ruined lighthouse in front of him; bricks scattered around the area, falling into the ocean in clumps and Ash inhaled. The storm? He marched from the hill top he was standing at, making his way quickly from the trail to the lighthouse, leaving pikachu and togepi alone, calling after him.

On his way down, he felt charizard's pokeball vibrate, and he winced once, and then twice when a shot of red lightning bolted from the ball, halting him from pursuing the lighthouse.

A deafening roar had Ash covering his ears, and he looked terrifyingly at the dragon-esque pokemon which had forced himself out of the pokeball. Worry in his eyes, Ash gulped and took a step back as togepi and pikachu rushed forward blindly, standing boldly between the dragon and Ash. However, charizard made no attempt to move. It was still fairly beaten up, its tail flame was low, but the glare behind its yellow eyes made Ash's breath halt in his chest.

"Pika!" The mouse cried to him, yammering on and on about who Ash was; but Ash could see clearly that charizard remembered him—he simply didn't care until Ash took a step back, and charizard let out another growl, which he thought sounded more like a whimper.

It moved its heavy body against the dirt path, sliding its tail along the ground, leaving claw marks and tail marks along the dirt below him as pikachu argued and pressed his paws against the pokemon to keep him from getting nearer to Ash. Begging him to 'calm down'. Neither wanted to hurt each other though. Togepi attempted to stop charizard in the same way, but ended up being rolled to the side.

Again, charizard let out a pained grunt, his nostrils flaring. Against his better judgment, Ash stood his ground and stared eye-level with charizard, who after reaching Ash, simply dropped his head, and nuzzled his dull horns against Ash's neck.

Frozen by fear, Ash's heart started beating once more at the affectionate touch, and Ash wrapped his arms around charizard's long neck, and brushed his hand against him gently. An apology, of sorts, Ash thought. A sorry for nearly throwing you, for battling you, for getting so angry...and something else...

"What happened while I was gone, charizard?" Ash asked, finally regaining his voice.

The pokemon, still looking devastated, twisted its head away from Ash, and then with pikachu backing away to check on togepi once more, charizard nudged Ash aside, and started to sift the mud in several directions; digging.

"Is there something down there?" Ash asked awkwardly, eying togepi and pikachu for support; the later rushing forward to assist in digging. Ash sighed.

 _So much for clean clothes_. He thought bitterly before getting onto his knees, and assisting with the removal of dirt. Togepi, sitting on a rock a foot away, gave a loud, disappointed sigh and closed his eyes. Someday, he would be able to help more. He opened his eyes to watch Ash dip his bare hands into the mud faithfully, pulling out Pikachu and pushing aside charizard's snout as he grasped something firm in the ground. A bead of sweat which had formed on his forehead because of the humidity trailed down his face and dripped into the dirt.

"What's this?" He asked skeptically, and charizard bolted backwards, letting out a cry of deep frustration; though his meaning was lost on Ash—it wasn't lost on pikachu who seemed to recognize the object beneath the dirt.

"Stone?" Ash asked, digging further with his hands and disregarding charizard's behavior. "This must have washed away with the storm." Ash added, while tucking his hands beneath the object to pull it out. It was heavy, _too_ heavy to pull out on his own, so quickly, charizard swooped back down with tears in its eyes and shoved Ash out of the way, thrusting him into the dirt.

"Hey! What was that for!" Ash yelled, mud splotches covering his rear and legs entirely as he pushed himself up onto his palms. Pikachu sat frozen in spot seeing the full figure of the stone _statue_ and Ash blinked awkwardly, watching the bulky dragon place the object onto the muddy terrain.

Ash paused. "Is that...? A statue of a warturtle?" Ash asked while rising, trying to press the mud off of his palms by using his red pants. Charizard's blatant silence caused Ash to blink as he moved forward to better examine the statue; it was oddly detailed, to the point that each wrinkle, each crevice and mark was highlighted perfectly. Ash brushed his finger tips against the pokemon's face, and his heart ached.

"...This isn't..." Ash trailed off, looking between pikachu and charizard who hung their heads; the first beginning to tear up only now that the realization was made.

It wasn't a statue. _It_ was warturtle, his _squirtle._

 **Author's Note:**

The second part of this chapter will be up sometime in the next few hours, but this chapter was getting too long, so I decided to break it into two parts -sighs- See you all in a few!


	22. Chapter 22: Bill's House pt2

**Locked Away, Chapter 22**

What was it that Misty's sisters had told her? When assaulted by affection; bail?

No, it was probably to sign autographs, but Misty's first instinct was to bail. She cursed Ash's name under her breath, fighting through the streets which were dirt rather than pavement, and found solace in an alley behind the diner she was eating in. She rounded the building and found herself seated amongst some trash cans, visualizing Ash's demise by her own hands. After everything she's done for him! Her fingers twitched, and she glanced over her shoulder once to see the crowd of people die down suspiciously. From the corner of her eye, she watched as the bright-red clad trainer, Ash, leave the pokemon center with togepi and pikachu following him aimlessly.

For a moment, she thought to follow him, until she saw _someone_ else was already doing just that. Misty's eyes narrowed as she watched the figure crouch in the shadows behind Ash, and then dart out of the buildings like a ninja would. Her eyebrows furrowed. What in the world? Pushing out of the alley, she watched the town, only to see that the creature, or person—whatever it was, had vanished into thin air, and her breath caught into her throat.

"Misty! There you are! Can you tell me what pokemon you used to clear the path? My daddy can start pulling carts again!"

 _Carts?_ Misty thought rather confused, thinking she had flash backed into the distant past—she hadn't heard someone use _carts_ since she was a child—and that was only for fun; not for actual transportation! The adoration in the young woman's voice made Misty's skin crawl—she had never been refereed to in such an affectionate way, and she choked from shock.

"Yeah, sure! Just give me..." She looked away, toward the pokemon center. "I just have.. you know, business!" she muttered before hopping away from the approaching woman, leaving the fan standing in front of the diner, blinking.

Misty had no idea where she was going; only that she was _going_. Anywhere else as fast as possible. She wasn't sure what was wrong with her, wasn't the publicity great? People knowing that Misty defeating Charizard of route twenty-four would be something to brag about, but something. _Something_ about this level of appreciation just stung her the wrong way.

For a split second, she wondered if these types of affection were normal in Ash's world. If this was something he dealt with all the time. Overwhelming gratitude of this extent, Misty had seen-well, aside from the first time Ash told her thank you sincerely— _never_.

People were never so friendly—to pay for her meal, to offer to usher her around the town, to offer to pay for her lodging. Something had to be off—maybe it was in her nature to be naturally paranoid, but she couldn't stop herself. This was _wrong_.

She dipped behind the service area, and found her way to the other side of the town; the small town. _Extremely small town_ consisted of the pokemon center; the diner across from the pokemon center, and a small strip that looking like a shopping unit. The only houses around were near the diner, and they were boarded up. Looking up, she saw the tower with a lit signal beacon at the very top, and she felt her fingers twitch.

For a town that looked to be starving and decrepit—they had wonderful service, great clothes, and the food was plentiful and _normal_. Nothing like how one would imagine. With route twenty-four cut off, this town's 'primary' trade route, there was no reason their goods and services should have been so neatly maintained. With this in mind, she looked around once more—taking in each person.

The waiter who brushed some dirt away from the welcome mat outside of the diner had tattoos running up his forearm, and freshly busted knuckles. He tucked a cigarette behind his ear—but his pleasant demeanor he presented to Ash and Misty that morning was null and void; in fact, he looked angry. The chef from that morning hollered at him, and rather than replying coolly, he threw up his arm.

"Shut the hell up, I'm tryin' to work here!" He yelled, throwing the broom against the front of the diner and storming inside. From there, she could see the chef point around the diner, until the knife he was holding was directed at Misty, who was now standing in the open. She could see through the windows on this overcast morning and see that the waiter's face paled, almost like he was nervous that he had been caught acting _out of character_. Misty steeled herself and then turned to walk down the main street, where a few shops were set up.

Again, thug-like people forcing smiles over their faces, and Misty shuddered watching each of their faces smile at her, and the moment she walked past them, frowning at her.

Something was wrong.

 **XOXs**

It made sense now, why charizard lost his mind. Someone, no, _something_ turned warturtle to stone. Something scary and menacing—enough that charizard refused to talk about it, and so much so that Ash wasn't sure what to say himself. His friend, his old friend he hadn't seen...well, he had never seen in the real world was a statue. Ash pressed his head against the stone body once, pressing his forehead against warturtle's forehead and muttered short sorrows that were recuperated by his pokemon who shared in his pain.

That morning, he busied himself with cleaning up around the statue, placing flowers at the foot of the pokemon and making sure it was a place away from the run off of the trail so it would not collapse again. With the help of charizard, he found a hill to place the determined statue on top of, and took a few steps back to admire his work. It wasn't the best, but the way warturtle over looked the ocean, staring at Bill's laboratory threw a knife into Ash's heart.

After that, Ash sulked back into town, covered in mud once more. He had long since returned charizard, who still need more recovery time from the battle, and pikachu was on his shoulder. Having shed a few pounds since the start of their journey already, pikachu was much lighter, but honestly, Ash couldn't feel the pokemon's weight resting on his shoulder. He should have, his aching muscles screamed at him to stop moving so much—but he couldn't find it in himself to care.

 _Death_ was a consequence of this world. He repeated to himself, sucking in air as he found himself standing outside the pokemon center, carrying togepi. Their faces were all drawn, and his was the gloomiest of all. A cloud hung over his head as he pushed the door open and made his way to his room without sparing a word to the nurse who tugged at her blonde hair and rocked in her chair.

Ash expected to see Misty seated there, waiting for him. Prepared to yell at him for skipping out on her earlier, but what he found was a set of new clothes and a quick note scrawled on top of them.

 _"Went shopping since you -scratched out- bailed on me. I went to check out the town. I'll be back before lunch._

 _With -scratched out- anger,_

 _Misty"_

Even in his sour mood,Ash snickered at the two words scratched out, "fucking" and "with love". She always tried her best not to curse around him—for whatever reason, and after spending a month with her sisters, he became well aware that she refused to show affection when she was infuriated, thus, removing the word 'love'. He smiled in spite of himself as pikachu ducked onto the bed with a silent, painful cry.

"...Yeah, I know buddy..." Ash mumbled hurtfully.

"...Toge...brii.." The egg pokemon commented, getting a startled look from Ash as he eyed the pokemon suspiciously.

"How would you know that, togepi?" He asked, squatting down to watch the egg pokemon. It seemed to flatten under Ash's gaze, and rather than answering him, he found his way to pikachu and tucked himself in beside the yellow mouse. Ash stood up and frowned at the two of them before pulling the outfit off the bed and knocking the note onto the floor.

He was always a fighter, togepi had told him—but he wondered how the egg would know that as he shifted into the new clothes—a black t-shirt and dark blue jeans.

 **XOXs**

There was no doubt about it by this point; Ash had rubbed off on her. If she never met him, she would never be in this situation, she would never be standing here, and she would _never_ be picking the lock on the door to the pokemon center. This was simply something _Misty_ would never do. She wasn't adventurous, she wasn't brave; she was hot-headed, sarcastic, and blunt. She wasn't some kind of super hero searching for answers to unknown questions! She was a gym leader in Cerulean City, she was the top candidate for the Elite Four, and _for fucks sake_ she was not this curious. _Ever_.

Yet, here she was, squat below a tall trash can, picking the lock for the back door into the pokemon center she _just_ walked out of. To make herself look busy, she purchased a new set of clothes for Ash, just to save face with the _people_ of this town. They didn't have a mayors office; and if they didn't think she wouldn't notice that the market place was wooden cut outs of buildings used as stage props they were _insane_ _and_ stupid!

She knew something was fishy about this town. Did Ash know too? Should she have asked Ash before she ran off to break into the pokemon center?

She rolled her eyes, _she_ might have asked had he been around! No, he ran off without her and this is what he does to her. He makes her crazy! _And_ stupid!

The lock gave away, and she retracted the bobby pin and paper clip she had stuck in there; thanking Violet mentally for teaching her such a 'pointless' skill. Misty mocked herself in her own mind, and pushed the door open slowly. Inside, unlike the rest of the town, it was metallic and sleek—up to date with technologies, and more than that, it was fitted with computers and cameras; cameras for the diner, Ash and Misty's bedroom—the main street. Only, no one was currently sitting in the room to monitor the screens.

Custom to normal pokemon centers, Misty noticed that it had the healing rack inside, and she checked for gyarados' pokeball—marked by a green dot she carved into the front, and removed the ball without permission. The pokemon center was spying on the whole flipping town! What little town there was! She side stepped away from the large cameras, to the cracked door which light shone in from—she noticed right away that it was the shady lobby they walked into, and could hear the lazy nurse on the phone.

 _A phone_ that shouldn't have worked, because there were clearly no telephone towers around, and she hadn't seen a single cable since she walked into this town.

"Yes, sir." The nurse said, her tone of voice cold, unlike the dull voice she used when speaking to Ash or Misty.

"The charizard was dealt with... by who? Some Misty Waterflower—a gym leader." her voice sounded professional, almost trained and Misty exhaled sharp at the mention of her name.

"She's traveling with some kid with black hair who owns a pikachu and a togepi. No sir, I haven't gotten a name for him yet. Yes sir, I'll figure it out." Her eyebrows knit together suspiciously, and Misty wasn't sure what to think about this, so she swallowed hard against the lump forming in her throat and held her mouth to prevent any noise.

"No, they haven't noticed. They seem to just be passing by anyways. I don't think they captured the charizard. We have a group looking for the charizard now."

At that, a strangled noise erupted from the back of Misty's throat, and she shook her head to get a grip. The nurse turned quickly at the cracked door, and Misty made a B-line to the door she had entered from, and dipped behind the picked door and shut it quickly behind her.

Misty wasn't sure if she had been caught, frankly, she did not care, she could deny most things, couldn't she? Her mind froze—but what if there were cameras on the pokemon center, too? Wouldn't they have seen her at the back door.

Shit. Misty swore mentally and spun on her heels, only to run into the very same waiter who served her this morning.

"Is there a reason you're snooping around?" He asked harshly his raspy voice running chills down her spine. Misty's shoulders stiffened, her fight or flight senses kicked in and she looked up at him with wild eyes.. She was quickly made aware of the height difference between the two of them, and clenched her fists closed.

"Ah, not snooping—just trying to find my way back to the diner to pick up some lunch." Misty said quickly, and the man raised his eyebrows.

"It's barely ten." he said matter-of-fact and Misty forced a smile. In the bright light, she could see the dark green of his hair stand out, and she winced inwardly, keeping up appearances.

"For the road, you know, we're travelers so we're very busy." She offered slyly, forcing a smile across her lips—flashing him her perfect teeth. He seemed to like that, and backed off slightly.

"Well, why don't you follow me and we'll get you all set up—you did save route 24 after all." He admit earnestly and inwardly Misty rolled her eyes and followed the man back to the diner—she was hooped for now; she only hoped that Ash was okay, and what ever _weird_ nature this town had, it was being too friendly, and all of this was some weird hype that _she_ was making up.

Though...if Misty had thought to examine the darkened camera room closely, she would have seen the remainders of a box of uniforms cluttering the corner of the room.

 **XOXs**

"Ash, get up." Misty's voice tore through his sleep, the smell of cooked fish penetrated his nostrils and he pressed his palm against his forehead as he stirred awake. He had passed out on the bed beside pikachu and togepi; both were tucked into his arms.

"...mmm." he muttered, turning back over to bury his face in his pillows, not quite awake enough to response properly. Misty sighed above him, watching his pathetic form curl into the bedsheets.

"Ash." She called, leaning closer to his face. "WAKE UP!" She screamed into his ear, and he was up a second later, covering his right ear with a scowl and angry eyes in her direction. Misty stood proudly, with her hands on her hips and a grin plastered across her cheeks. In one hand, she carried take-out, and in the other, her fingers tapped against her small waist. Without asking, he knew her patience were shot—probably because he bailed on her earlier.

"Do you have to be so loud?" he asked, watching her move through the small room to tug open the curtains—it was early noon, and he sighed at the bright light, now that the clouds were beginning to disperse.

"Do you have to sleep so long? You've been out since I got back an hour ago. I even had time to wash our laundry, get supplies and pack." She said, and only then did Ash realize she was wearing, again, a pair of his blue jeans, rolled up to below her knees; over her tights, of course. As well as his black shirt with white sleeves. Irritated, he frowned at her.

"You didn't buy clothes for yourself?" He muttered while pulling on his new black shirt, Misty shrugged.

"I was going to, but the only female clothes they offer are dresses, and," She paused and rolled her eyes. "I am _not_ wearing a dress." She grumbled and set the take out lunch on top of the table in their room, and then started to pull out the assortment of goods that she purchased. On the ground beside that, he saw fresh traveling goods, and his stomach fell.

"What's all of that?"

"Lunch." She said matter-of-fact, but Ash had no appetite.

"Misty..." he started breathlessly, his sad tone earned him a look of worry from Misty, who snapped her neck to look at him. Had something happened to Ash? Did he realize that they were being watched as well? Her nerves were like ice right now, trying to act normal, though her mind wanted to scream at them that they should leave. Now.

"What happened?" She asked automatically, and Ash flushed.

"Nothing." he denied instinctively, but then withdrew his comment with: "Well..."

She didn't say anything, instead, she waited patiently for him to continue on his own. "I found squirtle." He admit, and Misty blinked and then sighed in relief—which went over Ash's head directly.

"Then why are you so glum about it—isn't that good news?" She asked while going about her business, pulling out the Styrofoam boxes and setting them on top of the table. Ash inhaled, as his shoulders fell.

Catching onto his silence, Misty looked back at him as she placed chopsticks down against the wooden surface. "...It's not good news then—what happened to him?" She asked and Ash's frown answered the question he was unable to say. Eyebrows lowering, she made her way to him and extending her hand to his shoulder for comfort.

"It's okay Ash." She said and he shook his head, and wiped his eyes, her touch pulling him back into reality. He shuddered.

"No, I'm fine. I just..." he looked up into her sea-green eyes, alive with the illumination of the room. "...Can I show you?" he asked exasperatedly, taking Misty off guard.

Grimacing, she nodded, but nudged him towards the wooden table.

"Let's eat first, at least."

 **XOXs**

As Misty suspected, when they tried to leave the town, no one stopped them—in fact, it was empty by comparison of the crowd that morning. Only that weird guy with green hair, and the angry blonde in the pokemon center. She could only deduce the rest of the town was looking for charizard.

Even though she knew what they were looking at, she smirked inwardly. The joke was on them.

"Do you know about a pokemon that could have done this?" Ash asked, circling his old, stony, friend. Misty hummed, wrapping her fingers against her hips relentlessly and looking forward to the destroyed light house. To top it off, this town was only a few miles away from Bill's light house. A destroyed version, of course. Had this happened recently?

Rather than answering, she pointed forward. "That's Bill's house." She stated and Ash looked up at her.

"...I sort-of remember Bill's house. He was a little weird." he stood up, looking at the lighthouse. Now that he thought about it, it _did_ look familiar. He remembered the pokemon Bill tried to lure to the rocky shores and smiled faintly at the memory.

"A few people on TV used to talk about how it was attacked during a Team Rocket raid a few years ago...but no one in town mentioned it, and it hasn't been on the news since." She glanced over at Ash. "...So, maybe Team Rocket is at fault?" She finally answered, and Ash deflated like a balloon.

"...What?" he mumbled in disbelief, his eyes filling with sorrow as he shifted the weight of his feet.

"Well, I did say they attacked Kanto in several places; I don't remember all of it, but I'm sure Bill was one of the first people they attacked—they were looking for pokemon researchers." Misty said. "Or at least that's what the news said; they stopped reporting on it after Giovanni came forward." She added while rubbing the back of her neck and looking directly at Ash.

His hand was resting on top of warturtles head, his look of shock in complete contrast to warturtle's determination and commitment. Misty's face scrunched up and she sucked in a breath. This would be Ash's luck.

"You never mentioned that Bill-" He started, almost heatedly; accusingly.

Misty stopped him with a raised palm. "I didn't know about Bill until we got _here._ " She referenced the light house with her hand. "I had no idea it was destroyed or _when_ it was... there was never any news about it." She glanced back at the lighthouse, and then back to Ash. "Which is odd, considering how important Bill was to pokemon field research."

"Do you think it was because of..." Ash stumbled, "charizard?"

A part of him felt guilty that charizard would cause so much mayhem; even on the behalf of squirtle... he shouldn't have acted that way. Misty blinked and stepped beside Ash before turning to face the same direction as him; staring into the ocean. As a child, with the noon sun hung over the surface of the ocean, dancing off the damp trees and glistening through yesterdays rain storm, Misty would have called the scene "romantic". Now, watching the dark look in Ash's eye, and the drop of the occasional brick from what was left of Bill's house, the scene only looked tragic.

"I don't. The town is stocked too well. It's weird, actually." She glanced at Ash, who frowned at Misty's paranoia. "To make matters worse, I heard the nurse talking to someone about the situation when I was heading back to our room." she lied, not ready to admit that was _snooping_. "She kept calling someone 'sir' on the other side and talked about charizard and newcomers—us-making it to the town." She raised her eyebrows at Ash, who shook his head.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Wait, when did you do this?"

"When you were asleep." She confirmed and Ash looked terrified at her response.

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

She rolled her eyes, "With your injuries-" She poked his side, getting a wince in return "You need to rest as much as possible."

Ash rubbed the spot where she had poked him with a scowl and then glanced back at the ocean. "So what do you think that means?"  
"...I don't know. It's just weird, is all. Especially since this." She pointed to Bill's former lab, "Never made the news." She added and Ash watched her from the corner of his eye.

"Do you think Team Rocket is..." he stammered, the cogs in his mind turning in the same motion of Misty's.

"I don't think we should go back to that town." She confirmed and Ash cleared his throat carefully as she continued. "The people were almost lecherous, wanting information but giving none—and a few of them, they were scarred and beaten up. They sent a group of people out to look for charizard..."

At her last statement, Ash looked at her with wide eyes, protectively touching said pokemon's pokeball and looking over to togepi and pikachu who sat at warturtles side. On cue, a rustle from the trees drew their attention to a figure in the shadows, and Misty's back straightened. Guess her thoughts were correct, after all. In response, Ash's protectiveness kicked in, he stood in front of Misty, shoving her behind him with a strong arm.

"Whoever you are, come out!" Ash yelled, and he could see the figure freeze while Misty looked to the forest branching behind them with wild eyes; in a whisper, she exhaled.

"I think we should run for it." She said awkwardly, looking at the trees rustling more.

Ash scoffed.

"Why?"

"...just a hunch..." She added quietly, her breath tickling his neck as she saw more shadows from the other side of the trail.

Ash gulped; "how?"

"Is Charizard well enough to fly?"

"You're joking, right?" He wanted to swear at her, a moment ago, she refused to admit that charizard would be okay—that he wasn't crazy; now she wanted to _escape_ on him?

"They're known to carry three times their body weight." Misty grumbled, carefully scooping up togepi while also being thankful that she picked up gyarados prior to leaving.

Grimacing, Ash flicked his shirt over his belt and with one swift motion, he threw charizard's pokeball, releasing the fire pokemon in a blaze of glory.

"Charizard, we need to fly out of here—are you okay with thaaaaaaahhh!" Ash screamed the end of his sentence as the dragon pokemon rushed forward to snatch Misty and Ash on top of his back with one swoop of its powerful wings. Apparently, the pokemon only needed to sense the situation, and he was prepared to dive in to protect them without a second thought.

Ash didn't have time to think as he wrapped one arm around Misty, and the other around charizards neck. Misty was holding togepi, so she was unable to grab onto the pokemon by herself. She hadn't been prepared to be whisked away so quickly, either, and so she screamed loudly. Pikachu latched onto the pokemon's claws, electrical currents sparking from its cheeks as it watched the figures rush out of the forest as they left.

Below, he thought he saw the familiar tint of red and purple hair, and its face contorted slightly. The figures made no attempt to attack them, even with Ash and Misty's screams of terror as they lifted into the sky. Pikachu's cheeks stopped buzzing the moment he recognized the final image below—a cat shaped pokemon staring up at him with sympathetic eyes.

"Pika! Pika chu!" the mouse cried from below, but it fell on deaf ears.

 **XOXs**

When they landed, Misty's legs were shaking violently as she slipped onto solid ground.

"N-never again." She whined, shuddering as she fell to her knees. Behind her, charizard huffed, as if saying "this is the trainer that beat me?", which only caused Ash to chuckle as he climbed off of charizard's back naturally. Even if he had never truly rode on the pokemon's back, it was as natural to him as riding a bike.

The sensation of flying was definitely different, and for once, Ash was glad he wasn't wearing a hat because he would have lost it. In fact, they almost fell off more than once. The imprint of Misty's hand was on Ash's upper arm, her grip defied all natural forms of strength, he thought.

"You good?" He asked with a low chuckle which earned him a flabbergasted glare, followed shortly by a snarl.

But really, she couldn't be mad—it was _her_ idea after all. Rather than complain, she slumped onto the dry valley of what must have been route nine, and gazed up at the fading sunlight. Twilight enveloped the two of them, she still wordless, and Ash muttering thank yous to charizard who could only dip his head in gratitude at Ash once more.

"I promise to tell you the full story about what happened when you're better rested, buddy. You must be exhausted." Ash said while stroking the pokemon's neck, and Misty couldn't believe what she was seeing—better yet, what she had just experienced.

A charizard, which had been a nuisance for _years_ was stopped effectively because of some random _coma_ patient with off-the-wall accurate dreams. Said coma patient was now petting the freaking dragon like a pet and the monster recuperated the feelings. Pikachu wobbled upon landing as well, bidding a thank you to charizard while running around the full length of its body and bowing gratefully.

The dragon huffed in return, and blew smoke out of its nostrils before Ash returned it. Misty swallowed against the lump in her throat—her mouth was dry from yelling, and she blinked up at Ash as he slumped into the ground beside her.

"Pikachu said we might have jumped the gun..." Ash said while stroking said pokemon's ears. Misty glared at the duo.

"Well...better safe than sorry. That place gave me the creeps." She hissed while scratching the back of her neck, one of Ash's habits. Seeing the action, Ash grinned and pointed at her.

"I think I'm rubbing off on you."

She glared. "I would say so. Constantly making poor life decisions since I've met you." She added hotly, and then ran her hand down her face; Ash looked insulted.

"You don't really believe that, do you?" he asked as she checked over togepi in a motherly way that made his mouth twitch.

"No." She admit halfheartedly. "Maybe." She grinned while pushing herself to her feet, and setting togepi onto the ground—only last week, the pokemon would have cried at such an action, and she grinned at its growth.

"So what do you think that was?" Ash asked, looking up at Misty.

"Honestly? I've heard about old, unreachable towns becoming a base for former Team Rocket members..." Misty muttered tiredly, and Ash blinked. "Route 24 being sealed off and Bill's Lab being destroyed seemed overly suspicious... you know? It was just a hunch." She grated and Ash blinked.

"...Misty, you're not a member of Team Rocket are you?"

A brief pause passed between the two of them, and she titled her head almost ninety degrees.

"WHAT!?" She hissed, earning himself a bump on the head. He held his head, and whimpered. "How dare you even suggest such a thing!"

"It's just that you know so much about them!" He argued pathetically. Beside him, pikachu snickered at the assault, while togepi scolded pikachu beside him—taking the older-brother approach, even though he was clearly younger than the yellow mouse.

"Everyone does!" She added, and then retracted her statement. "Except for you." She added and twisted her lips into a frown.

"It's common knowledge. Pokemon trainers are told to avoid situations like that since we had league champions and top coordinators start going missing. Plus they had cameras everywhere, and they were watching us and... After you told them who I was, it was like they were doing more than watching me...they were surrounding me."

Ash's face fell. "sorry for leaving you." he paused, "Wait. Cameras? When did you see cameras?"  
"Oh, don't be. I can take care of myself." She said matter-of-fact, ending his worry. She also dodged his question, causing Ash to scowl. "It was just...weird. Everyone was strange; the fact that they had no official way to travel to and from large cities with no effective harbor, yet they had merchandise and goods? It was just fishy."

"Shouldn't you report that to the league?" Ash asked. "Your suspicions?"

"I will, especially now that charizard isn't destroying route 24. We might actually get a group of people out there." Her fists clenched and Ash watched her silently for a moment.

"You don't think they're plotting anything, do you? If it _is_ Team Rocket..."

"I don't know, honestly. The fact that Bill's laboratory never hit the news is my only concern. I had no idea the researcher was...well, missing." She hissed and Ash looked away from her.

" _Or dead_." he added, and she glared down at him, her face flushed.

"Let's hope not." She clasped Ash on the shoulder, bringing him back to his feet. "Anyways, let's get going." She said quickly changing the subject. "Nights going to be coming soon, and we can cut down at least an hour of tomorrows walk back to Cerulean City if we leave now." She said while gesturing towards a sign that read "Cerulean City" with an arrow pointed down the path. Ash gulped.

"Wait!" He cried awkwardly, reaching out for her.

The way a worried Misty turned at him, her confusion and frustration detailed into the iris of her eyes, he bit his tongue _I don't want to go back to Cerulean City_ he wanted to say, but his words caught on the edge of his tongue, and instead, he shared a look with his pokemon and then followed her.

"What?" She asked when his arm brushed against her own.

"Nothing." he lied quickly, covering his mouth and sighing. He had a few more hours before he made a decision, after all.

 **XOXs**

Ash was depressed, in the time it took to get away from Bill's lab and fly over the expansive forest, he hadn't thought about much aside from the wind in his hair, his uncomfortable thighs around charizard's shoulders, and the pain in his arm where Misty physically _bruised_ him from her intense grip. He swore while rubbing his shoulder—to which she would call him a big baby for, periodically.

They walked until night fall, which in the dead of winter was no later than 5:00pm, and stopped to make a small campsite off the road. Misty had told him a thousand times that the best thing about route nine was that there were no trees, no rain, and anything was flammable because it was so dry here all the time. Ash couldn't share in her humor—though she was trying really hard to cheer him up.

After the fire was started, their sleeping bags were laid out on each side of the fire and they could sit peacefully and pass around their left overs that Misty brought with them, did he let his shoulder slump.

"Okay, you haven't said anything all day." Misty finally uttered, watching his face from across the fire. Her elbow was on her knee, and she cupped her hand with her palm, staring intently at him as he picked at his sandwich. Pikachu, who had been curled at the end of his sleeping bag with togepi, perked up to stare at his trainer.

"What's wrong?" She inquired smoothly.  
"Do you have to ask?" He muttered, and Misty sighed, despite herself.

"Yeah, I do, because there should be a lot wrong." She muttered mercifully and even in his sour mood he had to fight the onslaught of a repressed grin at her forwardness.

"I mean, where do I start?" She paused for affect and raised her fingers. "Your mom, your brother; your pokemon remembering; Brock, _in general_ , Charizard, warturtle, that town. Really, Ash, the possibilities are endless right now."

Ash chuckled at her banter, her tone of voice causing a sense of warmth to flood into his stomach he had all but forgotten—the same one he got when she would vent about the doctors who 'didn't know' what they were doing, or the nurses who 'spent too much time on their hair'.

"Thank you." he muttered, but she only shook her head in response.

"Talk to me." She spoke awkwardly. "I'm not a therapist, and—god-I'm not as nice as Dr. Abby, but you _can_ talk to me."

For a brief moment, his eyes connected with hers across from the fire; sea-green mixing with chocolate gave an exasperated sigh. It wasn't but a few days ago that he was telling her that exact phrase—talk to him—trust him. Because she was allowed to do that. Only, Ash felt like he almost took advantage of her openness, he talked _a lot_ over the last five months; only to end up as confused as he ever was.

He cracked a smile; "Where do I start?"

"Where ever you want." She assured him, bracing herself for the oncoming emotional roller coaster, but Ash didn't remove the brakes just yet. His eye fell onto the fire, and Misty waited patiently for about ten minutes before she sighed.

"I see now why Dr. Asshole had such a hard time talking with you." She grumbled, referencing Sebastian, which once again, caused Ash to chuckle and shake his head. He was uncomfortable.

"I don't want to go back to Cerulean City." He admit first, unable to make eye contact with her as he glared down at pikachu and togepi, stroking the latter's shell comfortingly. A habit both he and Misty had taken to.

"I sort of got that impression." Misty admit, smiling glumly at him. He spared a glance at her, an apologetic one.

"It's not that I don't want to-" he stammered, shivering, though he wasn't cold beside the fire "It's just that..well...you know.. I mean I appreciate that you offered and all, but..."

"You have a journey. You need to go find your pokemon—I understand." She paused, watching his facial expression as he shifted awkwardly. "I would do the same thing in a heart beat." She added, with a reassuring smile that he caught from the corner of his eye that removed the weight off of his shoulders.

"But," She added and Ash winced; as did pikachu—there always had to be a _but_ didn't there? "You have to be careful. Which means so help me, Ash Ketchum, if you run at a raging pokemon again I will find your dead body, find some way to bring you back, just to throttle you." She swore wagging her finger at him for emphasis, causing him to laugh.

"I won't, I promise." he muttered, rubbing his arms comfortingly.

"oh, and no more throwing togepi against rock pokemon; start with something smaller." She scolded, and Ash rolled his eyes. "And charizard; do not get me started on why you can't use him. Especially because you don't have a license." She added, the last part a reinforcing idea—technically, Ash was only supposed to have Pikachu and togepi, and was only licensed to carry the two—the only reason he had charizard was because Misty didn't take the pokeball away from him. His lips pursed tightly and he glared at her.

"If you get audited or checked anywhere, you lie to them. You tell them that those are not active pokeballs—which means do. Not. Carry. Them. On. Your. Belt." She chopped up her words and Ash threw up his arms.

"Jeeze, lecture me later!" he swore at her, jokingly and Misty gnawed on her cheek and narrowed her eyes at him.

"I'll talk to Gary about getting your license expedited." she grumbled, looking at her left over food and slowly dropping it into the fire.

"Are you going to tell him why..."

Misty snorted. "Heavens no. Can you imagine trying to explain _that_ to Gary? I don't even think he knows about your wacky dreams." She said nonchalantly, the same voice she carried so proud in all the time he knew her. Ash smiled.

"Do you believe me, Misty?" he asked sincerely.

At first, when Misty looked at him, her smile dropped into a serious frown. She thought about lying to him—that no, she did not believe him. She wanted to tell him that he was evidently, still crazy, that this was a big coincidence, and there was no reason to go out on a journey when there was clearly no evidence that his dreams meant anything. They were simply that. Dreams. Intricate, detailed dreams.

"God knows I wish that I didn't believe you." She muttered, sounding a bit harsher than intended.

He didn't deflate, instead, he snickered. "Why?" He chortled, as did pikachu who ran to her comfortingly to sit on her lap. She stroked the edge of his fur, wondering when it became normal for _her_ to scratch pikachu.

"Because you're crazy. People can't speak to pokemon. They certainly can't know people they shouldn't know. And people don't survive a ten year coma without repercussions." She gestured to him. "You, my friend, have broken all the rules I thought I understood, and then stomped and spat on them."

At her deceleration, he laughed, his shoulders bouncing gleefully while she rolled her eyes.

"Seriously, five months ago you were just a helpless basket case—flash forward to now and you have a little brother, you know several different pokemon—and you know about areas that you _shouldn't_. I mean, even though you know jack about this world's political standing and laws, you know more about everything else than most of the diverse people I'm supposed to meet on a monthly basis." She cocked her jaw. "It's a bit scary. You slept for ten years and somehow developed more knowledge about pokemon than I have in ten years of training."

At her words, Ash face flushed in embarrassment. "I don't know that much..."

"Ash, you taught a baby pokemon to jump on your shoulder—it went from crying every ten minutes to staring down a geodude with confidence even though it had no chance to win. You took an overweight pikachu—no offense-"she pat the frustrated pokemon in her lap, "and managed to _injure_ a master-class rock pokemon with him. I mean, you weren't awake to see that thunder attack hit onix, but, damn." She paused. "not to mention the general knowledge about water pokemon that took me years to accumulate that you just seem to _know._ As well as general knowledge about other things—what to feed a pokemon, how to groom them, what makes them sleep—what upsets them."

She looked at him with a fire in her eye, since he wouldn't talk, she would build him up—positive reinforcement was as good as any therapist. "If you took that knowledge to someone who could do something with it, imagine what you could change in the pokemon world. Recently, some guy in Pewter City created a new pokemon food—but you came out of the hospital spouting that stuff. It's not just pokemon, either. You know weird things about people, and about cities and routes that I would have sooner called you crazy about. Sure, some of your information is _outdated_ and you're a bit _slow_ about technology, but even without it, you manage to..."

She paused, realizing she was ranting about him and her face matched the color of the fire temporarily. The heat covered her blush however, and she shut her eyes in frustration. "You're so weird."

"That's it?" He laughed, a huge grin tugging on his lips.

"Yeah. You're weird. The weirdest, most reckless person I've ever met." She confirmed with a locked frown and he couldn't stop himself from smiling, eyes closed.

"You're weird, too, you know."

"Hey, now. I am normal. The weirdest part about me, is _you._ " She confirmed with a snooty head-nod that mimicked Daisy's all-too-perfectly. "Before I met you, my biggest worry in the world was what I was having for breakfast. It certainly wasn't: gee, which pokemon center am I going to break into today?"

"So you did break in." He scowled at her and she shrugged.

"I _might_ have gone through the back door."

"What was back there anyways?" he asked, and Misty shrugged again.

"I didn't get time to check, really. A bunch of cameras and video footage, a box full of clothes, or something, and just my gyarados. No other pokemon were around. I left pretty quick after listening to that lady on the phone." She said while Ash straightened up his back.

"So, do you think that could have been one of those towns?" He asked, finally changing the subject in a direction Misty was more interested in.

"I don't know. I don't like to assume before things are investigated, you know? It would make sense, considering what happened to Bill's lab and squritle..." She trailed off at the mention few squirtle, and watched very carefully as Ash's raised mood soured.

"Have you talked to charizard about what happened?" Misty asked, feeling a sense of dread that she was suggesting to Ash that he should _talk_ with his pokemon in the first place. Ash shook his head.

"He won't. I asked him earlier, when I found the statue the first time. He refused to talk about it then... I don't want to ask again."

"Well, when he does, I'm sure it'll make sense."

"How can it? Misty, squirtle is gone!" Ash hissed, glaring at her careless nature. Misty shifted uncomfortable, still unused to his glare.

"Maybe it's reversible? The attack, I mean..."

Ash seemed stoic. "I don't think so... he was cold to the touch."

"Well... you're the expert, have you ever seen a pokemon, or person capable of that?"

Ash sat quietly for a moment, racking his brain for the answer, but he drew a blank. Instead, his eyes fell on pikachu.

"Do you, buddy?"

The pokemon shook his head gently, and Ash sighed. "Then no, I don't."

"Well, maybe it's not a pokemon then—maybe it's some kind of new technology? Or old, Team Rocket was known for their rather... cruel weapons."

"What did they want, anyways?"

"According to Giovanni they wanted money, and strong pokemon sell on the black market for a lot of money." She said matter of fact.

"So why did they try to overthrow Kanto?"

"Beats me." She said while cupping her cheek in her palm once again. "If you can get over to the seafoam island prison, maybe you could ask Giovanni himself. I'm sure he'd love to share that story." She muttered shamelessly and rolled her eyes, the same spiteful tone in her voice when she mentioned the former gym leaders name.

"Misty..what happened with you and Giovanni?" Ash gulped at the question, and Misty's eyebrows raised.

"Between us? Well, nothing really." She said and leaned back. "He was considered the strongest gym leader out of the eight of us, so I naturally looked up to him." She shook her head at the memory.

"..He was always a bit of a pompous ass, if you'd ask me though. I don't understand how they thought someone with slicked back hair like his wasn't a criminal to begin with." She mumbled and Ash swallowed against the lump in his throat once more, fighting a chuckle.

"Giovanni had a really strong pokemon in my dream... one that was able to K.O. Gary's pokemon with a single attack. It was never confirmed, but I'm pretty sure he was the ring leader behind all of Team Rocket in there, too."

"And did he ever succeed?"

Ash blushed, "Well, no, because all of his orders were carried out by these two jokers known as 'Jessie and James' and they spent more time on fancy gadgets than they did being evil." Remembering the trio, Ash snickered.

Misty eyed him, a change in her features that caught Ash's attention, she was leaning forward. "Jessie and James...and meowth, perhaps?" She asked, causing Ash to shudder.

"Yeah, that's them." puzzled, he gawked at her. "Do you know them?"

"Know them? Ash, they were one of Team Rocket's leading thieves. They robbed the Viridian City pokemon Center the day I brought you to the hospital. It made headlines everywhere." Seeing the look of shock wash over his features, Misty pursed her lips. "Are those the 'goofs' you've always referenced?" She asked, having never heard Ash mention them by name before. Ash gulped.

"That's them."

"Good to know you were wrong about some people." Misty suggested, sitting back.

"Where are they now?" He asked suddenly. After a long pause, Misty shrugged and sat forward once again.

"I don't know."

"Chu, pika." the mouse spoke, and Ash fell a chill run down his spine as pikachu continued.

"You saw someone with purple hair when we were leaving?" Ash asked, grinding his palms against his jeans. "Why didn't you say something?"

"Pika!" The pokemon offered, as if saying that it tried. Until now, he had even forgotten about it. Misty stiffened under the weight of pikachu and touched the pokeball on her belt lovingly, reminding herself that she grabbed gyarados.

"So that must mean that..." Misty started, staring worriedly at Ash who immediately shook his head.

"You can't be for certain, can you? You might have just been seeing things, pikachu." Ash tried, but the mouse shook his head confidently, and denied the claim. He was not seeing things.

"Well..." Misty paused. "If we send the league that way, they'll get caught, then." Misty murmured and Ash gulped.

"Why would they be over there, though?"

"You know them better than me. They followed _you_ in your dreams, didn't they?"

Ash froze, slightly panicked. "You don't think they're following me, do you?" Ash nearly whined and the worry in his voice pulled her into a laugh.

"Heavens no." She assured him. "It was probably a coincidence, if it really was them. Besides, we got away, that's all that matters, right?" She suggested even though Ash's shoulders slumped. However, with the new knowledge passed between them, Misty's name now on the line—and Ash knew he put her in that situation, he pinched the bridge of his nose, the tension rising from the ground.

Great, he might have signed Misty over to Team Rocket. She didn't seem scared though.

"It wasn't your fault." She said quickly, and Ash blinked at her, pulled from his thoughts.

"what wasn't?"

"Everything." She said quickly, rubbing the back of her neck once more—an adopted habit of Ash's. "The accident, squirtle, your mom, charizard—Brock being stuck at the gym—everything. None of it's your fault." She said and Ash blushed at her words, feeling uncomfortable in his own skin.

"Why are you saying thi-" "It's just not, okay? I see the way you look at me, and Brock, and pikachu...the way you looked at squirtle, and most importantly, the way you looked at charizard before he picked you up yesterday. Don't blame yourself."

"I'm not..." He tried to argue, puffing up his chest for effect, but found no honest denial to fight against her.

"Talk about me defeating charizard is going to spread regardless of if you said anything or not. And it's like you said, maybe that will finally get me the promotion I've been itching for." She fell backwards, rolling pikachu onto her belly with her knees and placed her forearm on her forehead. Ash pursed his lips.

After a few moments, he finally shifted.

"...I just feel like, if I had been around everyone would have been happier. I would have met you, and Brock, and we could have gone on an adventure and followed our dreams."

"Or," Misty said pointedly, raising her hand but not her body. "We could have never met. I could have hated your guts because you stole my bike because I used to be materialistic, and Brock would never have left the gym and you would have traveled alone for ten years."

Ash scowled at her cold response, and narrowed his eyes—even when he was _trying_ to be nice, she found a way to deflate his need to...help everyone.

"You don't know that it would have been that way."

"You're right!" She sprung forward, knocking pikachu off her lap, and nearly flinging him into the fire as she looked fiery at Ash. "And neither do you! You can't change the past. It's better to look forward with your chin up."

Stubbornly, Ash argued with her; "But, look at what happened to Brock, and my mom—and squritle; man, if I had been around everything might not have been so messed up between everyone, between _us._ "

Misty snorted. "What about _us?_ "

The warmth of the fire hid his blush well, but his fidgeting became very noticeable. "Nothing." He denied, but Misty purses her lips and glares at him—he had the option of answering right away, or having the pleasure of being pestered about it for hours.

Ash caved to her glare. "It's just that we're not the same. You were my best friend, you _and_ Brock. Brock doesn't even know me and you, well you're..."

She waited, eyebrows raised while awaiting a response, but when nothing came, she pursed her lips in a challenge. "Still your best friend?" She wagered, causing a bolt of emotional lightning to burst into Ash's chest. She continued.

"I mean, sure, I'm probably the _only_ friend you have, so that gives me the spot automatically, but still." She said with a sarcastic drawl. Across from her, Ash's chin wobbled and his eyebrows lowered. It might have been the reflection of the fire, but she thought that she saw tears forming in his eyes.

The thought was confirmed when he bravely wiped at his eyes with his bare wrist. "I don't know why." he mumbled, his voice painfully shaky. "You took care of me, and you didn't even know me. You had no reason to help me, and yet you're still here—still following me around and..."

And he was crying. Awkwardly, Misty rubbed her hands together and looked to pikachu for support. Instead, togepi, who had stayed out of the conversation until that point rubbed its nubby arm against Ash's leg comfortingly while Ash wailed.

"If I recall correctly, that's how it happened before, right? I _followed_ you around. For a bike, I believe?" She asked, trying to stop his flowing tears; they didn't, he only hiccuped and Misty attempted to salvage the situation. She wasn't even sure why he was crying—it wasn't _that_ big of a deal was it.

"Besides, we're friends. We've already talked about this, too. Why I stuck around.. .It's just who I am." when her words didn't reach him, she scratched her cheek nervously. "I'm...sorry I'm not the girl you remembered; but just because you remember me doesn't mean that I, or anyone else are defined by your dreams—the same way that they don't define who _you_ are." She added, and Ash stopped whimpering to listen.

"You are who you are, I am who I am. It doesn't matter if we met now, or ten years ago—We're friends _now_ because that's who we are _now._ Not because you knew me in your dreams, but because we know each other now. The same way that you and togepi are friends—the same way you're friends with my sisters... even though I, _we_ didn't know you, we still became friends... I think, some day," She fidgeted, the conversation clearly uncomfortable for her, she was thankful for the darkness of the night, and the fire to hide her warm face. "We can all be friends—You, Brock and I; and anyone else."

Ash sniffled, looking up at her with watery brown eyes that made her heart skip.

"You think so?" He asked weakly and Misty nodded, even though her words oozed the kind of emotional cheese she made fun of in romantic movies.

"I think so."

A smile pulled on his lips. "Even about my mom?"

"With time, yes." She confirmed confidently.

"And Cole? Do you think I'll get to spend time with him."

"if you ever visit Viridian City, I know you will." She said while rubbing her shoulders.

More enthusiastic and brushing his fingers along togepi's nubby arms. "And what about us?"

"Us?" She echoed, and the bluntness of her question bringing his flustered cheeks back into play. He could hear his heart in his chest.

After a moment, Misty shrugged nervously. "...Best friends?" She stammered, and Ash looked up at her.

"Even in this world?" the question had her sighing.

"You mean the real world? There aren't two worlds Ash, just this one." She pointed to the ground for emphasis and he smiled at her.

"Right, of course." Dazed, his smiled formed into a grin.

"But yes," She paused to tilt her head away from him. "We're best friends."

Ash finally thought to lick his lips, and bring up another matter;

"Daisy said you never had many friends."

Misty's eyes snapped at him, and she fought the urge to call him a gossip. "Daisy doesn't know what she's talking about." She denied, though Ash saw through the act.

"How come?"

"I'm hard to get along with. Can't you tell?" She gestured to herself, not even bothering to keep up her facade.

"You're not that bad." He assured her, but she sighed in return.

"I'm hot-headed, and paranoid." She said, recalling her events at the pleasant town—though her paranoia paid off for once.

"But you're also a lot more than that." He said subjectively, and Misty sighed.

"I guess I just don't have time, then. I don't know, what do you want me to say? I'm a gym leader first, so people already have a hard time associating with me? Throw in a little bit of a mean streak, and you've summarized my social life. I'm not always a very likeable person."

Ash smiled at her, it was nice of her to open up _finally_ after five months of her nonchalant behavior. "I like you."

"Yeah, because you've literally spent every moment since you've woken up with me." She exhaled, smothering her blush with a petty jab at herself. Ash scowled.

"Why does that matter?"

"I sort of feel like your mom sometimes." Misty admit awkwardly and Ash felt his chest go cold.

"...what?"

"You know, motherly." She rephrased, hoping that she didn't hit a sore spot. Ash stammered and shook his head.

"You're not motherly, you're sweet." He tried, but it came of sounding more like an insult. She glared at him awkwardly. His delivery was tacky and a little, _a lot_ awkward. However, when their eyes met across the fire,his face turned pale while his eyes trickled from her sea-green hues to her pink lips, and he was standing before he was speaking, stumbling into the darkness of the forest.

"I have to pee!" He lied, wanting to go anywhere but towards her. Feeling the tension, she shook her head.

"I..I'm going to sleep." She heaved backwards once more, rolling flat onto her sleeping bag. Ash's mouth fell ajar.

"Seriously?" He spun, almost falling down while she covered her head with her covers, feeling exceptionally warm in her own skin; her chest felt like it would burst.

"It's dark, and we had a long day. We'll talk more in the morning." She murmured breathlessly.

"...Oh. Right." he shifted his gaze—he wasn't tired _at all._ "Good night then." he said and he heard a very faint "Night Ash" from the redhead before silence funneled between the two of them. Even the open air felt like it would close around him and he started into the dark of the mountain terrain blindly. He needed fresh air, and lots of it. Squatting on the path to steady himself once the dying fire was only a pebble in his view, he stopped to scratch the back of his neck.

 _As an adult now, Ash, you may feel a bit strange sometimes. It will be totally normal. I can't describe some of the impulses, but I can give you some reading material that will help you understand the change your body went through over the last ten years..._ Dr. Abby's words filled Ash's mind as he rubbed his temples. He sort of _blocked_ out her words previously. They didn't pertain to him, after all. He had other, more important things to worry about, like pokemon, his mom, recovery, breakfast—really, anything else. Only now, he wished that he had actually read that magazine that she gave him. It wasn't one of those "nasty" ones Misty threatened to beat him with if she caught him with another one, it was some type of "men's help" magazine that walked through the stages of _puberty_.

Man, he wished that he had that _now_ because Misty was... His face heated up and he held his mouth to silence himself. Misty was...Something, she was weird! He wasn't the weird one!

"Pika." the mouse who had followed Ash down the trail spoke behind him, unimpressed by his trainer. Upon hearing the pokemon, Ash flopped onto his rear end and spread out his legs in front of him while pikachu took the spot beside him.

"Oh, you know, the same old." Ash lied in response to pikachu's question.

Its lips curled around its small fangs. "Pika." he offered once more, and Ash glared at him in the darkness, sweat trickling down the back of his neck.

"I do not." he denied quickly, though pikachu raised its eyebrows and lowered his lashes at his trainer.

"Pika, pikachu. Kaaa, chu." he baited Ash, talking about his 'family' back 'home' and Ash lolled his head to his companion in order to glare appropriately. That was Ash's life now, getting advice from a pokemon. Sometimes, Ash raised his eyebrows, he forgot that pikachu had a family now.

"You know I lova ya' buddy, but I'm not taking your advice. No way." he said while holding his hands in front of his face in an 'X' shape, thus ending pikachu's raving lecture. The pokemon's cheeks flashed, but then stopped, remembering that shocking Ash in this world had...really negative effects.

"Cha." The pokemon scoffed, flopping down to sit beside Ash and stare up at the sky above them.

"Do you think Misty's right? That there is more to this?" Ash asked, and the pokemon beside him nodded with a squeak.

"So that means there could be more out there like squirtle..." He looked down at pikachu who looked back at him with a confident look. "We need to find them, don't we?"

"Pika." he agreed and rubbed his palms together.

Ash thought for a minute about what that meant for him—he would be traveling again—but his mind raced back to Misty, followed shortly by the image of a stone warturtle.

"...She won't like that."

 **XOXs**

Misty woke up that morning with togepi asleep beside her, and the sun pouring down on top of her. By this point, she was used to waking up with the egg pokemon on her chest, and so when she went to grab at the pokemon, she yawned loudly, pulling herself up to rub her eyes. She glanced over at where Ash was supposed to be sleeping; only to see that his bag was already rolled and put away, and he was practicing with charizard once again; talking to him maybe?

She rolled togepi onto the soft dirt beside her, and wiggled out of her sleeping bag, catching Ash's attention. Her disheveled hair and twisted clothes had his eyes off her as fast as they found their way there and he continued talking throw his plan with charizard.

"Why didn't you wake me?" She managed, stumbling over to stand beside Ash. Gazing upong charizard now, the red dragon puffed up its chest, trying to look larger, scarier in front of Misty, but as she scratched her stomach un-lady like, she rolled her shoulders unpressed.

"You were snoring." Ash said. "Besides, you let me sleep yesterday. I was only returning the favor." he offered her what was left of breakfast—a poorly assembled wrap—and she took it greedily.

"Yeah, but I'm not the injured one." She threw shade at charizard, who grit his large teeth together and titled his head away from Ash in shame. Ash chuckled and pat the pokemon.

"There, there buddy. We know that Misty can be harsh." He said, though she was being kind considering the fact that charizard _almost_ killed the very trainer he was being so lovey-dovey with now.

"Are you bi-polar?" She asked the charizard, getting a snap of anger in return. Ash stood between the two of them, pressing his hand against charizard's snout to lower his anger.

"Misty, don't be mean." Ash whined while charizard almost barked beside him. "Anyways, you better return for now and conserve your energy." Ash said while returning the pokemon quickly before it could get another word, or action in against Misty's words. She seemed not to care while she untangled her growing hair. Watching the horrible attempt, Ash clumsily tried to help, brushing his fingers along her hair.

Misty slapped his hands away, rejecting the offer and gave him a wild look.

"No." was all she had to say to get Ash to throw his arms up patiently.

"Sorry." he said awkwardly, the weird spell that had fallen over him the previous night still heavy on his mind as he looked at her. She glanced around the small campsite, all of Ash's gear was together, the fire was scattered, and based on the fact that he was wearing his hat and light jacket again, she could only assume it was that time. She sighed, walking back over to her sleeping bag to roll it up.

Ash watched her wordlessly for a moment.

"I thought if I left early I could look for primeape."

"You had a primeape?" Misty gasped, looking over her shoulder at him.

Ash nodded, adjusting his hat. "Yeah, and I'm pretty sure I captured him somewhere on route nine, if my memory serves me correct."

Misty tossed her sleeping bag into her back pack in disbelief. Togepi woke up slowly and yawned the sleep from its eyes.

"I don't think going on your own is very safe, Ash."

"I'll be fine." he said automatically, not making eye contact—his eyes were on pikachu, who practiced jumping and running in the distance.

"I think we talk about this every time you say that, but do you know what _fine_ means?" She asked with a sarcastic bite under her words. "It means not running into the arms of a crazy pokemon, it also means checking your injuries." She added while maneuvering her hands to touch his back, but it was Ash this time who shrugged off her touch with a snap; following with a pout. They made eye contact that lasted only a few seconds before Ash looked back at pikachu.

"I'll stop at a clinic in a smaller town." He assured her, shifting his feet in the dirt.

"Well," Misty sighed, breaking eye contact as a small blush crawled over her face as she crossed her arms defensibly. Her lips twisted into a pout while she looked at the mile marker. "You'll always be welcome at the gym, when you do eventually find your way back...you know, since Viridian was a bust, plus, my sisters were fond of you being around..."

Ash turned at her, blinking several times before grinning happily.

"It means a lot. Thank you." He said, recalling the moment she admit that before; right before charizard blew fire at them.

Misty turned her head to look at him, eyes dazzling in the morning glow. Without thinking, Ash extended his hand to brush a strand of hair out of her face that was distracting, and his touch lingered for only a moment before he leaned in. Her eyes were wide when his lips brushed against her right cheek. A barely there, butterfly kiss. The moment his soft lips left her cheek, her mouth fell open and she fought the urge to touch where the warmth had been previously. A split second, and it was gone as fast as it had come.

"Thank you for everything, Misty." He muttered honestly, voice low enough to send shivers down her spine and her face turned a deep shade of red that brought him soaring back into reality. His hand still brushed against her cheek snapped down to his side and he took a full step away from her.

"I..err.."

"Don't be weird, Ash!" She yelled suddenly, and kicked him hard in the shin, causing him to buckle over. Another day, another bruise. He swore under his breath and grabbed his leg while biting his lower lip and hobbling on one foot.

"What the hell, Misty?!" Ash whined, forgetting the intimate moment. Her heart pounded in her head and she couldn't think straight; her first instinct when she was nervous was to _hit_ something. Unfortunately, that something was Ash. She grimaced, realizing her error.

"I am so sorry." She added and Ash waved his arms out.

"I didn't mean to be weird, it's just that my mom used to-"

"YOUR MOM?!" She squeezed her eyes shut when she shrieked, her face growing a brighter red than it had been. His face reflected the same color. Her shout drew in togepi's attention, and pikachu's, who both stopped their preparation for the journey to look at the frantic duo.

"I'm sorry!" he whimpered, shaking slightly once she pinched the bridge of her nose to calm her nerves. Of _course_ it would be a reflection of his mother.

"Oh, Ash." She sighed. "You're so innocent." She muttered, face palming hard. If he hadn't been red already, he grew three shades darker from her comment.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he yelled, feeling like he was ten again, having a normal argument with Misty on the road. One of their infamous shouting matches.

Then she was hugging him. Her arms were draped around his shoulders tightly, squeezing the breath from his bones as he exhaled sharply. Unsure of what to do with himself, his mouth fell ajar, unable to move his arms appropriately due to the sudden warmth of her body pressed against his. As quickly as she had hugged him, she pulled away and glared remorselessly into his eyes.

"It means that you better be extremely careful out there. Don't take candy from strangers, that kind of stuff." She held onto his shoulder tightly while telling him this, and the corners of his mouth twitched.

"I know that..."

"And you better call—at least once a month—or write a letter or something; you know, let me know you're still amongst the living." She scolded him, Ash could feel sweat on his forehead, it was if she knew without him telling her that he was _terrible_ at staying in contact with people.

"I'll be really busy but I'll-"

"Ash." She said sternly, and his entire body twitched fearfully, and he nodded, forgetting his own excuses. He would call, or write.

With his agreement, she withdrew her firm grasp on his shoulder, and took a step back. "Good." She said happily, sharing a smile with him.

"I guess this is goodbye then?" Ash asked, and Misty glanced at togepi who seemed devastated at the notion.

"I guess so." She said weakly, not making eye contact—more so, she _couldn't_ make eye contact with him right now. The egg pokemon, looking at Misty started to have a lower lip quiver that had Misty at its side in a second, scooping it up, and rocking it the way a mother would.

"There, there, togepi." She cooed, and Ash scratched his cheek.

"I almost think togepi should stay with you..." He offered, but Misty shook her head.

"No way." She smirked. "The egg was something for you to take care of; you're his trainer. You need to take care of him." She said optimistically, and Ash's heart pounded at the memory of the egg he took care of every day, taking for walks and he approached Misty and togepi awkwardly. Misty transferred the pokemon into Ash's arms and winked at him.

"Besides, togepi needs to make sure you don't do anything stupid while I'm gone." She offered, smiling at the small pokemon who fought its tears with the redheads confidence in him.

"briii!" It chirped and nodded its head. Ash wasn't as enthusiastic.

"I'm not going to..."

"Unless you can change personalities in one night, I doubt that." She challenged him and he puffed up his cheeks. "Just be _careful_." She warned him, and beside him once more, pikachu agreed to watch him, and a tearful togepi whimpered his agreement as well.

With one more pat of the pokemon's heads, Misty pulled on her back pack, and turned to look at Ash one more time; her breath hitching in her throat as she fought the urge to hound him about remembering to take care of himself.

"...I guess I'll catch you later."

"...Yeah, I guess so." Ash added, but shook away the sadness. "Sooner rather than later!" He swore to her as she turned away from him with a straight back and a long sigh.

She hesitated for a minute, tempted to stay; to help Ash out on his journey, and screw her plans to become an Elite Four member; but the moment her eyes tempted her, she reaffirmed her position. This was something that Ash had to do on his own, and she needed to let him.

"Take care, Ash." Misty tossed over her shoulder and started forward to Cerulean City, leaving Ash behind for once.

"Take care..." He echoed as his eyebrows knit; reliving the moment he said goodbye to her the first time all over again—only the sun wasn't setting, and she was on foot, and _he_ was the one carrying togepi. He looked down at the egg pokemon and then back at her fading back; in a few minutes, he wouldn't even be able to see her anymore behind the sloping and shifting landscapes of route nine. She walked tall, confidently, the same way that she walked into his life; first with a familiar tap of her shoes, and lastly with that all-too-familiar laugh.

Damn it.

He almost wished that he had asked her to stay.

Ash knew thinking like that was selfish, even suggesting such a thing after everything she had told him would be wrong—because if she actually agreed, he would have successfully robbed her of her dream to become an Elite Four member, and if she denied—she would feel guilty to for telling him no.

After all, that's what he had done to her prior to meeting his mother, and she followed him into hell and back. Ash couldn't ask this time.

He could do this on his own... he looked at his pokemon, who thoughtfully watched Misty as well, and then reconsidered his thoughts with a slight grin. Actually, he wasn't alone. Not really.

"Are you two ready for an adventure?"

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **(** A few (5) hours later, here's the next chapter. I'm looking at you, Razor of DOOM. XD) Lotsa dialogue in this chapter, but I felt like they had some catching up to do... Plus, who doesn't like camp fire talks? Nothing brings out the feels like darkness and a warm fire.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has reviewed this far, it really, really means a lot to me! While I don't base if I'll continue writing a story or not on how many reviews I receive (I also don't like asking people to review because I don't want you to feel compelled), it definitely makes me feel better to know that other people are enjoying/hating the story; really, though. I know how hard it is to review, and so I wanted to say **THANK YOU** for reviewing, good or bad!

In other news, this ends part I, this is about a four part story, though the parts aren't all as long as part 1. I sort of have it broken down into sagas, so to speak. I bet you all thought this was almost done? Long story is looong? Lol -dies- I hope I can keep you all entertained for that long!

Things to look forward to in part 2: Ash goes on his own adventures; we learn how and want makes this political world tick, we see a lot more of Brock (my fav waaahh) more of Ash's pokemon, more of Gary, more of Misty's sisters and, the inclusion of Jessie and James (No, DragonFelicis, I have not forgotten about them lol :))!

( _ **04.14.2016**_ ) **So now I'm going to ask for response from reviewers who have made it this far.** You have seen up until this point Ash and Misty's (painfully slow?) growth, and since this is labeled a Romance, (and I have it written out three different ways because I can't frickin decide), I wanted to ask; Sooner, later, or end? Let me know what you think, because I'm torn at the moment.

I'll also be getting back to reviews again this chapter! So ask me any questions (I'll also be trying to reply to previous questions as well, you know, if reviews start being visible again!)

Also, I apologize for the gap in updates there for awhile; school, computer issues, terrible roommate, makes for a hard time of editing/writing.

That being said, I never expected this story to hit off the ground the way that it did and so I'm very grateful for all of your reviews, favorites, follows and feedback! (as well as 45,000 views!) Most of you have had some great insight, theories, questions, speculations, comments, and I do read every single one of them even if I don't always get back to you. You guys have truly been amazing and I am honored that I have been able to provoke your thoughts the way that I have. I hope that as we move forward you all continue to enjoy the story.

Lots of love,

NINT


	23. Chapter 23: Welcome to Part II: Fear

**Locked Away, Chapter 23**

Kicking open the familiar metal doors, the young Waterflower gave a long sigh. Slipping her bag from her shoulder to the corner of the gymnasium, she sighed at the reflection in the pool staring back at her. She was dirty, her hair was in tangles, her clothes were wrinkled, and she had dark rings under her eyes. In the water, the lights were on, the pokemon were swimming happily, the filters had been cleaned, the faint smell of lunch lingered in the air but Misty could only shudder. Noise echoed from every corner of the lively gym, from Daisy humming in the kitchen, to Lily blasting music from the living quarters up the stairs.

It was loud, and all-too familiar.

 _Empty_.

Her shoulders felt unbelievably heavy on her torso, her head even heavier than that. Naturally, she dropped her head until her chin fell against her collarbone and she let out a loud sigh that Daisy did not acknowledge. The bell didn't sound when she opened the door, so she walked back to the door, reached up, and clicked the buzzer with her fingers to reactivate the sensor. Without sparing a single word, she scooped up her bag as she made her way upstairs, undetected.

Life moved on, her sisters seemed to go about their normal lives, with or with out her. The gym was still in one piece, and Misty was sure that everything was well taken care of. Daisy always came through for her in a pinch.

Sliding her feet down the long hallway, she made her way into the back room of the gym, only to be met with a wave of loud music upon opening the door. Lily was playing one of her dancing games on the large television in the living room, and Violet was nowhere to be seen.

Misty tunneled through the living room quickly, dipping past Lily and directly to the door of her bedroom where she stiffened, glancing at the guest room she had lent to Ash for a month.

If she hadn't missed him before; it hit her now in tidal waves.

Slowly, she slumped against her door, and then rest her forehead against the wooden surface. Would he be okay out there on his own? Did she sentence him to death by handing him a temporary license? Should she be worried? Her head hurt at the thoughts that penetrated her mind, and she slowly twisted her door knob to enter her room.

It was the exact same way she left it; her pokemon gear and objects were strewn about, the comforter was a mess, and she had discarded clothes in the hamper. However, after being gone for so long, it felt more like a jail cell than a bed room. Inhaling the musky odor that penetrated the bedroom—opposed to the typical wildflowers and berry scent from her perfumes, she opted to take a quick shower before getting started on late gym duties. Most likely, a pile of paper work waited for her-more than usual. She also had to sign for some badges, check the food levels—only, with a drawn sigh she stripped out of Ash's clothes and tossed them sparingly on the bed—she didn't _feel_ like it.

For once in her life, Misty Waterflower did not feel like being a gym leader. For a moment, she ached to be _that kid_ again, the one who threw down her gym license and declared to her sisters that she wouldn't be back until she was the best water pokemon master the world had ever seen. For a moment, as she slipped into the bathroom she had shared with Ash, she wondered what it _would_ have been like if she had traveled with Ash when they were younger. She made light of the situation, telling him that anything could have happened back then—but frankly, she would have enjoyed the company. Misty's journey, through Kanto, Johto and parts of Sinnoh were lonesome; there weren't a lot of pokemon trainers, and those who were trainers were older, typically. When Team Rocket was waiting around every corner, most people feared showing off in public. Being who she was, Misty was never scared of Team Rocket.

Was Ash?

"Aaahhhg, stop it, girl." She swore to herself, scrunching up her face and running the palm of her hand down her profile.

She slipped into the shower without another thought, turned on the tap. Remembering that Ash would not be accidentally barging in anymore, she let out a throaty sigh and placed her hand against the back of her head to flick her wet hair. Even though it was the first hot shower in a week, she was finished quickly—habit, mostly. Steam poured from the shower and it should have relaxed her, but it did not. Her nerves wouldn't settle.

In the foggy mirror, she saw Ash's hand prints sprawled over the mirror. Rather than wiping the steam from the mirror with a cloth, as a normal person would, Ash would use the palm of his hand because it was 'faster'. His set of bathroom supplies was stashed on one corner of the ceramic top, so when she reached for the towel he typically dried with, she had to stop herself. What was she doing? Grabbing her normal towel instead, she wrapped her body and approached the mirror to look at herself. Her hair was longer, too long. It matted to her neck and shoulders. Her right eyebrow was bruised the slightest bit from when Ash head butt her in route twenty five, but her growing bangs covered the damage. Down from that, she brushed her fingers against her right cheek as a blush crawled over her pale skin. There was _that_ as well. It left no visible mark, but the thought, the _memory_ was there.

Misty exhaled loudly, her chest falling rapidly as she rubbed the side of her cheek, remembering still the feeling of his warm lips pressed into her cold features—what exactly was that? He mentioned his mother, _his_ mother! She knew she could be motherly, but did he think of her as a mother-figure? Her face paled as she leaned forward to bury her face in her hands, resting her elbows on the counter top to regain her thoughts.

Even if Ash thought of her as a mother figure, it didn't matter anyways. Pressing her fingers against her eyes hard, trying to burn the image of Ash out of them, she nearly jumped out of her skin when a knock came to the door.

"Misty, is that you?" Daisy's voice echoed into the bathroom, and Misty scrambled for appropriate words.

"Yeah, it's me." She finally offered, weakly, while pulling and tugging on her hair. Daisy breathed from the other side of the door in relief.

"I'm glad you're okay." She said, adding quickly; "Did you and Ash sort everything out?"

Misty inhaled, steeling herself for the 'talk' her sister would likely force on her. "Yeah we did."

A pause.

"What happened with his mother? Was he okay?" She asked quickly, her tone worried. Misty pulled on her bath robe while flicking her hair over her shoulder and combing the strands quickly.

"He's as good as he is going to be." Misty confirmed, reaching for the door knob. She hadn't brought in a spare change of clothes, so she would need to rummage through her things. Daisy stared at her when the door gave way, her blue eyes blinking worriedly at Misty, who wasn't aware she was scowling.

"And you two? Is he mad at you?"

"No, it's fine." Misty said, dancing around her sister and to her dresser drawer where her normal clothes were. Daisy didn't seem to accept the answer though. She huffed.

"Then where is he?" Daisy asked, sounding almost like an angry, protective older sister—Misty chuckled under her breath. How accurate. Against her will, Misty watched her sister in surprise.

"What do you mean?" Misty asked, and Daisy shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, his mom didn't accept him, did she? So that means he must have came back with you." She said pointedly, and when Misty didn't reply right away, Daisy's mouth fell ajar. "His mom _did_ want him?"

"What? No." Misty said hotly, snapping back to reality. "He just... needed to go on a journey." Misty specified, being as vague with her answer as possible. Daisy liked to talk, and so if she spilled the beans that Ash was, quite literally, following his dreams, she wouldn't keep her mouth shut.

"So you two didn't make up?" Daisy asked weakly and Misty let out a strangled grunt of frustration.

"We did, but he still wanted to travel." Misty assured Daisy while slipping on her undergarments and throwing the first overly large shirt she could find in her closet over her shoulders. For a moment, she was grateful that Daisy hadn't seen her wearing Ash's clothes—that would have been a nightmare to explain.

Daisy seemed flabbergasted, missing a point somewhere along the lines. "And you _let_ him go? Is that where you were all this time?"

"Yes. I traveled with him to..." She couldn't very well tell Daisy, her eldest sister, the worry wart of the four of them, that she went off to fight a charizard based on a hunch, so Misty did what she did best. She told a half-truth. "We took a detour, found a town and made some discoveries." Misty mumbled but Daisy caught her right away.

"You mean 'battled a charizard in route twenty-four?'" Daisy's tone was icy as she corrected her baby sister, and Misty turned at her with one foot in her sweats and blinked, having been caught. It was a deadly arrangement, cerulean blue meeting cerulean green in a staring contest.

"...How...?" Misty managed and Daisy stomped her foot. Suddenly the parchment tucked under her arm was glowingly apparent.

"Your face is all over the news! Did you read about what happened with Bill's lab?"

"What?" Misty hissed once more, stepping closer to her sister. Daisy slammed the folded papers onto the foot of Misty's bed and her eyes bugged out. Truly, her name was highlighted at the top of the front page news paper—but not _any_ news paper—the Indigo League National paper.

"Misty Waterflower trumps raging charizard" was the title, and Misty could feel her nerves ruffle. Daisy was playing her.

"You could lead with that, you know." She scolded, but was no where near in a position to belittle Daisy.

"You could have been _killed_ Misty! Just what were you and Ash doing!?" Misty tried to roll her eyes; hadn't she yelled at Ash about the same thing?

"We got lost trying to find something." Misty said calmly; Daisy didn't know about Ash's dreams—not in detail, and Misty wasn't willing to explain them right now. They still sounded crazy to her! "We stumbled into route twenty four..."

Daisy seemed to froth at the mouth. "Really?"

"Really."

"So you didn't stop anywhere else? You just got lost?"

"I feel like that's a trick question..." Misty laughed nervously, and Daisy threw up her arms angrily.

"Brock, the Pewter City gym leader, _he called_ a few days after you left to get Ash. He was wondering if YOU and ASH were around to talk to—something about dreams and battling." Daisy's foot was rattling on Misty's carpeted floor, and from that moment on, Misty knew she was being hounded, and her defenses rose.

"Why do you care anyways? I was taking care of business." Misty hissed defensively while scrounging through her backpack for her long forgotten phone, and reached over to plug it into the charger which was still right beside her bed. Daisy didn't heel at all.

"So you went to Viridian City." Daisy hissed. "You found his mother—then he convinced you to go to Pewter City? Where you realized instead of _coming home_ you would find a charizard!?"

"Where did this come from, anyways? Who wrote this?" Misty asked, grabbing the paper from her bed curiously and looking for an address.

The only people that should have known anything about the situation was some small town and Ash and Misty—Ash was further from town than she was...so this news getting out so early, it was unheard of. If anything, the news should have come directly from Misty or Ash. Gritting her teeth, she wondered if her complaint to the league about a suspicious town out there would even be recognized now.

"I don't know, I thought you might have said something!" Realizing that Misty was not listening to her, Daisy growled and snatched her by the shoulders. "Misty! What's going on with you!? You're never this reckless!" Daisy grabbed her youngest sister, reeling her around to face her while worry danced behind her blue orbs. Misty swallowed hard as her hair fell behind her with each gently shake Daisy forced onto her. Slowly, Misty looked away from her slightly taller sister and to the window where the gleam of the light brightened her bed room.

"I..." she shrugged off Daisy's grip. "Don't worry about it anymore. I'm not going anywhere now. No more adventures." Misty assured the woman, but that wasn't good enough. With tears in her eyes, Daisy wrapped her arms around Misty's shoulders and squeezed the young woman.

"I was so worried about you two..." She hiccuped and Misty could feel the stream of her sister's salty, warm tears trickle down the side of her cheek.

"I'm sorry, Daisy..." Misty tried, but the elder sister only sobbed in reaction as Misty noticed another two pairs of eyes watching her from the door. Lily and Violet watched the exchange sadly, the two of their lips quivering gently when Misty waved them over to smother her as well. There was nothing left to do than to accept her fate. They pounced on Daisy and Misty, wrapping the two females into a tight hug and muttering their sorrows into the huddle, all the while Misty wondered if this is where her insistent worries came from.

"Guys, I'm fine. Ash is fine, too." Misty offered in an attempt to get her sisters to relax. One by one they peeled away from the redhead, and found themselves seated on her cushion white-comforter, sniffling.

"We really missed you. When the headlines came out and you didn't call, we, like, thought you had died for sure." Violet uttered while Misty approached the headline to skim through the article. It wasn't detailed and a lot of the information was botched—most clearly, Ash was no where mentioned in the article. It was primarily about Misty and her gyarados; glorifying her in the media by stating how wonderful it was that she cleared the path in the forest for trainers. However, no where in the article was the small town mentioned; or even Bill's lab.

"Daisy, how did you know about Bill's lab?" Misty inquired thoughtfully.

"It's on the page right after yours. A horrible storm went through all of route twenty-five and washed out half of the infrastructure there; including Bill's house."

Slowly, Misty turned at her sister, who was still gently wiping her eyes with her wrists and Misty fought the urge to scream loudly. Misty had been in that storm; she _saw_ Bill's house with her own eyes. While it was a powerhouse of a storm, Bill's house looked to have been ruined for _years_. Misty cracked a smile, she wouldn't worry her sisters about this though.

"And did they mention a small town near Bill's house? With a well-lit tower?"

"A small town? There's no towns out on route twenty-five, Misty. You know that." Daisy said matter of fact, and Misty stiffed her sigh. Instead, she chuckled in disbelief and shook her head.

She really wished Ash was here.

 **XOXs**

Clueless to the events of the world, Ash had stopped a little ways out of route nine, holding the map that Misty gave him earlier that week up to the sky. He twisted it one way, and then another, and then sighed bitterly. He couldn't _read_ the map, because during the rain storm most of the pictures were washed away.

"Pikaaa chuu." The yellow mouse whined from his spot beside Ash, and Ash reflected the thought.

"Yeah, I know buddy. Me, too." Ash agreed and scrunched up his nose. Togepi had been the most silent of the three of them. Its small feet scuffed from the harsh dirt, it probably missed _home_ about as much as Ash did right now.

It hadn't even been three days since they parted ways, and Ash already missed her natural ability to read maps and navigate through forests. He had been going in circles for most of the day, but at least it wasn't raining.

Ash was sure that he found primeape somewhere out here when he was younger. The pokemon, who was a Mankey at the time, had stolen his hat and danced like a wild monkey across most of route nine—yet, here Ash was; standing between a rock and a hard place. He had already walked the length of route nine, stumbling upon the famous rock tunnel, which was "Closed for repairs", and discovered the sign that led around the rock tunnel and into Lavender Town.

On his travel, he discovered a couple of wild pokemon; but nothing compared to primeape. Nothing compared to seeing charizard again. So Ash did want any smart trainer would do. He wondered off the path, heading south towards route eight through the forest. Up until he had gotten lost between what felt like a million trees, he _thought_ that he was going in the right direction.

They spent the better part of their third day walking in circles with togepi and pikachu both complaining about his terrible navigating skills.

What did they expect? This was a lot easier in his sleep!

When they sat down for lunch that afternoon, they took station on a stump in the middle of the forest, where pikachu hissed at Ash for almost sitting on him.

"Sorry." Ash mumbled, cracking a toothy smile that made pikachu forgive him in an instant. The elder pokemon sighed, and then rest against the stump while togepi paced back and forth for a moment, and then found its way back to Ash.

"Toge, toge, brrree" It mumbled, to which Ash pursed his lips.

"I think you spent to much time with Misty, togepi." He grumbled first, "There's no way that he's not here. Charizard was still on route twenty four, and squirtle was still near Bill's lab. Primape's gotta be around here somewhere." Ash mused, though the small egg pokemon only sighed.

Unlike Misty, it didn't have the determination to argue with Ash's flawed view of the world, and it also didn't carry the blind faith that pikachu carried for Ash. Togepi was warm water in an icy river.

"Well, we better get going." Ash said, hoping up, giving them almost no time to rest. Both pokemon sighed, but followed after the determined trainer. Continuing blindly.

 **XOXS**

After a few more hours of wandering, lost in the woods between route nine and eight. Ash, scowling, finally sat down at an opening in the forest and sighed. Sure, he had _thought_ about it. The _thought_ crossed his mind once or twice... but why would he find charizard, and squirtle, and pikachu—only to not be able to find primeape? Ash rubbed the back of his neck and grit his teeth tightly.

Right away, his initial thought fell to Misty; normally, he would have asked. "What do you think about this?" and she always had some sophisticated, logical, usually rational answer for him. But she was _not_ here right now; and no matter how loud he shouted, no one would reply.

The sun was nearly down now. Sitting in a forest with two pokemon alone wasn't exactly his idea of a good time. Two nights on the road were enough for him to understand that _larger_ pokemon were more active at night, and in this nice weather, he wouldn't doubt that the forest would have more of them than the primary travel route.

Though, he shouldn't have been scared, right? He had pikachu, and togepi, and if worse came to worse, he had charizard. Yet, charizard would be one of those last ditch efforts-because even Ash knew that dry wood caught fire easily. Tiredly, he looked up as pikachu and togepi slumped against his arms and sighed dramatically.

Once again, he looked down to their exhausted faces, and gave a loud sigh himself whilst rubbing his face with his gloved hand. He searched most of the rocky gorge of route nine, through hordes of diglet, and a few rock people, and was now pulling strings to check the forest—originally, he had intended to go out only a little ways, but one thing turned into another, and well, he was lost now. Most of the pokemon were in hibernation, but as Misty had warned him before, the worst are the ones who _don't_ sleep in the winter.

"Pikkka. ka." it barked behind Ash, having shed a lot of its extra weight already, it was looking rather muscular when it wagged its tail at Ash, mocking him.

"Okay, I admit it, I'm lost." he admit—though the three nights they spent tucked under a tree on route nine and jumping at every noise should have been their first clue.

Traveling wasn't easy, Ash thought bitterly while pinching the bridge of his nose. When he was with Misty, he at least had someone with a little more experience than him to guide his bad decisions into the right direction—without her, he wasn't even sure which way was north, and he sure as hell didn't have a compass to check.

"Toge." The egg rattled on for awhile following pikachu's comment, in a fashion sort of like a child would—but with all the bite from two months spent with Misty. Ash's shoulders drooped, but he gave no reply.

Their food rations were low, but the weather held up. Rain storms were not frequent, the sun was out for most of the day, and while it wasn't enough to disturb the insistent chill in the air, it was enough to keep them warm and moving.

But now, it had been a little over three days—and they made zero progress.

Ash was naturally an optimist, he had to be after everything that happened to him. A ten year coma starting his very first day of being a pokemon trainer, discovering that all of his friends were not his friends, his life experience was crap, his vision of the world was wrong, his mother didn't want him, his father figure was dead, squirtle was stone, his best friend was... was...

His heart thundered in his chest, and he collapsed onto the ground in a huff, spreading his arms out and looking up at the twilight sky, rubbing his scalp with his long fingers. At the thought of Misty, he hesitated his long list of 'bads', and twisted his lips into a pout. On the other hand, his pokemon remembered him, he had a little brother, he was healthy-even though Misty tried to remind him that he wasn't supposed to be—he had friends, he had togepi and pikachu, and most importantly, he did have _something_ to live for. He glanced at the egg pokemon and pikachu.

Pikachu was helping togepi clean off some dead grass that had gotten stuck in the top of its shell, and brushed the egg clean of dust, cheerfully exchanging words. Ash hadn't noticed it before, but pikachu had a natural fatherly aspect about him since they reunited. Outside of his general complaints and sarcasm to Ash, the mouse watched out for togepi more than either he or Misty could. Pikachu was still uncharacteristically devoted to Ash, sharp-tongued, but he was also calmer. Much calmer. He no longer lashed out offensively, but rather clung to his defenses bravely. Much like the pokemon had matured in his dream world.

Ash hummed while twisting uncomfortably, he sat up and rubbed his hands together. Really though, his problems could be solved easily if he simply called charizard. Yet, Ash couldn't do that. He had yet yo explain the full situation to the dragon, and he wasn't ready for _the_ talk yet. Looking at charizard reminded Ash about how much he really messed up in this world; his pokemon were stuck remembering a guy they didn't know was real, and here he was, doing little about it. Ash sighed loudly and removed his hat while shaking his head. His body ached, the bruises he obtained from the initial attack had not healed yet, and he was beginning to think visiting a doctor _was_ his best idea. Since Misty left, he could not wrap the bandages around his torso on his own, so he took his chances to let them heal without. Between feeling like needles were trying to burst from his skin from the inside out, he was also sure he was fevered. That might have been the long walks though.

He chuckled to himself, blinking once. He promised Misty he would go to a clinic in the next town; however, he did not tell her when he would be in a next town, or if he could even afford it. Ash said it to appease his friend.

Snorting, Ash realized now how childish it was as his eyelids weighed heavy. Pikachu and togepi rattled between one another about a foot away from him, a lullaby for the long-time-dream trainer, and Ash inhaled, and released thoughtfully; allowing exhaustion to take over his body as sleep washed him into dream land once again.

For only a moment, he wondered about Misty; his mom, his brother, and the rest of his pokemon—wherever they were, if they were happy, if they were sad... if they missed him at all? More importantly, if they knew he was real.

 **XOXs**

The thought to talk with charizard had occurred to Ash many times. To ask him what he thought, what he felt while Ash was missing—but how was Ash supposed to ask? His dreams filled with fears of his pokemon—primarily-the fear that they would all be stone like wartortle. A part of Ash, wondered if such an occurrence happened only because his pokemon waited for him for too long.

How long would they wait? Who was to say they wouldn't all be stone? Or dead, or gone..?

While sleeping, Ash's face scrunched up, listening faintly to the sounds of pikachu screaming in the background. He turned over and nearly covered his ears.

"Pika pi!" frantic, the pokemon pounced on Ash, alerting him.

Fully awake, but still a bit drowsy, Ash looked down to his mouse companion, who was slightly bruised. Upon landing on Ash, the pokemon hissed at him, and Ash shook his head.

"What's going on, pikachu?" Ash asked, but his answer was reciprocated by the sound of an enormous hiss beside him. Eyes growing wide and hair rising, he saw the fangs of a rather large, rather pissed off ekans growling at togepi. Ash reacted without thinking.

"Pikachu thunderbolt!" Ash yelled, physically throwing the pokemon forward. Pikachu tucked, and then spread out its arms as it flew forward. Lightning flickered from its cheeks and its entire body swayed once the surge was released from its body like a conductor.

Ash jumped back, sure to steer clear of the blast radius, while togepi ducked inside of its shell and rolled away. Faster than Ash expected, the lightning made contact with the snake, rubber banding from him and lighting up the entire forest, which until that moment, Ash hadn't realized was dark.

He swore to himself, assessing the situation. He had fallen asleep in the middle of the forest! Only moments after agreeing to himself that it was a terrible idea. Yellow eyes darted around him from behind bushes as pikachu promptly fell to the grass upon frying the snake. Ekans was stunned for only a moment, but then with his next move, he coiled into the forest once again, leaving the trainer and his two pokemon standing in the field.

"Get ready." Ash murmured as pikachu raced back to his side; togepi, a bit slower due to its size and shape found that rolling was faster than walking, and propelled itself forward.

"I didn't mean to fall asleep. I'm sorry guys." he told the pokemon, but neither seemed to mind.

In the silence of the trees, they heard a faint rattling, and numerous hissing. Sweat trickled down the back of Ash's neck while pikachu hiked up onto its hind-legs and growled in response, wanting nothing more than to ignite the entire forest with its lightning. His red cheeks sparked and he snarled, awaiting the next attack.

Ash acknowledged that they were already at a disadvantage, he, pikachu and togepi could not see in the dark—but more than likely, the predators could. On top of that, they were likely surrounded. How could he have fallen asleep like this? Because of his negligence, they had most likely had stumbled into a nest of viper pokemon; hunting in the dead of winter at night time when its prey least expected it.

"Are you ready pikachu, togepi?" Ash mumbled under his breath, loud enough for only his pokemon to hear. Truthfully, they had never talked about tactics, they never really trained, so this would be their first real battle outside of Brock. Ash felt himself grin pathetically. How exciting.

Recalling what Misty had told him before; he inhaled bravely. In the wild, anything goes.

From the right, a purple blur flashed before Ash, but he saw it before it pounced on him; even though his reflexes might have not been trained to handle battling, his eyes were.

"Pikachu, to the right, thunder shock!" he called, and like clock work, the mouse bounced over and another eruption of electricity crackled from its body and into the direction of the opposing party. Unlike Ekans, the massive creature dodged, and slithered around a tree for protection before coming back out to face the group. Staring back at Ash were wide, sharp, and dangerous yellow eyes.

"An arbok." Ash muttered under his breath, watching the body slither downward, stalking its prey with its cold eyes.

"Pika pi!" Pikachu called to Ash.

His jaw cocked in response. "He wants to challenge you?" Ash inquired gently, back stiff. With the hissing of ekans around him still, he wasn't so sure battling was the best idea—but what could he lose? Pokemon were not all vicious, they must have still had some rules. If they defeated arbok, the rest should back off, right? Believing this, Ash nodded.

"Then we'll battle."

"ppppika!" Electrical shocks erupted once again from pikachu's cheeks, and Ash exhaled to calm his nerves. Beside him, togepi offered his confidence in the pokemon and Ash relaxed.

He wasn't alone, after all. He could do this. He just had to remember that pikachu, unlike his dream counter part, was not battle ready yet; he needed to account for his weaknesses. He needed to think on his toes.

Recalling a list of pikachu's basic moves Ash grit his teeth, and sucked in fresh night air. His brown eyes never left Arbok, who's long tongue slithered between his fangs in an attempt to intimidate the trainer and pokemon. Luckily for Ash, pikachu's mentality was still as strong as his heart, otherwise, they would be in another situation entirely.

Unlike charizard, whose attacks were abrasive and full of rage, arbok's were calculating, malicious. When the pokemon charged at pikachu, Ash saw through the attack.

 _He's going to try to coil around him_ , Ash thought confidently and threw his hand forward to initiate attack. "Dodge and use thunder shock!"

Leaping faithfully into the air, pikachu skillfully avoided the pokemon, which had used its gaping mouth as a distraction for moving its tail. The attack missed, save for Ash's keen eye and a silent thank you was spared between pokemon and trainer before pikachu let out another lightning attack—this one landing solid.

A loud, breathy cry emerged from the viper's jaws and it retracted near the edge of the forest once more to use the darkness as its advantage. Pikachu landed a backflip onto the dirt. Pikachu's head dipped low, feeling the adrenaline from battle. He shared this same vigor with Ash who took a step back.

"Use quick attack!" He commanded, and the mouse sprung forward. Since his battle with Brock, pikachu's movements had doubled. The walking that the pokemon did over the course of the week had helped to increase its speed sevenfold—however-arbok rose quickly, its trained eyes could see pikachu even during the rush of the attack and prepared its counter by lunging forward.

"Dip under it's jaws and use tackle!" Ash shouted, watching as the arbok pressed forward, trying to hit pikachu as it was moving. Compared to pikachu's rather small frame, it managed to clip the end of pikachu's tale with its teeth, but pikachu successfully dove beneath the monsters large bite, and then resurfaced with a solid hit into to the snake's windpipe.

"Good Job!" Ash snapped his fingers, elated; arbok did not share this same excitement as it hacked from the crushed windpipe.

Carefully pikachu rolled away from the attack, huffing. His tiny heart fluttered in his chest, naturally, he would have finished arbok off with an iron tail, or an electro ball—but Ash had other ideas entirely.

"Finish it before he gets up with a thunder attack!"

"Pika!" The pokemon yelped, forgetting the mess of close range thunder. Above, a roar of loud sparks raged, and Ash looked up only briefly to see a shade of darkened sky line before a shot of lightning connected with pikachu, and erupted from his body, striking the staggered pokemon before him. A magnificent display of lights bounced through the forest. Ash and togepi covered their eyes to protect themselves from the blinding lights created by pikachu's blast. A loud cry of agony shot through the intense boom of the thunder, and when the dust settled, Ash could only see the limp body of arbok, smoking from the ground.

He grinned in victory, met with pikachu's own over confident snarl. Years. No, never, had Ash and pikachu truly battled in this world; and it felt so insanely natural Ash could almost feel the adrenaline beat through his veins. He grinned like a mad man.

Only, the battle wasn't over yet.

Pikachu turned to see Ash after their in sync battle, when another ekans shot from the forest, biting for togepi once again. The stealthy snake having gone unnoticed by Ash who's eyes were on pikachu until it was too late.

"Pika!" The pokemon shouted, projecting itself forward just in time to push the egg out of the way.

"Pikachu!" Ash shouted aggressively, turning to see the damage. Blood gushed from the fangs that pressed into the small rodent's body, followed by a spray of green-ish looking saliva. No, Ash's eyes went wide—not saliva. _Poison._

"kaaa..." The rodent limped while the ekan's jaw unhinged to finish the job.

"Toge!" The egg shouted, having returned from the roll it was pushed into from pikachu. Not thinking once about his decision, Ash's hand moved on its own accord.

"Charizard, use flame thrower!" Ash shouted, and in one blaze of glory, the dragon shot forth from the ball. It's wings spread like an angels, and fire pouring from it's mouth like a devil.

Ekan's dropped pikachu the second its cold body was met with the heat of charizard's flame, and Ash and togepi raced to grab pikachu, with togepi screaming incoherent babble at the pokemon for jumping in front of it.

"Kaa." pikachu mumbled while Ash tore off his jacket to wrap the open puncture wounds. Beside him, charizard's eyes grew wide in anger, and he looked amongst the remaining ekans crawling out of the forest, as well as the defeated arbok, and gave a roar loud enough to be heard for miles.

 **XOXs**

The quiet of the forest was usually undisturbed in the day time, let alone in the evening. Most trainers knew not to go about at night time, so when the blueish pokemon peeled itself away from the ruined shack it was sleeping in that night, it followed the distressed noise into a field where it watched a trainer with shockingly familiar black hair battle with an all-too-familiar pikachu battle and an arbok.

When the pikachu was left discarded and injured, the blueish pokemon's red eyes grew wide, watching as the raging charizard blew forth flames that caused the trees to burn around him; setting fire to the forest. The group of snake pokemon retreated at the imposing threat of being burned alive, while Ash threw his hands up.

"Charizard, calm down!" He yelled, though the dragon didn't seem to listen to Ash as its evil eyes turned on the raven-haired boy.

"...Bulbasaur..." The blue-green pokemon interrupted from the corner of the field, below a burning branch of the forest. Its body moved awkwardly against the darkness, but Ash, and his company recognized the pokemon immediately.

Ash's eyes opened wide.

"Bulbasaur?" Ash asked unsure. The grass pokemon blinked a few times in disbelief. There was no way that this was _Ash_. Ash wasn't _real_. It took a few steps back wards, preparing to run when Ash yelled.

"Wait! Pikachu's hurt and you know the way out of this forest, don't you!?" Ash screamed. It didn't mater if this was his bulbasaur or not—what mattered was saving pikachu. The grass pokemon looked around at the destruction caused by the boy, and then at charizard who had grown uncharacteristically quiet upon seeing the grass pokemon, and then finally at the tearful eyes of the togepi standing at Ash's feet, and it swallowed hard.

"Bulba." It replied and walked forward to Ash, poking out its vines to direct Ash where to go.

"How long does that take by foot?" Ash muttered, earning a look of frustration from charizard who had a droplet of sweat run down his horns. The fire beside them brightened the forest enough; but Ash didn't have time to think about it. Pikachu was unconscious in his arms.

With a breathy snarl, charizard apologetically lowered its head for Ash to climb on top of and he looked at the pokemon with gratefulness penetrating his chocolate orbs.

"Thank you so much." Ash mumbled while nodding to togepi who immediately propelled itself onto Ash's arm and buried its face into the side of his head to hide its budding shame. Its inability to battle and save pikachu.

"Are you coming?" Ash asked abrasively, sparing not even a single second for reunions. Looking at bulbasaur who still couldn't believe his own eyes, Ash's lips were turned into a thin frown.

"...saur...?"

"I am. And it's a long story that I promise to tell you after I've taken pikachu to a pokemon center, _please_. If you know me, just...come with me." he urged, knowing that charizard had been awaiting this dreadful talk as well. Reluctantly, the grass pokemon hung its head in approval, and charizard took the moment to swoop forward and pick up the grass pokemon with its short arms and circle back around through the air to the nearest city, getting directions from bulbasaur below.

The familiar wind hitting his face, Ash brushed his face against togepi's shell, and then looked down at pikachu.

"It'll be okay." He spoke silently, praying that he wasn't wrong.

 **XOXs**

Ash could recognize the Silph Co. tower from anywhere. In his dreams, the looming tower was already massive, but in the real world, it seemed to be its own city all on its own. With a tower that stood nearly one hundred stories, and and area of several blocks, even Ash in his worried state had to inhale sharp. Saffron City was the largest city in Kanto, home to millions of residents of Kanto—and the city was only growing bigger. In the distance, he could see the large propellers of construction lights flashing in the distance, gleaming a bright orange in color.

Sitting on Charizard's back. Ash was hunched over with one arm gripping the pokemon's neck, and the other holding tight onto pikachu. With the heavy wind, and now the sound of busying traffic, Ash could not hear the pokemon in his arm breathing any longer, and his chest grew cold.

The city may have been alive, glowing light a night light below him, but he felt dead inside.

"There!" Ash pointed out, having circled the city enough to see a pokemon center in a smaller part of town—if living with Misty in Cerulean City taught him anything, it was that centers in smaller areas were frequented less, and typically asked fewer questions than their main-stream counter parts.

With a compliant roar, charizard naturally swooped down, tucking his wings to drop swiftly through the air. Ash's lungs emptied, and his stomach churned at the sudden drop in pressure. Falling from the sky was a lot like diving into a pool of water: to the inexperienced, it was terrifying, and yet so sanctifying.

Ash stopped himself from screaming by biting his tongue. He didn't need to draw more attention to himself. Instead, he grit his teeth as the woosh of the dragon's wings spread once more to still the falling trainer and pokemon, arriving at the destination below them.

He landed expertly, just outside of the pokemon center's doors when Ash kicked off his shoulders.

"Thank you." he muttered, though Ash spared no glances to charizard or bulbasaur who shared a worried glance upon landing. They received numerous looks from the people around them—some hostile, some confused.

When Ash rushed to the counter—he felt all too nostalgic. Flashbacks of the same routine from the first hour of his dream world made a pit grow in the bottom of his stomach. Ash bumped into the counter during his sprint.

"I need help."  
A nurse, or someone who looked like one was there in an instant, removing pikachu from his arms.

"Oh no. How long has be been poisoned?" She asked, brushed aside Ash's grabbing hands and checking for a heart beat with her stethoscope.

He stammered, glancing at the door where he could hear the sound of sirens. "Uh, just about thirty minutes."

"Why didn't you return it to it's pokeball?" She hissed angrily and Ash blinked,

"W-what?"

"It's pokeball? Do you have one?"

"It's well..." _No, I don't have it_. "I've never needed to use it before..." Ash stammered and the nurse scowled while looking at him.

"How do you plan to prevent the spread of injury after battles?" She hissed as a well groomed chansey stumbled from a door, pushing a metal stretcher—Ash didn't mind the glares he was getting. Even the own sound of his heart beat didn't seem to affect him.

However, the sound of the sirens grew closer, and he swallowed while watching pikachu. Palms sweaty. _Calm down_. He told himself.

"I just..."

"You didn't steal this pokemon did you?" a strand of her deep turquoise hair fell into her face and Ash struggled to find the proper words.

"No." He would never steal pokemon, but he didn't exactly have a license to flash, either. Did Misty license him yet? He knew she said not to show off charizard, but what was he supposed to do in this situation? Suddenly, his mouth felt dry, his ability to speak gone. Desperately, he wished that Misty was here, she always had a way of talking him out of poor situations. A solution to a rather unorthodox problem.

But she wasn't here.

No, he was alone. He swallowed, narrowing his eyes.

The nurse wasn't convinced. "I'm sorry, I'm going to have to call-" Ash touched her hand, placing the phone back onto the ringer.

"I just got out of the forest between route nine and eight. Pikachu's pokeball was broken during a battle with a nest of ekans—please. I just need your help."

The answer seemed to appease the nurse, who looked deep into Ash's eyes. Her emerald ones reflected almost the same look that Misty would give him time-to-time. She nodded.

"You're lucky, if you had seen anyone else in here, they would have sent you away."

The sirens were practically blaring by this point, and Ash nodded. "Thank you." he looked to the open glass doors where he could still see charizard and bulbasaur waiting patiently for him, as well as the crowd of stares.

"When will he be ready?"

"A few hours, give or take. It looks to be only a paralysis poison. We'll take good care of him." Her words did little to settle his stomach, but he offered her a boyish grin that seemed to bring a smile to her own features.

"Thank you."

"Again, you got lucky." She reminded him before pulling on a pair of latex gloves and following down the hallway after chansey.

Breathing in, and then out, Ash forced his nerves to calm themselves and then spun on his heels to the exit.

"Bulba!" The pokemon cried the moment the outside air hit his face. The smell of sewage became overly apparent and Ash screwed up his face, watching the sirens grow closer.

"We should go, first."

"Get your pokemon out of here!" someone shouted.

"This is a no flying zone!" Another person yelled and Ash grit his teeth. Before charizard could reply with an angered roar, Ash instinctively returned him, and put up his hands. A precaution.

"Sorry. It was an emergency." Without looking at a single face, Ash shouted his reply.

Ignoring the rest of the complaints, Ash pointed into the pokemon center. "Follow me?" He asked, and the grass pokemon complied, following Ash through the sliding glass doors where he marched from the lobby, and directly into the waiting area outside of the emergency room where he would be alone, aside from the large glass windows in front of him.

An awkward silence hung between the two of them when Ash crashed into his seat and he rubbed his scalp, twisting his back pack off of his shoulders to pluck out togepi, who had curled itself into its egg, terrified.

"Togepi..." Ash started, though he hadn't realized himself until that moment that he was also shaking. _It'll be okay_. He wanted to tell the egg, but the words never came. It was his fault they were in this situation. Misty had constantly pestered him to be safe, to think things through; and still he ends up taking pikachu into emergency care, still he ends up in a life or death situation. Still, he screws up.

Carefully, Ash tucked the pokemon against his chest, holding it against his body using the same jacket he had wrapped pikachu with. Poking its head out slowly, togepi blinked its dark eyes at Ash, tears had dried in the corners of its eyes and it sniffled while looking in bulbasaurs direction. The grass pokemon waited patiently as Ash let out a loud exhale, and then released charizard once more—in the privacy of the waiting room—away from the stares in the lobby.

"I owe you both an explanation." he mumbled, looking at the both of them while also trying to put pikachu's recovery in the back of his mind so he could focus.

 **XOXS**

Ash had never imagined trying to explain his situation to pokemon would have been so difficult. For pikachu, he always knew that Ash existed. They met before he fell into a coma. For the rest of his pokemon, this was not true. The _rest_ of his pokemon thought he was imaginary.

Over the better part of an hour, Ash reiterated his recovery from the coma; how he was convinced for awhile it was all a dream until reuniting with Pikachu about two weeks ago. He talked about his mom, about the dream world in general; and about his struggle to recovery that finally led him to his pokemon once more.

In less words and more grunting; charizard and bulbasaur explained that they thought Ash was not a real person. Only a figment of their imagination. Bulbasaur admit to staying in the abandoned shack in the forest long after Barbara left to take care of new pokemon, while charizard admit to remaining on route twenty-four... the only difference, is that squirtle sought him out along side the squirtle squad.

Squirtle believed in Ash. Believed that he was real—and believed in all the memories that he and his pokemon had shared. The plan was to reunite with all of his pokemon this way, but between spells of sleep and general navagational confusion, they wound up at Bill's lab during the onslaught of Team Rocket's terror.

Ash didn't question it, it came as no surprise that it was team rocket after all—however—Charizard admit that he could not recall the events of the battle in detail. He was blasted away right after squirtle evolved, taking on several of Team Rocket's members in an attempt to save Bill. After that, charizard expressed he saw a flash, and then when he woke up—everything was destroyed, and the only thing left of squirtle, now evolved into a wartortle, was a statue.

Alone and terrified, charizard evolved. Understanding the town was a team rocket base, charizard took to protecting route twenty four from non-suspecting trainers, and drove them away the best way he knew how. By doing this, he protected squirtle and his memory, and protected other trainers.

As the story came to an end, Ash could feel his eyes begin to water.

That was why there were no bodies—charizard _killed_ no one. He hadn't been _crazy_. He had only been trying to protect people. Ash wiped his eyes before blinking—ashamed to cry in front of his pokemon. Togepi, however, was no stranger to tears and they fell freely from its cheeks.

"I'm so sorry I wasn't there, you two." He muttered, his bottom lip quivering. Though a vine wrapped around his shoulders to keep them raised. He looked to bulbasaur, who spent the better part of ten years alone in a cabin in an endless forest, and the pokemon smiled glumly at Ash.

In reality, whether Ash had been real or not, he could have never accepted another trainer—and so he stayed there. Protecting pokemon and the forest, and waiting. Always waiting.

About an hour after talking, the hulking beast that was charizard had fallen asleep in front of Ash, while bulbasaur took to sleeping in the chair beside Ash. The trainer himself refused to sleep, watching through the glass windows opposite of him.

It took him a few painful hours to realize that the sirens were not _for him_ , but for the forest. The dry spell in the forest allowed the flamethrower charizard created to spark a wildfire. The forest was almost as bright as saffron city in the distance. Smoke blazed from the tops of the scorched trees and he could see helicopters dropping pools of water on top of fire, creating white smoke.

Unsurprisingly, trained and captive gyarados and large water pokemon such as blastoise—which in this world rivaled the size of charizard easily enough, and others were used to put out the surrounding flames. Blinking once through tired eyes, Ash felt his chest pull.

He should have felt guilty—but mostly he felt relief. Relief that he made it on time, and relief that he and his pokemon were okay—mostly.

"That wasn't you, was it?" The nurse drew Ash from his thoughts. His eyes were puffy from lack of sleep, and encrusted in tiredness. He was on his feet in a second.

"Is he okay?"

"He is fine. He just needs to rest." The nurse assured him, extending a cup of—oh no—coffee to Ash. He took it reluctantly, and then sat back down with the nurse taking a seat beside him, not minding the sleeping charizard at his feet or the bulbasaur snuggled beside the egg pokemon, togepi.

"You know, if you had gotten any other nurse, you might be in jail right now." She reminded him, swirling her coffee before taking a sip. Ash clutched his beverage between his palms and didn't reply. He watched her instead.

"Anyone can see you're not a licensed trainer. With such powerful pokemon as well..." she ho-hummed at him, her face a mixture of amusement and curiosity.

"I'm sort of licensed." he mumbled and then clarified; "I'm a student of one of the gyms in Kanto."

"Ah, I see." The nurse said while watching the same helicopter buzz around and drop another pool of water on top of the fire in the distance.

A pause.

"I heard your story." The nurse muttered, holding her coffee to her lips. Visibly, Ash flinched.

"More importantly, I noticed you can talk to pokemon." She said quickly, not waiting for an answer. Ash turned his full attention to her, and bit down on the inside of his cheek.

"That's a rare ability you have there." She assured him nicely. "Some people would kill for a talent like that." She added, implying something. Ash's brain finally caught up.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you shouldn't be so open about it. It's not normal to leave pokemon out of their pokeballs—or be able to understand them."

"Misty said that, too."

"Ahh, so the Cerulean Gym is your home?" She muttered, and even though Ash shuddered at the word _home_ he nodded solemnly.

"Why is it a rarity?" Ash asked, looking at the woman who clucked her teeth. Realizing that Ash wouldn't be drinking his coffee, she offered to take it from him. He complied apologetically.

"There are bad people in this world, what did you say your name was?"

"Ash."

She smiled at that name. "There are bad people in this world, _Ash_. Not everyone will be your friend. Some of them may even try to manipulate you for your talents."

His eyebrows furrowed, confusion dashing across his face; having no clue why this woman was telling him these things.

"If what you've said is correct, about your dreams, maybe there's a bigger issue out there that you've been called for."  
"A prophecy?" As inquired, his voice pitching.

"If you want to call it that, sure. But certain events happen for a reason. You have a gift for a reason; don't let anyone take that from you."

"...why would... How could someone take that from me?" Ash murmured.

Her shoulders fell. "Just be careful, after this."

"Why are you helping me?"

The woman smiled. "I don't know. You have a look in your eye when you spoke with me earlier. I like you."

He couldn't help but grin at her response; Misty had said something along those lines to him before as well.

"Thank you." he replied earnestly, taking a solid look at her for the first time since she sat down beside him. She was standing now, wearing all baby pink scrubs, with dark turquoise hair that was down to her waist. He knew her.

"Is your name Suzy?" He asked, and she turned with a bit of a smile, noticing the name tag above her left breast only now.

"Yes, it is."

 _Weren't you a pokemon-breeder at one point?_ He wanted to ask, but retracted the question. "Thank you, _Suzy._ " He thanked her properly, to which the woman gave a chaste grin, and waved briefly at Ash before parting.

"I'll bring pikachu out and set you up with a room free of charge tonight." She only barely glanced back at him. "Make sure you get some rest."

His heart grew warmer and he shook his head, looking amongst his pokemon brightly. "Thanks..." he said, mentally noting that _everything happens for a reason_.

 **XOXs**

When he had finally settled into his private room, he released charizard from its pokeball once more. Even though it accepted Ash, it still didn't enjoy its pokeball. Charizard took a seat, rather, a flop next to the window, and wrapped himself into a sleeping position. According to Suzy, the reason injured pokemon were returned to their pokeballs, was because they were 'safe havens' for pokemon injured during battle. It places pokemon into a temporary stasis, essentially freezing their damage until they can be healed at a pokemon center.

" _Consider getting a new pokeball for this one."_ She said sweetly while placing a sleeping pikachu into his arms.

Asleep on the bed beside him, he watched togepi nuzzle into pikachu's stomach, while bulbasaur naturally coiled them with his vines, protectively. Ash glanced at charizard by the window, and slipped out of his sheets. Tearing the top comforter off his bed, Ash tip-toed to the pokemon, but his bare feet clicked against the wooden floors, waking the sleeping pokemon.

"Go to sleep, buddy." Ash murmured, throwing the blanket over charizard's back and wings, and brushing it down to tuck him in. For a moment, charizard's tail flickered as Ash took a seat at the wooden desk beside the small dragon, and gave a low huff, holding his chin while he glanced over his shoulder to the pokemon on his bed. Thoughtfully, he turned to the paper supply and pen on the desk, and clucked his teeth.

 _"Misty_ ," he wrote along the top left corner of the page, his tired thoughts drawn out a moment later—illustrated with cartoon drawings of him getting lost, pikachu winning, charizard's accidental fire, and finally, a scribble of his pokemon all sitting together calmly.

He judged himself for a moment, thinking the illustrations were quite childish in the scrawl of the writing—but kept them anyways. A coping method. When he wrote in his journal at the nursing home, he had done the same thing in several places—it was his way of avoiding what he really wanted to write. He stalled, and looked at the bottom of the paper which remained untouched by his crazy illustrations and scribbles. Surely she would laugh at him.

 _"Apparently,_ " he wrote neatly, _"I was a dream to my pokemon. I"_ Ash paused thoughtfully, a twinge in his chest as his face scrunched up in the silence of the room. Tears wet his eyes, and he blinked them away.

 _"I don't think I'll ever see them all again."_

He wanted to include everything else: that he screwed up, that he wasn't sure what he was doing. That he got lost, passed out, nearly got pikachu killed— _started a forest fire_ -scared togepi half to death, found bulbasaur, lost primeape, and came to the realization this was going to be much, much harder than he could have ever imagined. Though nothing else came after his last comment; his hand was froze on the page.

Misty would have most likely told him to stop being a baby, to man up and quit complaining. He shut his eyes, trying to visualize her words; but all that came to him was a silent whisper: _You can do this._ His eyes flickered open as he looked over the crappy letter once more, and licked his lips.

 _"I believe in you_."

Right. Ash thought while setting the pencil down and rubbing his eyes. When it mattered, Misty was never critical with him—in fact, she was nothing but kind and supportive; like she had been throughout his recovery. She was always there when it counted. Sniffling, he dusted the page off with his finger tips. When it counted, her words of wisdom pushed Ash into the correct formation; pried open his insecurities, and carefully mashed each one until it was hardly visible. She had done so first by proving to him he had the strength to recover, next the courage to accept his new life, and finally, the ability to follow his dreams. A smile twitched onto his lips.

He didn't bother to sign his name.

As he folded it neatly, he wasn't even sure he would send the letter. It simply felt right to put it on paper, to get it out of his system—to tell anyone, someone else—that he was scared. That he feared not all of his pokemon were around anymore—that there were more out there like primeape, who more than likely moved on, and others like squirtle who were...

Well...

Silent tears trickled down his cheeks, neither of sadness or joy, as he watched the sleeping yellow pokemon and the egg beside it. Things could have been much, much worse.

He could do this, he just needed time.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Real Talk**. I always told myself when I got to this part of the story, it would all come naturally, but, here I was, indecisive for a day or two. In the end, I decided to lead right away with primeape as my example: Ash isn't going to find all of his pokemon (spoilers?). He has been in a coma for ten years; how long do normal animals live to begin with? How long would pokemon live? Pikachu was raised in a house (shielded and protected from the world), so that's my argument there (mice don't live long normally). Though, to be honest, Pikachu was deceased in the original draft of this story because of old age. However, I decided that to kill pikachu would be like not only kicking Ash while he was down, but also like spitting on him and hitting him with a train at the same time. Anyways, I decided to keep pikachu around for plot purposes. I believe that bulbasaur would have waited patiently for Ash—and since he is like some kind of monster of a grass pokemon, so long as he was watered and fed, I think he would live a long-ish life.

This chapter was choppy, bleh. The battle was meh (I struggle so hard writing them) but I wanted to portray that Ash still had his know-how, it just needs to be finely tuned. He by no means is a god of battling, but he's not a beginner, either; Ash knows tactics by this point—if he learned nothing else from ten years repeating the same cycle—he should know some tactics, right? Now, if his pokemon can follow his reactions is another story. I also used the 'getting lost' and 'getting injured' one last time as a swan song to Ash's reckless behavior (Doesn't mean he won't still mess up). Up until this point, he's had (mostly Misty) telling him when he was being stupid (Wandering into a forest to get lost, wth Ash, but he did do this on a normal basis 'in his dreams'), so this was his first step to realize he needs to form not only his own self-strength, but also his independence. He needs to smarten up and rely on himself and take a leadership role.

Welcome to part II. (we have cookies)

 ** _"It's okay to be scared, but don't let that fear over power your mind and control you."_** _\- John Connolly, The Book of Lost Things_

As usual, if you feel like something doesn't make sense, let me know and I will discuss my way of thinking with you to see if that helps.

20 reviews for chapter 22. I almost died. Thank you guys so much, it really means a lot that you enjoy this story. As I've said before, I really didn't think this story would be so well received, and now that it has, I must say a billion times thank you.

NINT


	24. Chapter 24: Revelation

**Locked Away, Chapter 24**

Before Ash seven thought of leaving to the next part of his journey, he took a page out of Misty's handbook of organization: he compiled a list—namely, a list of where his pokemon were found originally in his dream. Ash hadn't been able to sleep the night after the fire, a wash of guilt and heart break heavy over his shoulders, so he spent his time recollecting. Forty-three pokemon, not including tauros; many caught in different places—across the whole world.

He wrote sloppily on the lined paper, trying to recall the map Misty showed him when he was in the hospital. Unova was in the west, Hoenn was southwest, Kalos was northwest, Johto was west, Sinnoh was north. The banana shaped continent housed Johto, Kanto and Sinnoh easily enough, but Unova and Hoenn were islands, and Kalos was on the same continent as Kanto, but it was...it was a really long walk. Ash drew squiggly lines on his home-made map to indicate the distance. He didn't have the money to purchase a map of his own, and as he was finding in this world.

Nothing was free. Everything was earned.

At this point Ash was aware of several things. Firstly, not all of his pokemon were still around, or would even be waiting for him. In the case of primeape, the pokemon had probably ran off years ago or been captured by someone else. To them, Ash was a dream, a part of their imagination—but he had to _try_ at least. Secondly, he needed a license—if bulbasaur was caught, Ash would be using another one of Misty's pokeballs—which would be, by all terms, illegal. Very illegal.

Being thrown in jail and Misty never being able to obtain her title, _illegal_. He gulped. He needed to get his license from Gary—but in the meantime he could at least _look_ for his pokemon, right?

Thirdly, Ash jot down the list of pokemon he captured in his dreams over the last ten years, and wrote corresponding letters beside them—the ones he knew really well, and others that he wasn't sure would have stood the test of time. He heard once before that bug and flying type, especially of the _aves_ variety, had short life expectancy—regardless, he would try to find them all. Beside their names, he tried to recall not only their places of meeting—but of greater importance as well; where he last used them in his dream, where they were and what they were doing.

Eleven in Kanto, six in Johto, five in Hoenn, five in Sinnoh, ten in Unova, four from Kalos.

From his slightly crumpled list, he steeled his heart and scratched the pen across one of the first pokemon listed. _Squirtle_. And then scratched off a name beneath that _primeape_.

Ash leaned back in his chair, looking over the list he created and felt a sharp shudder roll down his spine. This was too real; realizing that his pokemon knew him in this world—only to accept that they _may_ not even be here anymore. He tucked his face into the palms of his hands and glanced over at the sleeping figures of togepi, pikachu and bulbasaur.

Bulbasaur was fine, but squirtle was not. Was it because Ash had sent squirtle away in his dreams that the pokemon was met with such a terrible fate? Or was it coincidence that the pokemon was that way that _Ash found him_? Were there links to his dreams that connected the idea?

Squirtle believed in Ash until his very last breath... but... he couldn't really be gone, could he? What stipulations were present in contrast to his dream and the real world?

Though Ash didn't have an answer now, he was sure that the more pokemon he found, the more likely he would have his answer. Right now, the majority of them don't believe in his existence. Now it came down to which pokemon would still be around and until he determined that, he had to be brave. Strong.

 _Resilient._

 **XOXs**

Two weeks passed before Misty received news of the wildfire started on route eight. Though it was big news, or at least it should have been, reporters did not start to air the damage and information about the fire until they were already burnt out, and the smoke had turned white in the horizon. Misty felt a little disillusioned by the delivery of news broadcasts—most of it was weeks late when it was finally presented to the public—unless it directly cleared someone's name.

This was no different for Misty, who was still trying to wrap her head around the news of charizard's defeat reaching Regional newspapers. Not even two days after the event occurred, a non-existent town managed to produce a fabricated story about Misty, when they shouldn't have even had a way to _reach_ the rest of the world.

And that didn't even begin to explain Bill's lab.

When Misty looked online for information of the late professor, there was _none_. The reports created years ago that speculated the area had been under fire by Team Rocket was erased from the internet as quickly as it had been from television sets. On top of that, no recent maps showed the small town in which she and Ash stayed. Maps older than five years showed the small town as a logging village—but the town vanished on new maps. Actually, finding a map that _wasn't_ created in the last five years proved challenging—but luckily, Misty kept her map from her days traveling through Kanto. More curious than that, Misty couldn't find any recent information about Bill—just that he 'took a vacation' some years ago to some far away island to further his research.

Yeah, Misty believed that about as much as she believed in Ash remembering to call—which wasn't a lot.

In fact, she hadn't heard much from him after the letter he addressed to her from the Saffron City pokemon center. The letter in which he included he _might_ have been liable for the forest fire and he _might_ have almost gotten pikachu killed and that he _might_ need a favor from her in regards to holding his pokemon if he runs out of room. Included with the letter were multiple drawings, and several scribbles where he had asked how she was doing, about the gym and her sisters. For awhile, she might have written a response, but then thought otherwise since there was no way Misty would be able to reply. She had no idea where Ash was right now.

Misty could only hope he was catching on that he should _not_ flaunt that he might have started the forest fire. It was considered a national crisis and caused massive destruction to the ecosystem of the forest. Pinching the bridge of her nose, she recalled his crappy explanations when he made a mistake at the gym. _Oh no,_ she worried she would be getting a phone call from a jail cell the next time she heard from him.

However, his request to hold his pokemon stirred her memory to speak with Gary—who admit that Ash had called him only a few days prior to ask the same question: how long until his license is ready?

Sure, Gary got a phone call, and Misty got a _letter_. Was she not good enough to warrant at _least_ a phone call? She had stewed over the matter for days—but then again, the call to Gary was worth the effort—he was kept out of the loop as much as the rest of them. The soon-to-be main professor of the Kanto region didn't know anything about Bill, either.

" _If my grandfather was still around, he could have told you_." Was Gary's response to her questions, followed by a large apology, and several questions she didn't feel like answering.

Actually, Misty didn't feel like answering much of anything as of late. Since the record of her victory sounded around the region, reporters had flocked to the gym for several interviews—asking her tedious, repetitive questions.

For the first time in _years_ she felt like a real gym leader, but that didn't mean she enjoyed the attention. Not all of it was positive, after all—if anything, it was only proving to ignite the fire under protestors who chanted " _Why didn't you do it sooner"_ and _"it's a publicity stunt"_ _ **.**_ Because that was right—everyone by this point knew that Misty was aspiring to fill the available position in the Elite Four, the news media made sure of it.

Due to the news, several of her fellow gym leaders had reached out to speak with her—either from curiosity or general disbelief that she _, twenty-two year old Misty Waterflower_ was applying for such a _grown up_ job.

It was degrading, and insulting.

Frankly, the redhead was sick of it—but now that she was on the front of most newspapers—she knew better than to make an ass out of herself in public. Mean was out, sweet was in. It was all apart of her character— _Gym Leader Misty_. Though, sometimes, she would have enjoyed simply being _Mist_ y.

Thanks to one of those phone calls, she was no seated at the downtown cafe, located on east side Cerulean City. Her growing hair was tied back into an intentional messy bun, she wore nice clothes—dark blue skinny jeans, as well as her brown, knee-length boots she wore though the beginning of her stay at the hospital with Ash, and a pale-green sweater. Professional, yet comfortable was the description Daisy gave her. If the youngest Waterflower was going to be the attention of news papers all over the region, she needed to _look_ the job—which meant athletic shorts and tank-tops were out.

The smell of coffee penetrated her nostrils as she took a lingering taste of the black java she had ordered only moments before sitting down. She busied herself with paperwork regarding the gym, filling out official documents while she sat with her feet tucked lightly beneath the wooden chair. The cafe was mostly empty around 10:00am on a weekend, but the regulars still sat around at the end of cafe, sipping frilly drinks, and playing video games. Non-trainers—exactly what Misty wanted to be around for _this_ meeting.

"Sorry I'm late." A low voice pulled her from her thoughts and brought her sea green eyes to match the intruders. A man standing over six foot stared back at her, wearing a burnt orange shirt beneath a green sweater, and dark brown pants. His eyes were hidden behind shaggy brown hair, though behind the squint; she could barely see his iris.

"Hey, Brock." Misty mumbled in return as a faint smile graced her lips. She let the pen she had been scrawling with slip from her fingers as he took a seat across from her.

"How's it going little Waterflower?" Brock mused playfully while pointing at her mess of papers. "You've made quite the name for yourself over the last two weeks. Quite a bit different than I expected when I met you." Brock hummed while waving over the waitress to pour him a fresh cup of black coffee-which he quickly butchered by dropping in four packets of sugar.

Misty hummed to herself. "It wasn't intentional." She assured him with a faint smile.

Typically, she would have rejected his offer to get drinks—primarily because she _was_ a very busy woman; but thanks to her confession during their visit to his gym in regards to Ash's dream—she figured that anything he wanted had less to do with her new found fame, and more to do with Ash.

She wasn't wrong.

Brock briefly looked around and puffed out his cheeks while tasting his coffee—deciding it was still to bitter, he dropped in more sugar. Much to Misty's dislike, her eyebrows twitched.

"So how's the boyfriend? Did you two break up already?" he muttered, watching the sugar dissolve into the dark liquid.

"He-he's not my..." Misty sputtered, face turning bright red as it did last time, which was followed by an intense sigh. "Ash is fine. He's out adventuring." she spoke with careful emphasis on adventure—it was more of a search than it was an adventure—but she wasn't ready to tell Brock that.

He caught her eye.

"What made you think I meant Ash?" Brock hummed with a mischievous smirk and Misty rivaled it with her own brooding one.

"That is what you assumed last time, as well." she justified her answer, and Brock seemed to accept it without complaint.

"So, he's adventuring, huh? Right after you battled and defeated that charizard—opening up route 24 and 25 for trainers and the love-birds going to Cerulean Cape?" He paused. "So I'm assuming the fire on route eight was from him, no?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Misty said naturally, though the forced smile across her lips only gave Brock a chuckle.

"Fair enough." He cleared his throat. "Anyways, business, right?"

Concern flashed across Misty's eyes as she licked her lips and nodded very slowly.

"What is there to say about you two?" He mumbled, reaching into his bag to holster out a brown file. "I couldn't stop thinking about how weird it was that-" he raised his fingers for indication "First, another gym leader would show up at my gym."

He stared at her, waiting for a reaction that indicated she was expecting more from him than visitation—a bribe, a threat—anything, really, but when her stoic nature remained and her shoulders gave a slow, confused shrug, he nodded.

"At first I thought you were trying to swindle a recommendation from me, and as you may know—we gym leaders don't really get along anymore—so I thought, hey, a bogus story would be most fitting to get another leader to sign up on your application—but then, I did some research." Brock paused for affect and dropped the folder onto the table in front of Misty, which was a reiteration of her battle statistics from the time she was a junior trainer at the age of ten, up until now.

"I asked myself why someone who was in the lead for the position, even without fellow leaders recommendation, would try to sell me a crazy story about a kid who wakes up from a coma and _knows things_."

Breath left Misty's chest as she touched the folders, glancing over the majority of the papers inside—she saw her name, her number, be battle tags—her win to lose rate based on skill and turned her look back up to Brock.

"And what did you decide?"

"That either he's crazy. You're crazy, or I'm crazy, because I believed it; and there is no way you need my recommendation at this point. Especially not after that detail in route twenty four—you're like a league superstar, you know that?" Brock leaned forward, placed his elbows on the table, intertwined his fingers, and rest his broad chin on top of them.

"I wouldn't call it that." Misty managed, choking on her words. Her cheeks were a little flushed, being give the admiration of her comrades, though Brock had other ideas.

"But, I didn't think a recommendation would hurt—either, actually. It may be the last push you need to enter into the Elite Four."

"You can't bribe me." Misty snapped, her blush fading quickly and her nose turned up like a snarl. "What the hell do you wan? Because I don't need to sit here and listen to you analyze my life like you know me."

"Well first I wanted to ask you a couple of questions; it's not so much a bribe as it is an exchange of information. I give you something, you give me something—that's fair."

Misty's lips drew into a line and she sucked in her cheeks. "What do you want to know then?"

"It's not secret that gym leaders don't trust each other anymore after Giovanni. We don't know who is dirty, and who is clean. A lot of speculation formed around us saying that we were _all_ working with him at some point—but the league couldn't arrest us all, could they?" Watching her drawn expression, he cleared his throat, trying desperately to keep his macho facade in front of her hostile glare.

"I wanted to know why you haven't accepted help from other gym leaders?"

"You just summarized it. If someone else was working along side Giovanni and it gets out that they sponsored me to be an Elite Four member, that would only hurt my progress." She said flatly, never breaking eye contact—though her gaze caused Brock to sweat.

"So, just to be clear... It's not because you were working with Giovanni?"

"What? No." She hissed. "How dare you even ask that."

Brock put his hands up defensively, relaxing with a gentle sigh at her reaction. "Good." he mumbled earnestly, though Misty's feathers had been rattled.

"Have you?" She asked defensively, scooting her chair backwards. Brock shook his head.

"No; in fact, I—we'll get back to that later." He glanced over the people sitting around them, and with a much easier tone, he leaned in to look at her closely.

"I also wanted to know more about Ash's dream world; so I hope that observation didn't turn you off." he grumbled with a flashy smile, it only made Misty's stomach churn though.

"I'm not going to tell you anything unless you can tell me why." her eyebrows knit up, trying to recall that Brock was one of Ash's closest friends in his dream world.

The man before her meant a lot to Ash, and while the raven-haired boy hadn't been wrong about anyone yet, there was no telling what time had changed in terms of Brock's morality. An unspoken rule was that gym leaders didn't trust each other. Not since Giovanni drug their names through the dirt; too many assumptions were contrived about other gyms being influenced by Team Rocket. With or without Ash's opinions, the inherit distrust was no different between Brock and Misty. While Misty was able to put aside her differences when visiting with Ash, Brock's sudden interest in him concerned her.

And Brock could see that.

Brock's eyes reflected raw emotion for a moment and he looked away, unable to stay under her icy glare. He was sweating, uncomfortable—she made him uncomfortable. How in the world did she switch from being so relaxed and normal around Ash to _this?_ A trained hostility. In the end, it was all just a mask—though he wondered which side of Misty was the facade, and which was the real one.

"I'll start by giving you this." Brock held out a slip to the redhead who took it from his fingers slowly before opening it.

"It's a recommendation from the Pewter City Gym that reflects my belief of your skills as a pokemon trainer." Her cold eyes stared across from him at the table, questioning his motives. He continued. "If you can tell me honestly everything that you learned about me and about my family from Ash—I'll sign it, and send it to the league."

Misty gnawed on her bottom lip. It was true—where the gym leaders should have bound together when Team Rocket came forward, they fell apart. League gatherings were void of emotion—they knew what they needed because they were all rivals, all scared of losing their jobs... and now _this_.

Misty set the letter down, and shook her head professionally—and Brock smirked.

"You know most people would jump all over a letter like that—I heard Sabrina and Lt. Surge were really interested in becoming Elite Four members after your recent media success..." he tried, but his pressure only set to make the redhead cock her jaw and appear angrier.

"I don't need your bribe." She repeated her earlier sentiments hotly, and instead of matching her anger, Brock nodded smoorthly.

"See." he said, pointing at her. "That's the reason why I'm here." he said calmly, and hunched over the table to whisper.

"Have you ever met someone that you looked at and you thought "hey, that person could make a difference?"" He asked with eyebrows raised. Misty's shoulders lowered.

"...No." she lied, and then guilty she thought of Ash and rolled her eyes. "Yes." She corrected.

Brock grinned. "That's why. I met Ash, and while I don't know anything about him really, I felt it. Something about him made sense." he sat back and gestured to himself. "And see, you two came to me. For whatever reason; asking if I remembered anything—even brought up my father..." He glared at Misty. "And I needed to know what you know about _him_."

Misty tilted her head to one side, trying to recall the information about Flint Harrison, the previous gym leader of Pewter City. She bit down onto the inside of her cheek, looked around the room and then shrugged.

"According to Ash, he was a good man. I, personally, don't know a lot about him. There were some... _rumors_ about him before his passing, but I don't think they were true."

"They weren't." Brock said immediately.

Misty pinched the bridge of her nose.

"What's your point?" She grunted, pushing the letter back at him, sliding it across the table. "Why do you want to ask me? You can easily wait for Ash like the rest of us—he never really talked about you until recently and what he did mention I don't really remember. I can't help you with _whatever_ it is you need help with." She grunted while gliding her tongue over her teeth.

"But you can." Brock ensured her, once against intertwining his fingers under the table.

A short pause fell between the two, Misty's green eyes on his onyx colored ones battled.

"My father was murdered." Brock said flatly, so quietly that Misty's back straightened at the suddenness of his words.

"...What?" She hissed, glancing to the barista—perhaps Brock really was crazy? While Misty was known as the mean gym leader, Brock was known as the most-likely-to-be-homicidal. He was strict, overly so with his trainers, and aside from the time he blatantly hit on her, he was known as a hard-ass.

"If Ash can tell me anything about my father then..." He looked away from her, and hit a pang of sympathy in Misty's heart. She relaxed once more.

"It doesn't work like that." She opened up, sighing. "They weren't fortune telling dreams, or anything like that. Most of it was imaginary scenarios; the only accurate substance of the dreams were his..." She trailed off, "pokemon, and _us._ "

Brock's shoulders fell pathetically, his hopes crushed as he shook his head.

"They were, huh?" he inhaled. "Sorry for taking up your time then." with that, his long brown bangs covered his eyes and he was rising to his feet when Misty held up her arm.

"Wait." Misty sighed, while rubbing her face with her hand. "Who did it?" she asked quickly—though had no idea why. This wasn't something she wanted to get mixed with. Brock straightened his vest.

"They said it was an incurable disease." Misty nodded as Brock recited it.

"But..." he grunted shifting his eyes to see the looks they were gathering—two gym leaders sitting in one place. They weren't friendly stares. "I don't want to tell you here."

She was on her feet a second later, and pointed to the door.

"You can come back to the gym with me, and we'll talk there."

"Why do you care?" Brock scoffed automatically, amazed at her disposition. Misty let out a frustrated sigh.

"I..." She flinched, thinking of Ash; namely what Brock meant to him. Ash trusted him; and the boy hadn't been wrong about _her_... She blushed. "I don't. I mean. I do." She sighed, flustered.

"It's just that _this_ isn't something I necessarily want to get involved with—but if it's a step in the right direction to fixing the crater that was formed between the gym leaders after Giovanni, then it's something I'm at least willing to listen to..." She hummed.

Brock smirked at this. "So, you have a heart after all?"

"You know I don't know where those rumors even started?" She hissed quickly, rolling her eyes and managing a chuckle from Brock who stuffed the letter at the table back into his pocket and gave a wide grin.

"Alright, we'll talk."

He grinned inwardly as she led him out of the cafe confidently, ignoring the glares she received like a champion. For a moment, he figured he saw what Ash probably saw—a warrior with a heart of gold. Brock smiled. Perhaps she wasn't so bad after all.

 **XOXs**

At the end of the day, Misty sat on the edge of her bed, eyes wide, hair down and staring painfully at her hands. Her shoulders rocked up and down while she thought about her visit with Brock.

The two gym leaders had talked about the feuding gyms; the disinterest that the league had in rectifying the damage created by Giovanni, how gym leaders were used as scapegoats for actual regional problems—how they took the brunt of the media like meat shields, but the Elite Four and the champions—the people with the real power, were constantly praised.

The topic of news were discussed—namely, that the news was filtered; playing in the hand of the champions and in favor of the league, but never speaking out about the brutality of situations unless they can be immediately beneficial to the league in question. This was true for Misty, whose defeat of the charizard on Route Twenty Four spread like wildfire—whereas the devastating news _about_ a real wildfire was left mostly in the dark. Media focused more on celebrities, new inventions and battles than they did writing that those people who were famous a year ago were now _missing_.

Famous trainers who competed in leagues, who made names for themselves were gone suddenly, almost like they didn't exist. But the gym leaders knew them, watched them grow— battled them. Normal citizens wouldn't know the difference, but the gym leaders did. They _felt_ the damage; whether by overly zealous coordinators who _blamed_ battlers for missing Top Coordinators, or from beginning trainers who claimed that their 'friends' were missing because gym leaders didn't offer help anymore.

Rates of battle were down at their lowest; new battlers only coming in every couple of days, as opposed to the six or seven from ten years ago.

They discussed the issues of the Elite Four; Misty admit that her primary interest in joining them was to rectify some of the poor decisions that have been made up until this point. Brock admit he considered it, but didn't think he had the gumption—or the ability-because the moment they checked into his family history, they would deny him without a second though.

" _Why?_ " Misty had asked him, but was met with pure silence.

" _Team Rocket poisoned my father."_ That was the kicker, that was the _problem_. Misty didn't want to believe him.

Her blood had ran cold. " _Do you have proof?"_

He had grown quiet, swishing his mug of tea around and sighing. " _My father took a loan from Giovanni when he was still the gym leader. By some accident, he was pressed into Team Rocket's business. He tried to run away from it—expose the Viridian City Gym leader—but when he tried...well, it's obvious, isn't it?"_ They killed him, he wanted to say, Misty could see it over his face.

Misty's face paled. _"How do you know this?"_

 _"I wasn't supposed to... and I didn't, not for a long time. He was sick for a very long time—slipping in and out of consciousness. He spent a good portion of my teenage years in a coma, like Ash."_ Brock had told her, pointing directly at her and inhaling. _"I found my fathers receipt book and journal. The only proof of the incident—but after everything that happened...I didn't think coming forward was safe."_

Misty's face scrunched up; _"What do you mean?"_

Seriously, he looked at her. " _Well, it's like you, with charizard. How did the media get that information? Why was the news about Ash waking up never national, but someone defeating charizard was? Why do we focus on celebrity affairs instead of the missing pokemon trainers at our back door? Why are gym leaders accused as being monsters—when we haven't even been to public meetings in years? Why hasn't the league stepped in to fix the drama between coordinators and battlers? Repair the constant damage happening to our political system and trainers?"_

" _And why, when my father went from being healthy one day, to dying the next—unlike Ash's story, which was a freak accident—was my father left unknown until the day he died? Up until that point, the only news was that I took over as Pewter City gym leader. Not that the leader before me was sick, or anything about him."_ He paused.

" _I think this—everything, the league, the executives, the masters, other gym leaders, maybe—everything, is dirty."_

Misty snorted in disbelief. " _Aren't you being a little paranoid?"_

" _But it makes sense, doesn't it?"_

Sitting now on her bed, holding the written recommendation from the Pewter City gym, Misty felt the urge to shower. To clean herself.

 _It makes sense, doesn't it?_ Brock's words echoed in her mind as if she were in a cave, and she made her way from her dresser drawer, to her bathroom where she dipped over her sink and washed her face for several minutes.

But why would he tell her? It wasn't a trap set by Team Rocket, was it? Misty recalled the sinister hate reflected in his onyx eyes and she took a large breath and held her forehead. No, he as being honest—he honestly believed that the league was being controlled—blackmailed by Team Rocket.

... _How_?

Could it have been possible, that the media was tampered with; that the league had been tampered with? Was it all _dirty_ as Brock had said? How could it be? Giovanni was crushed along with the rest of Team Rocket. However, she found out on Route Twenty Five, that was not the case—someone, somewhere was covering events up; such as Bill's house; the lack of town, the missing pokemon trainers.

She rubbed the back of her neck in disbelief. Could it be Team Rocket? After all of these years...had they actually succeeded in infiltrating the Kanto region? She shuddered at the thought—which brought her to her desk, where she stared at a white paper. She thumbed the corners of the pages and then slumped into her wooden chair, listening to the low hum of water running where Daisy was washing dishes left over from dinner.

Misty's head was spinning—why would Brock tell her? Trusting Ash was one thing—she would be lying if she didn't admit to having some blind allegiance to Ash that she couldn't explain, but why _her_?

The world was spinning while she reiterated Brock's assumptions over and over again—it explained everything, the malice between leaders and coordinators, the lack of social programs and law enforcement— _the missing trainers, the controlled news reports_. Misty gnawed on her nails, biting them to the quick for the first time since she was a child.

Tearing her eyes away from the blank paper, she stared down at her phone, wishing—no, praying—that it would light up with an unknown number. If Ash called her, she would know that he was okay, at the very least. What if Team Rocket attacked Ash? What if they came for her.

She felt a shudder run down her spine—fear overtaking her body. Vomit edged at the back of her throat and she held her mouth closed to keep it down. Suddenly, she was reliving five years ago—only to have learned that this was going on much longer.

Brock's father was in the hospital when Ash was ten, Giovanni was only arrested _two years ago_. He was _arrested_ what kind of power did a man have to have to still maintain control from prison? Misty felt her body shake, recalling the riots that took place in Unova region. Was it all of the alleged regions, or just Kanto Giovanni was messing with? Who was to say it was really Giovanni.

Maybe _Brock_ was the crazy one!

Rubbing the back of her neck, she knew that wasn't the case. Even if Team Rocket still had influence, it wasn't _widespread_ like an epidemic. It had to only be little spurts; like the village on route twenty five; maybe some news publishers—that wasn't the whole world.

Sure, misty had her own beliefs that Team Rocker wasn't _gone_ from the world—at least not really; but believing they were in small teams in a destroyed town was a lot different than believing that they were still integrated into every part of society. Surely, Brock was mistaken—maybe when his father was first poisoned, when Team Rocket was at it's prime; not now. They were no more than a few bandits now.

 _Right_?

Slowly, Misty let herself calm, and then glanced at the folded envelop set at the corner of her desk. In the end, she had accepted Brock's recommendation to submit to the league; where Team Rocket might have been around still, there was no way that could control Misty—and she couldn't back down now. After so many years of waiting, she had to keep _trying. O_ nly, she hoped that it wasn't the _wrong step._

 **XOXs**

Before Ash left Saffron City, he had stopped in to talk with Sabrina, the gym leader, but was kindly escorted out. Long gone were his dreams of a recluse woman with hair that covered her eyes and psychic abilities, but replaced with a cold woman with strong followers. Like Misty, Sabrina was a force to be reckoned with, and when she discovered that not only was Ash not a seasoned trainer—but that he was a student of the redhead's gym, he was quickly escorted out under several made-up pretenses; though, the fact that he had no -real- license was possibly the highest.

After that, he left Saffron City rather quickly. He didn't want to get caught up in the drama of the raging fire to the east; that he _technically_ started, but more than that, he wanted to go south to Gringey City.

On top of charizard's back in most occasions; he learned two things: it required a pokemon license to fly on a pokemon's back, and air travel was highly tiresome for the dragon to carry Ash and all of his gear—so they walked.

A lot.

When Ash had the chance, he would scrap together money for a train; but when that wasn't possible, he hitch-hiked, other times he managed by bus; and outside of that, _he walked_.

Kanto was massive in most respects, larger than he remembered, getting anywhere took a lot of time—trails that were riddled with in-between-towns were actually just small villages or single houses, and the cities he remembered as small, were huge and elaborate. The same was said for Gringey City, which was once upon a time an oil and electrical powerhouse for all of the Kanto region. It's most well known trait—to be musky and dark-was the complete opposite.

It seemed almost unnatural the way the clean air fluttered through his nostrils.

When Ash asked around, and he did—with and to many different people—he discovered that pokemon by the name of "muk" or "grimer" were battled into extinction—and possibly, for good reason. They were poisonous to the world, humans, and nature itself. They brought, quite literally, muck with them and nearly destroyed the city almost eight years ago when they broke and infected a power plant that caused a black out in three cities.

No one seemed to complain that such a _filthy_ pokemon would be extinct. Well, no one but Ash. In memory of the pokemon, he carved out lettering in a tree trunk, and then went on his way—he couldn't let himself dwell on incomplete, he had to move forward. With Pikachu still healing, togepi to watch, and training to begin; he didn't have time to dwell. Ash had to keep moving forward.

He did so by heading into the deep of the Saffari zone, taking the train from Gringey City. With his knowledge of pokemon until this point, he didn't expect to find his tauros—in fact, they had a short life expectancy mainly because they were meant to breed—and feed. Another name off his list after talking with the pokemon rangers who worked there. Even if Ash's tauros had made it this far, they would not likely remember him well.

Four weeks in, he found himself heading back towards the Viridian Forest—Much to his despair, the flying pokemon, pigeot was never found-like muk, and tauros, and primeape. He spent the rest of his time searching through the forest he had crossed with Misty trying to find some resonance of butterfree, but after two days, he knew his luck had run out. Five down, none found.

In the end of week five, he wandered back into Viridian City.

"That was a bust, huh, togepi, pikachu?" he uttered to the pokemon as the walked into the busy city streets. His head was burned from the sun, his skin was a darker tone and his hair just long enough to graze the back of his neck once again. Early February looked good on Ash, and he wasn't complaining—since the rain storms had finally passed, the southern region was finally back to it's typical brisk winters. A lot of sun, very little clouds.

"Pika, pika-chu." the pokemon spoke in return while togepi twisted itself to look up at Ash.

"Togi." it muttered and Ash hummed, eyes forward.

"Maybe I should ask someone. This would be easier with a pokedex..." he hummed.

Ash's attempts to reach Gary fell on short ears. Gary insisted that he couldn't rush the process of obtaining Ash's pokemon license since he—Gary-wasn't the title professor yet. Up until this point, it wasn't like Ash needed the extra room anyways. The few pokeballs that Misty lent him to carry under her name had been more than enough to catch the few of his pokemon he had found thus far:

Charizard and bulbasaur.

Honestly, he watched his feet kick up dirt, he thought he would have found more by now.

"Kaaaa chu." the electric rodent hummed from the ground beside Ash. Over the last five weeks, most of its body fat had shed, leaving it trim and muscular as its ears twitched warmly. Ash smiled. Pikachu had recovered nicely after the battle with arbok in the forest—if anything, the rodent turned over a new leaf, aspiring to be stronger every day.

"I 'spose you want to see your family, huh pikachu?" Ash asked, wishing he could return the sentiment. He would have liked to see his family, too. To visit with Cole for a little while; to stop in and talk, if only for a few minutes.

"Pikachu~" The pokemon mused in reply, grinning. Ash stuck out his chin.

"Well, don't let me stop you." He pointed to the pokemon center. "Meet me there at 5:00pm, and no later. We'll head off to route twenty-five from there." Ash hummed and the gushing pikachu let out a squeal before bounding away from its trainer.

"And be careful." Ash cried optimistically, watching the pokemon race away.

In his dreams, Ash could have never imagined separating from the pokemon—but after five weeks with just togepi and pikachu for comfort—and sometimes bulbasaur and charizard, he learned that pikachu was more than capable of taking care of it self. It was a wonderful scavenger—and without Jessie and James trying to hunt the pokemon down every ten seconds, he was oddly _comfortable_ letting the mouse go off on his own.  
A pang of mistrust shot through Ash's heart while thinking about _where_ pikachu was going. His _mother's_ house, to visit his family and _Cole_. Ash smiled gently at the thought—he had promised to write letters to his younger brother, but in the mix and excitement of travel; he had all but forgotten.

Sighing at the notion, he tilted his head looking into the distance as he moved forward habitually. Ash didn't think that he would be returning so soon to the facility, but if there was anyone—outside of Misty—who could answer his questions regarding pokemon, she was sitting in room 113, or playing cards with two older men.

"Hey togepi, how would you like to meet the only friend I made in the nursing home when you were just an egg?" Ash asked with a mischievous grin; the pokemon in question chirped blandly and put it's stubby arms up against Ash's head where it had been sitting on his shoulders and gave a sigh of frustration in return.

 **XOXs**

When Ash walked into the assisted living home, he noticed a few differences—the first was that the administrator was no longer a cute blonde woman, but was instead a burly man with red hair. Second, the smell of coffee no longer traced the hallways, and third, the hardwood floors were now plush with a sort of off-color, blue office carpet. At the entrance, Ash spoke with the man for no more than five minutes, received his visitors pass, and wondered into the halls. They smelled like medical supplies—though Ash distinctly remembered the halls smelling like fresh cooked meals in the dining room—that didn't seem the be the case anymore. While every inch of it was familiar—it no longer, and _really_ never felt like home to the young Ketchum.

Humming to himself, he turned the familiar corners, hands stuffed into his pocket as togepi hummed on his shoulder beside him; he walked past Dr. Abby's office once, and then again for good measure—the woman wasn't in; stapled to her door were a couple of congratulations notes—he could only assume that she had the baby and was how ferociously enjoying motherhood and maternity leave. A faint smile appeared over Ash's lips as he skipped in his step.

Good, the woman deserved to be happy after she bailed Ash out of the situation he was put in my Dr. Sebastian. Thinking about it now, those terrible times seemed so far away. They had only been a few months—but it felt like years ago. His time spent at the hospital, the time he spent healing in the nursing home—they were like flutters of a distant past, all covered by a mash of his dream world and excitement of the new day.

Without hesitation, he was off to his old room which washed a wave of nostalgia over his features, the metallic blue walls reflecting so many proud memories of defeat and victory. He glanced at togepi who was relatively quiet and composed compared to usual.

"This is where Misty gave you to me as an egg, togepi." He told the egg pokemon, which only glanced around the room, and sighed pathetically. Ash hummed silently.

"If there's something wrong, buddy... you know you can tell me." He said honestly, though the baby-egg didn't seem so keen on answering. Instead, it found its way into Ash's backpack by hopping from his shoulder and falling into the unzipped portion where it caved a sigh of relief upon sulking away from its trainer.

In return, Ash sighed and hunched his shoulders as he turned to leave the room—just in case it was occupied by another, he didn't want to intrude. Instead, he strolled along the familiar hall, tapping his fingers against the walls as he watched nursing aids flutter around.

Since the attack with ekans and arbok, togepi had been weird—Ash chalked it up to the same sulking nature he had when he lost a battle. Togepi felt responsible, and hurt for being unable to protect himself and his friends. If togepi was anything like him—the pokemon would spend a great deal of time over-analyzing its mistakes. The pokemon had already spent more than enough time training when Ash would practice with pikachu—but the silence it projected ate away at him.

"Togepi, we're not mad at you..." Ash started for the millionth time since the incident, though his admission was quickly interrupted by a rather familiar cackle.

"Back already?" he heard the faint click of a cane against the brick walls of the hallway, and nothing could stop the spread of a wide grin across his features as he turned, facing the woman he knew too-well.

"Agatha." Ash murmured politely. "How have you been?"  
"I would be even better if I didn't see _you_ standing here looking so damn youthful!" She crooned, wagging her fist at him. Ash grinned in response and turned to the woman who was hunched over, shaking her head. "Weren't you off on some grand 'ol adventure?"

"I was in town. I decided that I would come visit." Ash mused happily, earning a spark of excitement in the old woman's eyes.

"Well good! It's about time." She hustled him, grabbing a hold of his arm as she used to, baring him for support. "Follow me, we will have some tea—I'm sure we have a lot to talk about!" Agatha chirped and Ash paused.

"Wait, I have someone to show you." Ash hummed, pulling his backpack off of his shoulder to full out togepi who was still brooding as it stared at Agatha with dull eyes. Surely seeing an old friend would cheer togepi up.

Agatha blinked her wrinkled eyes, and smacked her lips. "That's the egg?"

"Yeah. It's a togepi." Ash said happily, cradling the pokemon, though it seemed to actively move away from the idea of being cradled.

"I can see that. That's a fairly rare pokemon." Agatha gushed, leaning forward to get a better look at the egg, it watched the old woman's eyes carefully as she adjusted her glasses and grinned like the old bird she was.

"Well, we will have plenty of time to talk over tea—don't keep these old bones waiting!"  
 **XOXs**

"I also found my pikachu, you remember pikachu, don't you?" Ash hummed while sitting in the activity wing once more, surrounded by Agatha and her elderly company that were interested in Ash, and even more interested in shuffling togepi around. The later seemed to relax as it was given attention from several sources, alleviating a hole in Ash's chest. He chuckled at the pained expression on the pokemon—in many ways, the brooding was Ash, but the general discomfort around people reflected Misty's personality.

"So you and the red head broke up then I take it?" Agatha chortled, as if reading his thoughts.

Seconds later, Ash nearly spit out his tea—but sucked back the bitter sweet liquid and hacked on his lungs upon the accusation. She sipped her tea nonchalantly with raised eyebrows.

"Broke up?" Ash hissed, grabbing at his chest. "We were never—I was never—she was-"

Agatha fanned him sarcastically. "Settle down, I was joking." she murmured. "You spaced out, I was only getting your attention."

With a scowl, his eyebrows twitched. Indeed the woman was like being around Misty—he almost wondered if Misty would act the same way when she was older. Still teasing Ash sixty years from now. His face never lost the red tint as he crossed his arms and glanced to the older woman.

"I was just watching togepi."

"Like any doting father would." Agatha joked with a curt nod, taking a long swig of tea. Ash pouted. "And how's the mother?"

"Misty is not-" he started, choking on his own words.

"I didn't say the red head." Agatha grinned, and at that moment, Ash put his face down on the table he was sitting behind and took a moment to breath while Agatha bellowed laughter from the depths of her rotten soul.

Looking up wearily at the woman, he rubbed his right temple and all but glared at her. He forced himself not to look over at togepi, in fear that by doing so he would have accepted such an absurd accusation. There was no way that was their relationship—togepi was his friend, but not in _that_ way, surely Misty didn't think _she was_ togepi's mother—did she? Though she did believe that in his dreams. A wave a panic washed into his chest, and he found it difficult to breathe as he rubbed his face sourly, frowning at the older woman who clucked her tongue.

"Joking aside, you've gotten taller." Agatha motioned towards Ash, removing the obtuse tension with ease. Naturally, Ash's shoulders rose, demonstrating the broad nature of his exercise and growth from his time spent away from the home.

"You think so? I don't feel any different." Ash chuckled, scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably with a smile tugging at his lips. Agatha nodded with a keen smirk.

"Figures once you leave this place you would finally branch out a little bit more. You were walking bones when we first met." She concurred, and Ash could not argue.

"A lot as changed since then."  
"In only a few months? Did you find your mother?" At her words, she noticed the grievance over his face and she retracted her statement.

"Wasn't pretty, was it?" She hummed, taking a sip of her tea. At that moment, Ash allowed his eyes to fall on togepi, who had glanced up at him the moment his mother was mentioned and spared Ash a sympathetic look; one of sadness and anguish that Ash reflected wholly.

"I'd rather not talk about it..." He ho-hummed, scooting the bitter tea away from his person—still never growing accustom to the taste. "Actually, I had a few questions."

Her eyebrows quirked. "Do you?"

"Yeah, about certain pokemon." Removing his back pack during his statement, he fished through the front pocket, through rations and carefully sealed bottles and into the contents of a beaten journal—the pages were written on sloppily, and even more than that, they were stuffed with traveling tickets, receipts, and blurbs of information and map pieces. Searching through the chaos, Agatha looked upon him with raised eyebrows when he extended a list of pokemon, with several names crossed out.

"Could you tell me which of those pokemon are likely to be around in say...oh, ten years or so? Maybe even five?"

Agatha glanced at the list, and whistled; "This is quite a list, kid. What do you need 'em for?"

"Oh... uh, they're uh..." He shifted. "Old friends." He decided, and the woman set the list down on the table before looking at him hotly.

"Old friends?" She echoed his words. "Are you following those crazy dreams of yours again?" She questioned, though the second his face heated up, he stared her down.

"Yes. Because my pokemon remember me." He told her quickly, getting a brash look of confusion. If life around the assisted living home had ever been lively, Ash was sure he would have heard the silence scream at him—but instead, the buzz of the television in the background echoed back at him as Agatha's thin lips pressed shut.

She clicked a pen, and brought the point of the pen to the paper. "Alright, I'll help you."

"Really?"

"I don't know what it is about you." She hummed, marking numbers and scribbles beside each name. "But I feel compelled."

"Misty says that a lot, too." Ash chuckled, thinking about the redhead and her uncanny act for accusing him of 'permanent baby face' or 'puppy dog eyes'. It was both a blessing and a curse—at this moment, as Agatha scratched along specific names, he thought it might be a little bit of both.

She took several minutes to acquire the information along the list, placing question marks beside the pokemon she wasn't sure about, and marking names with X's if they had a life expectancy shorter than five years—fortunately, that only accounted for about ten times, the rest she had marked differently, or written blurbs beside them to indicate their habits.

Had Ash never known the woman before him, he might have asked how she knew so much—but Misty had long given him an answer " _It's an Elite Four members job to know_ " was the answer she had given him, followed quickly by " _it's a good thing I'm not an elite four member yet—all I care about are water pokemon"._ Grinning at the memory, he found it difficult to pull his thoughts away from the Cerulean City gym leader. Even though it had been only a short time away, he wondered if she was managing without him.

"That's all I can help you with, kiddo." Agatha retorted automatically, clicking her pen once more before handing the list back over to Ash. "That doesn't account for pokemon that simply left the area."

Ash only briefly glanced at her writing—he wanted to be as far away as possible before truly investigating the note—save himself the embarrassment of breaking down in front of Agatha. He smiled at her.

"Every little bit helps, thank you."

"You're in for quite a journey, you know."

"I know." he answered quickly, with a brief, fleeting smirk before a strong silence settled in between the two of them.

"Well..." She started, crossing her arms over her chest. "I guess based on your reactions, you don't know them."

"Hmm?" He asked, blinking wide-eyes at her as she fumbled with a news paper that had been tucked away behind her for the majority of the visit. When the flying papers met with the wooden table in front of him, he gasped.

The front page was a picture of Misty, and another of charizard—she outlined the media on several pages. The Cerulean Gym was on the second page and several articles covered her talents as a pokemon trainer—his eyes only skimmed the pages. Since he started his journey, he hadn't thought to ask her about the incident, or bother to read the papers. Ash's focus has been primarily on recovering his pokemon, Misty's success was the furthest subject from his mind.

He went to speak, but when words fell out; he was speaking in tongue as he rose to his feet. The chair gave a loud screech as he slammed the newspaper against the table and blinked at Agatha.

"I should call her to congratulate her." He mumbled quickly, whistling for togepi to return to his shoulder. The egg pokemon naturally bounced from the elderly people holding it, to the floor, and then with one leap, onto Ash's shoulder, who dipped just enough for the pokemon to reach him. Agatha's face dropped.

"You're going already?" she groaned awkwardly, a bit surprised.

"I only stopped in for a little while." Ash hummed happily, though she looked flabbergasted.

"Well, did you at least open the gift I gave you?" She asked, frowning at him as her eyebrows knit. Unsurprisingly, Ash shrugged his shoulders and then closed his eyes innocently.

"No, I was so busy after wards I forgot! It's still in my bedroom at the gym!" He chirped, getting a soft sigh from the egg on his shoulder and a gasp of frustration from the older woman.

"How rude!" Agatha nearly shouted, but Ash was backing away slowly, a grin plastered across his face.

"I promise I'll open it when I go _home_." He uttered the word loosely, frantic to find a phone. She didn't seem as pleased—but in her older age, she wasn't as quick to her feet.

Before she could speak, Ash was already halfway down the hall, waving obnoxiously and smiling gleefully. Her hazel eyes fell onto the expression of the gym leaders face on the front of the newspaper, and she rolled her eyes, falling back into her chair to stare dramatically at one of the women who was sleeping in their wheelchair.

"Oh, to be young and in love again..." Agatha muttered, feeling rather sarcastic as she snorted and returned to her business of filling out the crosswords in the back of the news paper.

 **XOXs**

This was the perfect chance—not that he _needed_ a reason to call her, or anything—but he couldn't call her _just because_. After all, he didn't want to bother the busy gym leader—especially not if she was working to obtain her own dreams. No, Ash needed a _reason_ to call her; otherwise, his nerves played tennis in his chest, and he was left shaking and pounding the corded phones on the receivers before the dial tone had even started.

 _Nervous_ might have been the proper word—but Ash summed his over-zealous nerves into the package that he didn't want her to worry about him, or believe that he was failing in obtaining his pokemon—he was trying, though he wasn't sure how many he would find.

Ash raced to the nearest pokemon center to make his call—the closest to the assisted living home was a small one about a mile away. He reached the corded phone in a little under thirty minutes, and spun to insert coins into the slot. On his shoulder, even togepi who had been rather blue the last few weeks chirped brightly, awaiting the call to connect. After he had punched in the unintentionally memorized numbers—he waited patiently.

Heart racing behind his ribcage, he wondered what in the world she couldn't answer her phone. Maybe she was screening her calls again? What if she was too popular to talk with him now? He swopped his forehead, glancing over his shoulder at other trainers who were talking about battles and comparing pokemon before looking back earnestly at the image of a phone sending dots to match the dial tone. Four rings. Five rings...six...

His excitement deflated as the dial tone ended, and the familiar beep of her recorded message sung at him. "Hello! You have reached Mist-" "Hello?" Misty's breathless tone interrupted the recorded tone, and Ash sat frozen for a moment.

"H-hey." he managed weakly, mentally scolding himself for such a delivery.

A pause, and then he heard the splash of water.

"Ash?" She nearly hissed. He could hear the frustration in her tone and his shoulders drooped defensively.

"Yeah, it's me. How's it going?" He tried, but her strangled tone only made his forehead drop against the wall beside him. Five weeks wasn't _that_ long. She couldn't have been upset about that.

"I've been waiting to hear from you for weeks—why haven't you called?" She scolded from her end, perking Ash up right away. A mad Misty was a normal Misty.

"I was busy... you know..." He tried, but she wasn't hearing it.

"You could have _at least_ called me after that stunt you pulled in route eight! And don't get me started about the safari zone—Ash, you are a student of Cerulean City; whether you call me or not I hear _everything_. Especially from Gary! You've called him like six times!" her shrieking voice did things to him.

Horrible things to him.

Mainly question why he bothered to call at all—this was the reason he had avoided it, after all. Speechless as she vented to him about his poor habits, he scratched at the back of his neck and swiveled in his seat, rocking togepi back and forth in his lap who both shared in the wrath of the redhead, but also enjoyed the sound of the woman's voice on the other end—no matter how hostile.

"And don't get me started about the shi— _stuff_ that's been happening around here. You've missed so much—unless you've been keeping up with the news lately."

Ash finally felt her tone lower, and he blinked and licked his lips. "I haven't been, but I just heard about your media success—I wanted to say congratulations." He beamed through the mic.

"About that..." she muttered in return, and Ash felt his heart fall into the pit of his stomach.

"What happened?" He asked nervously, hating when she was so ambiguous.

"I wasn't the one who reported that I defeated charizard. Reporters already had the information when I made it back home only a day later." Misty hummed from her end, Ash cocked his head, sure that was a _little_ strange, but really, what was so bad about that? She was finally being acknowledged for her hard work and dedication in her field.

"...so...?" He asked, a single eyebrow quirking as he shared a worried look with togepi.

She intentionally skipped the answer; asking instead. "Have you heard about Bill's house?"

"Bill's house? Was there news released about that?" Ash asked suddenly, listening to the sound of her shift away from her pool—to the flap of cloth, most likely covering herself with a towel.

"They're saying that storm we got caught up in was the cause of the lab's destruction—on top of that-the town we stayed in supposedly doesn't exist to the league, or anyone else for that matter." she paused as if in a great deal of thought. "Plus no one should have known that I defeated charizard until either you or I came forward, which meant that it had to have came from that town."

Ash stopped breathing for a second. Instinctively, he looked around the room, watching each trainers face. No one seemed moderately interested in anything he said or offered, but as he leaned into his square of the phone booth, he covered his mouth. Bill's lab couldn't have been destroyed by the storm, it had to have been like that for years—Misty assumed Team Rocket at the time, but the quake in her voice made his blood run cold.

"What's your point?" he grimaced, making little sense of her words. She sighed, he could hear the tense nature of her voice and lowered his eyebrows sympathetically.

"You don't think that's strange?"

"No, it's very strange." Ash said quickly. "But why is it so horrible?"

Misty paused for a long time—he could hear the sound of her chewing on her lip and biting her nails while she shook her head.

"Brock thinks it's Team Rocket, too."

"Team-" "SHH." She cut him off, as if she expected him to yell their name in surprise. She wasn't wrong, he had almost blown his cover. He settled down and exhaled into the phone.

"How does he know?" Ash asked quickly, followed by; "When did you start talking with Brock?"

"A few weeks ago—he came to visit me to ask about you and your dreams—he thinks...he made a lot of bold claims, Ash."

"He's not still hitting on you, is he?" the words escaped his lips before he could reel them in, and he smacked his head with the phone the second they fell on her ears. She made another strangled noise from the back of her throat.

"No-!" She gasped. "Why would that be your first suggestion?" She sighed. Honestly, he couldn't say. Sometimes his mouth spoke before his head had time to catch up; especially when the nerves in his chest threatened to explode. It seemed only to be getting worse the longer he was awake, too.

"He said that _they_ killed his father, and _they_ were controlling the league and that _they_ are behind all the missing trainers...Not just this little town in the middle of nowhere..." she hummed, carefully refusing to call them by _Team Rocket_ as if some form of paranoia had taken over her mind. " _They_ are still around."

For Ash, her words didn't strike him as nearly as hard as the tone of her voice—it was almost shaking at the suggestion that Team Rocket was instigating some master plan. Ash blinked once, and then twice, registering what she had told him. Flint was killed by Team Rocket? Why would they do that? How would they have control over the league? Wasn't Giovanni thrown in jail, and the economy thriving stronger than ever since he was thrown in jail a year ago?

His fingers curled into his pants at the knees, and he bit hard onto his cheek.

"Ash?" The tone of her voice, unchanged from it's previous chill brought him crashing back to reality, to the sound of children playing behind him—to pokemon trainers raving about new techniques, and finally, back to Misty.

"I'm here." he responded naturally, and then shook his head. "Why would Brock tell you all of this?"

Her voice balanced, the moment of weakness had passed, and she was as nonchalant as she had always been—full of confidence—if he didn't know better, he would say it was bordering on _proud._

"Because he believes in you, for some odd reason." She suggested, and Ash felt his heart flutter in his chest, a grin pull on his cheeks.

"Believes in me? How come?"

"Just a feeling." She admit, the sound of a grin tugged at her lips. "Also, he _might_ have thought that you had some sort of psychic powers to recall information about his father and Team Rocket that we don't..." they both paused for a brief, combined chuckle—that wasn't how any of this worked. Ash wasn't psychic. _At least he hoped not._

Misty licked her lips effortlessly. "Anyways...I'm not entirely convinced that this is the case but it's worth checking out."

He smiled, happy to hear the recover in her voice. "And how would you check it out?"

"I was planning on going back to route twenty-five just to double over. Look for that town, maybe some trace of Team Rocket that isn't just theory.." She grumbled, and Ash swallowed hard against the lump in his throat.

"No, I'll go." he said sharply.

"What? No way." She hissed, but his mind was made up on the spot.

"You have to stay at the gym." he groaned sternly, listening to a sound of complete disinterest. He continued. "Besides, I was already on my way there and I am more than capable of spotting a few flunkie Team Rocket members, and with any luck, I'll find kingler over there."

Silence infiltrated the space between them, until she finally sighed. "Alright."

"Alright?" Ash gasped. "No fight or anything, just _alright_?" he mocked in surprise.

Flustered, she stammered for only a moment. "Only because I have some... Well, now isn't a good time to leave the gym." She crooned whilst clearing her throat. Ash grinned in response.

"Ohh, I see." he muttered sarcastically. "You're chicken."  
"I am not!"

"You sounded terrified earlier." Below him, togepi chimed "briii!" in agreement.

"I was _not._ " She hissed in reiteration on behalf of her defense. "Besides, it'll be good for you."

He pursed his lips bitingly. "Really? I could _die,_ you know." He mocked her with such frivolous he could feel her glare from miles away.

"Ash Ketchum. You listen here-"

"Yeah, yeah, hell has not fury like a woman." He interrupted her, only getting more shrieks and groans of frustration. He found himself enjoying the small tantrums she would throw. "I'll be careful."

"Really. Because I was going to tell you to jump off a cliff." She bit back in a hoarse tone that brought a chuckle from Ash.

"I miss you, too, Mist." He hummed playfully, a real stumper for the red head who frantically stammered for words. Ash smiled to himself. When she was so far away he was so _relaxed, but_ had she been here in person, he might have never reacted in such a calm manner. He had caught her off guard once more, in the same manner she had gotten flustered over before they seperated.

"How's togepi?" She cleared he throat, the change of subject caught Ash off guard when the pokemon in question squealed in reply, happily asserting itself between Ash and the phone.

"Toge bri!" it grumbled into the receiver, getting an eye roll from Ash. Misty chuckled—even though she had no clue what the pokemon was saying.

"I miss you, too."

"Oh, gee, thanks, I see how it is." Ash hummed sarcastically and shrugged his shoulders, scooping the phone out of the eggs way. "But seriously." he murmured motionlessly.. "What if it is them?"

Misty inhaled thoughtfully on her end. "Leave, and call me right away."

"And if it's not?"

"Then we worried over nothing—but it's better safe than sorry, you know?" She asked while rubbing the back of her neck, Ash nodded his agreement before realizing she couldn't actually see him.

"I guess." He responded, tilting his head.

"You're taking care of yourself?" She asked suddenly, catching Ash off guard once more at the haste of her voice.

"Yeah, of course. Pikachu is with Cole right now, and togepi and I have been visiting with Agatha." Mentioning his half-brother was still like venom on his lips, and he shuddered at the idea; even now, he struggled to wrap his head around it.

"So you're in Viridian City, then?"

His eyes glassed over. "Yeah..."

"Is it weird?"

"More than "Team Rocket is taking over the world" weird? No...It's just..." The image of his mother's cold look flashed in his memory, and he shuddered at the thought. Misty sighed thoughtfully.

"You'll be okay." She assured him warmly, and some how, even though Ash knew it was still far from okay, he smiled.

"Yeah..." After a minute, he forced himself to perk back up—he was nothing if not optimistic. "Hey, did you see a gift from Agatha for me at the gym?"

"From Agatha?" Misty's words lengthened. "Maybe in your room?"

"Probably. I meant to pack it with my things—but I forgot about it—could you hold onto it for me?" Ash asked happily while she whistled at him.

"Do I get to open it?"

"No!" Ash nearly yelled, earning a few looks from his peers. "I mean...It's supposed to be special." He couldn't tell her that Agatha requested that he open it away from Misty, after all.

"Special? It must be _reaaalllly_ special if you _forgot about it_." She teased him, and he pinched the bridge of his nose.

The two of them talked for awhile after that, using their best attempt to keep the conversation light. They shared stories about their advancements so far—Ash about his lack of pokemon—how many of them have either moved on, or passed away; and those that remain stand only at bulbasaur and charizard. Misty reiterated her meeting with Brock in detail, talking about the recommendation, as well as her own progression. In comparison, she was a lot closer to reaching her goals than Ash was, and he congratulated her for that.

Misty talked about her sisters, and about the gym, while Ash talked about the different cities he saw, and pokemon. Misty reminded him that he needs to be extra careful until Gary gets him a real license, but he didn't need that; he knew. He and Gary spoke nearly every week in hope that the badge would be ready, but thus far; it seemed endless.

Their call ended about thirty minutes after it started, having felt like only thirty seconds, Ash was a bit dejected when Misty was forced to hang up due to a challenger. Since her new found fame, she was challenged more frequently, and he couldn't blame trainers—everyone wanted to defeat the woman who defeated an enraged charizard. It was a shame he didn't receive any credit for helping—it was pikachu who used thunderbolt to finish the pokemon off, after all.

At the end of their conversations, goodbyes were easier over the phone, they lasted seconds, but left a scar imprinted on his chest for hours. Every time he spoke with her over the phone when he was in the assisted living home, he felt the same way. So small—alone. Glancing down to togepi one last time, he collected the pokemon into his pack as pikachu bound through the front door, indicating that it was time to leave already.

 **XOXS**

The trip to route twenty five was easier without the rain. With charizard to fly on, the time was cut in half. They traveled up the coast that connected route nine and route twenty five, investigating the ocean shore for one crab pokemon; kingler. They dropped off outside of the forest a little ways, where he had been able to survey his surroundings. He had noticed right away, that unlike his dreams, time had not been kind to the shore here. Seaweed was washed up on all ends, lose rocks and boulders cradled the shore, only digging deeper each time the waves brushed high enough to their surface. Oddly enough, compared to the serene, sun set he had originally seen the beach, this was like a ware zone. In the distance, he could see the looming, destroyed lighthouse owned by bill in the distance, and wondered only to himself how it was possible no one ventured out this far.

"Kingler?!" Ash called, cupping his mouth with the palms of his hands. His eye brows knit together tiredly, kicking the shore line with his feet. Agatha had mentioned that they migrated during the winter, and not only that, they didn't have the longest of lifespans.

He tried again. "It's me, Ash, if you're there, come out!" Ash screamed as charizard swooped in behind him, roaring his own words to the absent pokemon-from his bag where pikachu and togepi had been resting, they each shouted as well. Silence answered them, only echoing the crack of waves against the ocean floor. His shoulders dropped, and his face soured as pikachu crawled out to pat him on the head.

"Pikapi-chu!" the mouse called into the distant; the howl of the wind carrying his voice much further.

They waited for a moment, half expecting that _any minute_ the pokemon would appear. One, two, three minutes. Any second now. After the ten minute mark, waiting in the sand as the moon danced over the horizon, Ash rose to his feet and started to hike the distance of the shore toward the lab. He was nothing if not thorough.

Having no luck searching for the pokemon, Ash had taken to riding on charizard's back once more, to scale the rocky terrain once he ran out of ocean to comb. No matter how he looked-kingler wasn't around.

By midnight of that same day, he arrived at Bill's house, a beacon of destruction on the edge of the ocean. Swooping down to search the area above the treetops, Ash kept his eyes peeled in the darkness. Unlike that night that he and Misty were caught in the storm, there were no large signal beacons, no trails, not fences or gravel. Instead, Ash found dirt, and soil, and trees where the town was supposed to be.

As if it hadn't existed.

When charizard flew down to examine the statue of wartortle, only in the darkness, they couldn't find the pokemon.

Ash's guard was up as they explored—he wasn't so sure that Team Rocket would evacuate so quickly. The chill in the air showed his breath each time he exhaled, but he wrapped himself closely with his warm jacket as he searched the area bordering the trees—where wartortle was supposed to be... but found nothing.

In fact, any trace that Ash and Misty had even arrived in this area was all but gone. Even some of the broken walls from Bill's lab had been removed. Missing town, missing wartortle, and the evidence buried or covered up... Ash stared endlessly into the abyss of the ocean, clenching his fists tightly as each wave crashed against the rocks below.

The town was one event—the evidence was another...but to remove wartortle; to hide him, bury him; _anything_. That was a new low. His brown eyes settled on an island in the distance, and Ash looked over his shoulder at charizard, who was seething with his own rage while he glared into the ocean. At his feet, both pikachu and togepi shared the sentiment, and Ash glowered.

"We better find a phone..." Ash hummed angrily, stomping his feet until he jumped onto the back of charizard's shoulders.

 **Author's Note:**

Should have put this in the last chapter, but, guys, it's the last three weeks of the semester which means: projects, projects, projects and exams, exams, exams. (plus work on top of that) -cries- So updates are going to be a little far and in between for a little while. I mean, I might still update quickly, but I'm throwing this out there as a disclaimer just in case I go a few days (like a week, coughcough, sorry) between my normal updates.

I swear, this chapter took forever, but I finally posted it. It's far from perfect, and it's not exactly how I wanted it, but for now; it's good enough. I can always edit it later, but here it is. -dies slowly- I suffered from so many school-induced writer blocks and personal life complications this chapter, that I'm just glad it's here. Kind of doing a time lapse method so I'm sorry if it's choppy in some areas. The next chapters will come and go faster, so get readyyyyy.

Lol, this chapter looks a lot longer than it is because of all the dialouge. XD'

As always, thank you guys again, so, so ,so sossososossoso much for reviewing/faving/following the story. It means so much. -hearts-

Until next time.

NINT


	25. Chapter 25: Dawn of a new light

**Locked Away, Chapter 25**

In the end, when Ash called to let her know that the town had truly disappeared, it did not come as a surprise to Misty. In fact, she almost expected it at this point. The only thing that had, was the missing statue of wartortle—what in the world would Team Rocket want with that?

 _Pfft._ Misty blew a strand of hair from her face while rapping her fingers against her wrist. She had been trying to sleep for the last three hours, but found no reprieve from her thoughts. They were everywhere, about her job, about the gym, about Ash and Brock, about Team Rocket, and...well everything. In the last six months, her life had turned upside down in more ways than she would ever admit to anyone, and it was all thanks to former-coma patient, Ash Ketchum.

She wasn't _mad_ at him, for introducing her to this new, exciting world, but she was definitely unsettled. Misty prided herself on logic, reason, swift, approachable justice. She didn't fancy fables, or theories—she liked facts. That was a part of who she was. It was a fact that Ash had been electrocuted, a fact that he woke up with no immediate problems, a fact that she might have adopted him into her life as her singular best friend.

However, since he woke up, he continuously shook up her world, and not always in a good way. Shooting forward, the blankets fell to her waist and she pulled on her insistently growing hair and groaned. On a day to day basis, she found herself questioning the differences between Ash's world and this one, as if Ash's world was _real_. But at least to some degree, wasn't it? But how could _he_ of all people know so _much?_ Should she have his head examined, check for bugs—maybe see if someone was _testing her_? Ash should have been considered _crazy_ , his ideals, and thoughts and memories should have had no affect on the world; should not have resembled the world. Misty, Brock, and anyone else who thought that the pokemon-speaking, optimistic, coma patient was the _sane_ one, needed to have _their_ heads checked. And yet, here she was.

With a sigh of frustration, she threw herself back for the umpteenth time that night, replaying the news in her head. Ash and Brock were all but convinced that it was Team Rocket behind everything that was wrong in the world—and because Ash hasn't been wrong about _anything_ yet, she almost wanted to believe him. Let go of that nagging logic and give into their stubborn abnormalities...and yet.

Damning all the problems of the world to "Team Rocket" after their supposed "disband" spread through the news like a tidal wave was _too_ strange. Though...she had to admit, lying that they were still around made more sense to her now than it ever did. Why admit that Team Rocket still waits in the wings, when the media could lie about it, make everyone feel safe?

Suddenly, the missing trainer alerts seemed natural, _reasonable._ Team Rocket always targeted the strongest trainers to steal their pokemon. Though, when they did that years ago, the media kept tabs on the defunct trainers—now, they only appeared in news on rare occasion, and mostly to indicate that the "missing person" search was ending. Misty's lips curled pessimistically as she stared up into the darkness of her ceiling.

Thinking back to it, the missing persons reports stopped rolling efficiently about a month after Giovanni was sentenced to life in prison even though trainers were still disappearing. People talked about it on the streets, trainers feared it, but the noise around missing trainers and stolen pokemone stopped. To think that Giovanni had the kind of power to control the media _and_ Team Rocket chilled her to the bone. How could one person, if it was truly Team Rocket, t _ruly Giovann_ i, have so much power? Was it the whole justice system that was corrupt, not Team Rocket as Brock believed? A missing town, and covered media didn't justify Team Rocket—what happened to Brock was terrible, but he had no further evidence than "a feeling".

Misty had a feeling, too. That the system was ruined. Dysfunctional.

The justice system—their _joke_ of a system—was faulty at best. The lawyers, the league champions, elite four, and chief executives—the pokemon " _masters_ "-anyone who held some seat of power wasn't doing their job if they allowed the prosecution of Giovanni to slip through their fingers. If he was able to control the media, the league, _everything_ from a prison cell, clearly, the fault wasn't on Team Rocket. It was on _them_ for letting him.

So maybe Misty was a skeptic, maybe she _didn't_ believe it was Giovanni or Team Rocket. It seemed to easy, after so many years of rising prices, terrible rules and horrible restrictions-why would they only be discovered now; by a bunch of young adults and not by some leading official?

 _That_ was what didn't make sense to her. When the world is wrong, it's easy to blame some evil power—but what if Brock was wrong? The system, the strange occurrences, the fact that a rampaged charizard could even live on Route twenty five for five years boggled her. Honestly, it could have just as easily been negligent leadership as it could have been Giovanni—painting the picture of a _perfect_ society because it was easier to live in denial than it was to live in reality.

This wasn't without reason, though, reality wasn't pretty. The last ten years were mangled with strife amongst the regions, even more between trainers—Team Rocket was not even an issue until the Elite Four created half the mess themselves. Team Rocket were opportunist, and if they were controlling events, it wasn't because they forced their way in—it was because _they_ let Team Rocket in.

Ten years ago, the world was a different place—happy, bright, full of laughter. Today's world seemed to be the embodiment of hate crimes and distrust. Team Rocket didn't create that, no, the leagues did that to themselves.

Fear held young trainers hostage in their homes—fear of the unknown. Fear of Team Rocket, of other trainers. Rules and regulations didn't seem to apply to the rich, the famous. But they applied to everyone else. After Team Rocket was disbanded, and Giovanni was put behind bars—pokemon trainers started to increase again—the economy started back up, new businesses were opened—things started to look up.

...It only made sense that if this was a false safety, the media wouldn't allow anyone to break that. New trainers brought in more money—more money brought more infrastructure. Therefore, when some young trainer went missing, they only looked at the larger picture.

Misty clawed at her wrist, asking the darkness of her room for answers to her questions. Her nails dug into her skin gently as she sat forward to kick her feet over the side of the bed and crack her neck side to side. Busy trying to formulate a plan, remove fear from her observations, as well as facts from fiction.

Brock _did have_ a good reason to believe that Team Rocket was influencing the world. They took his father away from him.

….but,

Misty _could not_ be so sure. Not without facts. Blaming Team Rocket was the _easy_ decision to make. It was also a nifty scapegoat, with no evidence to stand on. Aside from media coverage, some bias facts determining that the town _might_ have been Team Rocket related—there was no proof, Ash hadn't discovered anything new, so they had nothing. No proof that the league was being controlled. This was a conspiracy theory at best, and Misty couldn't buy into it without evidence.

Until recently, there was no indication that something was amiss in the world to begin with. Gym leaders, to Misty's knowledge, weren't being controlled—at least she wasn't. New rules and regulations that were passed by the Elite Four in order to protect against the rise of tyranny in the league that hindered Misty's success much more than anything Team Rocket related. If anything, the fear Team Rocket induced after their mass destruction was more damaging than their actual attempt to over-throw the league.

Brock's words had done little to stir fear in her mind, that she, as the likely new Elite Four member would be controlled like the rest of the figureheads, if anything, she was _furious._

Furious that fear dictated their lives. Fear of Team Rocket still controlled them—then Team Rocket won. Their violence, riots and thievery did exactly what they were supposed to do—bring the world together to stop the root of evil, only for it to cower in its shadow by replacing guidelines with laws, and replacing kindness with brutality.

Misty chewed the inside of her cheek as her thoughts raced madly. It didn't matter to her if Team Rocket was behind the allegations or not—if they controlled everything from the shadows. Misty wouldn't cower; her plan, her goals, they never changed.

She would still become and Elite Four member, she would still _fix_ the problems left over from her peers, and she would find the _right_ way to conduct business and politics in the league without secrets and hate. If Team Rocket _was_ pulling the strings, she would cut them.

Rolling out of bed, Misty's feet brushed against the carpeted floors and she rose to her feet to click on the light of her bedroom and crack her knuckles as she did. Recalling Ash's revelation, Misty hummed.

 _"What does this mean? If Team Rocket is back?"_

She didn't have an answer for him back then, so few hours ago, but she had one now: Nothing changes, _nothing_ was different.

She- _they-_ would strive to fix the world, if only one baby step at a time. Ash supported her, Brock supported her, her _sisters_ supported her. In the last six months since she met Ash, he had unconsciously opened several doors for the reclusive redhead—she was on good terms with Gary Oak, the head Professor of the Kanto region, and was well known thanks to that incident with charizard.

While they weren't a lot...they were still motivation.

They were goals.

Smiling, she inhaled, staring out her window into the dark of the night—she was wrong. Everything was different. She wasn't alone in this anymore—and oddly enough, she had Ash to thank for that. He spent months telling her thank you, appreciating the 'goodness' of _her_ actions—but it was Misty who should have thanked him.

 **XOXs**

Ash didn't return to Viridian City like he originally planned when he left for Bill's laboratory; after discovering that, like his other pokemon, kingler was no where to be seen, he took the closest route to his next destination, which was north, to Sinnoh. Johto had been his original intention when he returned to Viridian City the first time, but after witnessing the disappearance of the town, he needed to get away.

After being in Sinnoh for a month, totaling his time away from Misty at three months, and his time out of a coma at seven months, he was progressing rather nicely. Growing, adapting, changing as the environment changed around him- he made quick work of the northern country.

Winter was far worse in Sinnoh, than it had been in Kanto. He long ditched the light jackets for heavy winter coats, and leggings to wear under his jeans. He wore a toque over his patchy hat, and fingered gloves to protect his hands, and boots rather than sneakers. Togepi spent the majority of the travel tucked away in his pack with Misty's red scarf—as an egg pokemon, it was not accustomed to the same levels of body heat that he and pikachu were, and so it was much colder. Pikachu wore pokemon-clothes, and rode around in the zipper of his jacket, keeping his head between Ash's sweater and large coat to keep warm. Ash didn't mind, pikachu was his personal heater.

Most of the region, aside from the southern parts, was covered in a deep, treacherous snow. On his way, he discovered that like most aves species, staraptor was long deceased—and if the pokemon _was_ still around, Ash had no clue where to start his search; so he kept moving north. From there, he found his way to the Eterna Forest, where he looked for toterra, the large grass, turtle pokemon- but observed that in the heavy storm, he wasn't likely to find the grass pokemon because they hibernated through winter. Writing the pokemons name off of his list with a question mark, Ash moved forward, towards Snowpoint City, only to realize that the path was blocked off with caution signs. Rather than risking his life, and the life of his pokemon he started east towards the coast, where he passed through Veilstone City.

On his way, he learned that the small town at which he originally caught gliscor did not exist as more than a village to pass through on his way to the large city, but once he reached Veilstone, he discovered that a little over four years ago a swarm of gliscor flooded the city during the heaviest of the windy season. Just like it had happened in his dream.

However, as most things happened in this 'real' world, anything that was an issue that couldn't be solved with words, was quickly solved with aggression. The pokemon were driven out of the city— _those_ that were left alive. Once he asked where the gliscor might have gone from there, he was informed they hadn't been seen inhabiting the Sinnoh region in years.

With a heavy heart, Ash left the city, moving to Sunnyshore City, where he believed he would find buizel, who thrived for battles about as much as Ash and pikachu did. The pokemon was originally captured near Eterna City, but upon seeing the harrowing appearance of the forest and surrounding area—he believed that buizel would be further east.

Trying to find his pokemon was more than remembering where he caught them now, he also checked where they had most of their memories, where he felt that they would go upon having no place else to go. Simply put, Ash found his way to Sunnyshore City because the brisk city was found right before the championship league, and if his pokemon were anywhere—they would be here. Buizel was a battler, and infernape was..

Well, when Ash caught chimchar, the pokemon was never really his. The fire-ape pokemon belonged to Paul before it joined Ash and his companions—which meant, essentially, he had no idea where to begin his search. However, since Sunnyshore city was the start of their final into the Sinnoh league, he hoped the two of them would have found their way to the city center, or at least, some place near.

Resting from his long journey, Ash was seated in a cafe on main street, rummaging through his prepared letters, and reminiscing on his failed journey thus far. How was it possible that in a week, he found charizard, bulbasaur, and the remains of squirtle, but in a month, he couldn't find a single one of his companions from the Sinnoh region?

With a heavy heart, he found himself seeking advice from strangers—about any strange pokemon, which led him to the cafe. He found that people accepted strangers easier in diners, pubs, and markets than they did in any pokemon center he had visited along the way. Outside of the pokemon center, when people saw pikachu, they would gush over the lovable rat, which helped Ash prod for questions. His secret weapon, however, was togepi.

Who could deny Ash's questions when he held such an _adorable_ pokemon? Even if Ash looked scraggly and worn from the weather outside; his messy hair long enough to tie into a low pony tail and his face permanently weather worn; togepi's innate charm never faltered to garner him the information that he sought.

Pinning for such a strategy, he took a table in the middle of the cafe, near the bustle of the guests, in the eye of the barista—that way, he could see and hear anything of interest.

Ash found that unlike Kanto, Sinnoh, outside of the cold, poor weather, was a much nicer place. Trainers of all kinds were friendlier, coordinators that he saw weren't quite as mean as they were in Kanto, and battlers seemed to be fond of their time spent in city centers—along with that, the region seemed to have top coordinators and champions placed in the same category—pure contrast to that of Kanto, where coordinators barely had a voice, let alone a large one.

The make matters even worse, h _er_ name kept coming up, _Dawn Matthew_ s.

 _"We can thank Dawn and her mother for this."_

 _"Dawn is the reason we managed to come this far_ "

To put it simply, Sinnoh was the safe haven for coordinators all around the world. After the events of five years ago where a few riots put an end to major coordinator inequality, Sinnoh became the hope of coordinators. If the northern country could so easily accept and thrive with top coordinators and champions batting eye to eye, couldn't the rest of the world as well? Truthfully, it was finally nice to be an area where admitting he was a battler wasn't met with scrutiny.

People had Dawn to thank for this, the voice an entire group of wrong coordinators. Even though Ash didn't know _this_ world's Dawn, he wouldn't put such a movement past the courageous, determined woman. Even in his dreams she placed contests and fair treatment above all else, and he doubt that would have changed in this world. He snickered, writing carelessly his thoughts into a note with the words "Cole" scrawled at the top. Misty and Dawn might not have gotten along initially, but they had more in common than they both thought.

As he wrote, the waitress who had taken his order a few minutes ago circled back to his table with a questioning gaze. Her wide, brown eyes blinking at his own.

"Uhm, no, the last time we heard about a buizel was in Pastoria City, but that was a few months ago—I'm sorry." The young waitress told Ash as she returned with his small basket of fries and ketchup.

Quietly, Ash sipped his water after tossing a quick thanks, and then scoot the ketchup to pikachu—who in his fit and lean disposition was hardly awarded the ability to snack. When Ash allowed him too, he all but gorged himself. The small mouse had come a long way from plump to lean, and Ash wasn't so sure letting him snack all the time was a good choice.

Togepi, much like his mo— _ehem-_ Misty, sighed upon watching the rodent slurp the sauce bowl of ketchup with glee as the egg chose to gnaw on the pokemon food Ash gave them earlier. Togepi hadn't stopped training, it was because of its shape and form an average battler at best—against some of the easiest pokemon it could be damaged, but that didn't stop the egg from trying. It was admirable, and had it not been for his pokemon, charizard, bulbasaur, togepi and pikachu's, fellow determination to find their lost companions, Ash might have already give up.

Slumping into his chair to think about where to go next, Ash didn't bother with the fries, they were the cheapest item on the menu and Ash felt rude if all he ordered was a water and took up space. However, he had no intention of eating, if not because his hands were busy, then because he found that fries were uneasy on his stomach—a draw back to sleeping for ten years, he supposed.

Which sucked because they were delicious. His eyes drifted barely to pikachu, who sneaked two fries from the tray, and Ash's stomach rumbled.

While his companions ate, Ash turned out his list which was now stapled to the inside of a notebook, and started to write down the information he received in this town regarding pokemon, as well as buizel and gliscor. He made a note to return to Eterna Forest once the snow cleared to look for tuterra once more. He scratched off a name, lost in thoughts as a body scoot into the seat opposite his.

"For someone as cute as you, you look pretty serious." A feminine voice cooed to him, alerting his senses as he looked forward to stare at her with a blush covering his cheeks as he closed his journal bashfully.

"Hi." he said weirdly, the girl smiled.

"Hi!" She said back and then tapped the cover of his journal. "Are you a pokemon researcher or something?"

"A researcher?" He glanced down at his notebook as he retracted it back to his chest and laughed nervously. "Ah, no. I'm just looking for some pokemon."

"Specific pokemon? Are you one of those elite trainers that only want certain types?" her eyes spun to togepi and pikachu, who felt their meal had been interrupted and shared a look with Ash.

"No, just certain pokemon." Ash reiterated, smiling warmly. The heat of his face faded as the girl sat back.

"Well, you look well traveled, that's for sure." she gestured to Ash's worn clothes. He grimaced, feeling the building hole in his right knee, and the tear on the collar of his shirt. Instinctively, he covered them with his hands.

The woman continued, "We don't see many travelers anymore. Especially not this time of the year. Don't you get cold?"

A little slow to notice, Ash watched her nose scrunch up, the way her hazel eyes winked at him. Her bubble gum pink hair became very apparent, her curls bobbed as she moved her head to gesture at him with a curt, diligent nod. Her arms were crossed just below her chest, pushing on her assets, though Ash hardly noticed as he sucked in air and then offered a smile, a brighter one. He knew this woman.

"What's your name?" Ash muttered quickly. "I'm Ash." He added, goading himself for not including his last name.

The woman smiled cheerfully. "Oh, dear me. How rude." She said, rubbing her head. "I'm Ursula."

 _Called it._ He thought to himself with a grin, sitting back in his chair and rubbing the under part of his nose.

Ash knew her, o _f cours_ e he knew her—she was one of Dawn's greatest rivals—and she had stumbled upon him sitting in the cafe. For awhile after he woke up, faces seemed to blend together, but now that he was actively trying to recall his dreams, he was recognizing more and more. This included seeing old trainers he knew.

"It's nice to meet you." he grumbled honestly, trying to sound less tired than his body was.

"Well, Mr. Ash, is there a pokemon I can help you find?" She winked at him, sliding her body forward more. Ash sat backwards, a bit stunned by her coercive nature. Unlike Misty, who was rather conservative, Ursula was _there_ and Ash rubbed his face to hide his embarrassment.

"A buizel, or a chimchar? Preferably ones that are known to be good battlers... Have you heard anything about that." Ash asked, keeping his anywhere but on her. Togepi chirped beside him, insinuating that he was being rude, but pikachu was chuckling like a mad pokemon, enjoying the strange situation.

Ash Ketchum, though over the last three months had his share of fawning women, did not handle being 'hit on' well. It was awkward, and nerve wracking; and simply weird, he didn't understand girls in his dreams—and that hadn't lessened since his time being awake. Growing accustom to it was something he would doubtfully ever enjoy or understand. Sure, he had been told he was 'easy on the eyes' by Misty's sisters before, but never had he imagined it to resonant to the real world. He was messy, and dirty, and typically covered in bruises and torn clothes—how was that attractive? His face twitched, listening to the chime of his pokemon laughing once again.

She tapped her long fingers on the table, and pursed her lips, clucking her tongue at him. "A buizel, huh?" she tucked a strand of pink hair behind her ear, and apparently getting the sign that Ash was uninterested, she sat back thoughtfully.

"You know, I heard of there being one by Sandgem town, near Twinleaf Town; do you know that area?"

Ash's ears perked up. "Yeah I do." He smiled, and she seemed to brighten upon seeing the tongue of his lips.

"Well, if you head that way there was a swarm of buizel there—supposedly strong one, but that was a couple of months ago. I think a group passed through Pastoria City a few few weeks ago..." She started and Ash nodded his thanks.

"That's what the waitress said. Thank you." he grinned, digging in his pocket for some change. He dropped it onto the table, and like clock work, pikachu and togepi were on his shoulders in seconds.

She looked astonished. "you're leaving already?" She mused, blinking wildly.

"I have a lot of catching up to do. Thanks though, Urusla!" He offered chipper, slinging his back pack on while simultaneously slipping his journal back into his pack.

 **XOXs**

With yet another goal in mind, he set out for Pastoria after stopping near the post office to drop in over-due letters to the Cerulean City gym. Some were directed to Brock, and others to Cole—Misty was always really good about getting them to their proper destination, since Ash had little ability to do that on his own.

It had been a month since he last spoke with the red-head; off and on he had called Gary to check on his license, but did so rarely, as to not drive the professor insane. Gary was still getting used to the idea that Ash _wasn't_ dead. That didn't excuse calling him at 2am, though.

Ash was still struggling with time zones.

And... feelings. He knew her number. He had it memorized, but when he went to dial it; he panicked—a simple "Hi, how are you doing?" Didn't seem to suffice in his mind. He had been gone for a little under three months, and he had nothing to show for it. It was silly, at least that's what pikachu and togepi told him, but he didn't want to call her unless he had good news, and it was becoming a reoccurring feeling—wanting to call her at every city, but convincing himself not to.

With his train of thought obscured, he almost missed her; the flash of blue hair tied back into a high ponytail, a pair of pink high-waist shorts over black tights matched with a red, snow jacket and pink scarf. Key word; almost.

He hadn't expected to see _Dawn_ here, he had _hoped_ he would see her outside of the television, but he never thought he really would. She was incognito, blending into the crowd to avoid stares—but he would notice those blue eyes anywhere, across any distance.

His body stiffened greatly, pikachu's did as well as trainer and pokemon walked with the same conclusion in their minds. Slowly, her body turned, as if noticing his piercing gaze, and for a moment, a brief, passing moment; she almost seemed to recognize him—a small smile curling on her lips before dropping off.

It was only for a split second, maybe not even for that long, but he made eye contact with her from across the street before she returned to her business, minding the bag she carried in front of her person.

"Pikaka!" The pokemon cried, yelling after the blue haired coordinator before Ash could snag the pokemon from his shoulder and muzzle the pikachu with the palm of his hand, embarrassed that the small pokemon would call after her like that. Caught up in defending his pride, unable to deal with another let down like Brock; Ash hadn't been paying attention to where he was going, and walked flat into the back of another male.

A much taller male, with cold, dark eyes, and dusty purple hair.

"Watch where you're going." The the abrasive trainer pushed Ash away from him roughly, as the latter hadn't fallen over comically. Ash staggered back, rubbing his chest where pikachu hoped down. Eyes bouncing in his skull for a moment, he took some time to focus, and when he finally saw the scowling man before him, his jaw locked and his lips flattened.

"Sorry." Ash murmured, watching his gaze for a moment. It came as no surprise that the purple haired man was sizing Ash up. His onyx eyes looked over togepi, over pikachu and finally, on Ash before he snorted in retort.

"Pfth, worthless." Without a second thought, the man turned away, his hair flipping as he marched from Ash. However, Ash's blood was boiling already, insulted.

"Worthless!?" Ash hissed. "Who are you calling worthless?" He shouted after the man who twisted back around at Ash's rise—as if questioning with his mind if Ash was stupid.

"That's no way to talk to an Elite Four member." He paused. "Do you know who I am?" He asked, almost sardonically, unable to understand why he was bothering with such a runt of a trainer. Ash didn't back down though, instead a mischievous grin played on his lips.

"Yeah, _Paul_." The words rolled off his tongue like venom, and Paul reeled back.

"So you know who I am and you still act like this in public, are you damaged?"

Red flashed in Ash's eyes, and he had to breath to let the air out of his lungs slowly. His fists clenched and togepi and pikachu were no stranger to the rise of anger; both were ready to battle... but that wouldn't be necessary. Really, he had no reason to hold a grudge over this world's Paul. Infact, running into him couldn't have been better. Ash exhaled calmly.

"It's actually a good thing I found you. Did you ever own a chimchar?" The raven-haired boy asked softly.

Paul snorted once more, "Why is that any of your concern."

Ash backed off while raising his hands to deter his anger, to sedate it. "It's just a question. I'll leave once you answer it." Ash mused tiredly, their spat having drawn the attention of some passersby.

Paul rolled his eyes effortlessly. "I _had_ one, once. The _thing_ was so weak I got rid of it years ago."

Ash's rage, which had been calm until that pointed turned monstrous. It didn't matter if Paul was an Elite Four member. " _Got rid of it_? And you're an Elite Four member? It's no wonder everything in the world is messed up if you're what they let in!" Ash barked, stomping his foot into the ground, beside him, pikachu let out a squeak of agreement.

"Excuse me?" Paul hissed, eyes narrowed from anger. Somehow, the unknown trainer in front of him managed to get under his skin.

"You heard me. It's good to know that no matter where I go, you still treat pokemon like _shit_." Ash swore venomously, clicking his tongue in anger. Quickly, Paul reached forward, as if prepared to grab Ash, or punch him. Ash wasn't sure, but he moved back accordingly to avoid the strike, only to find it never landed.

"I think that's enough." Another, smooth male voice boomed between them. Ash saw strands of green hair below a black toque, as another figure moved forward to separate Ash and Paul.

"Yeah Paul, calm down. You're not god just because you're an Elite Four member now." her voice hit Ash like a wrecking ball as his senses came tumbling back to him; staring at the back of Dawn who mockingly crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at Paul's back as he cursed below his breath and promptly turned away—a battle averted.

Ash blinked innocently, unsure of what had just happened—he was sure that he would have gotten punched had it not been for Dawn and the green haired man in front of him. To be frank, for having such a reaction to someone he _technically_ didn't know; he probably deserved it.

"You have an knack for speaking out where ever you go, don't you?" The green haired man chuckled, flipping the strands of his hair enough for Ash to recognize the lime-green eyes and matching hair; Drew. From Hoenn. He thought the boy from the pokemon center had been familiar, only now did he remember why. He blinked several times, looking between Dawn and Drew who made faces at one another temporarily.

"Oh relax, we both know Paul has a stick up his ass anyways. He probably said something to egg you on, no?" Dawn's words slowly fell to Ash, who inhaled and nodded.

"...yeah." He started weakly. "Something like that." he added bashfully, since he couldn't very well admit what Paul really was to him. A former rival, a coma-patient dream; then again, he was speaking to the all-famous Dawn and former rival of May, Drew.

What was his luck today?

"It's a good thing we decided to stop in Sunnyshore on our way to the league meeting after all, eh, Drew?" Dawn asked, disregarding Ash's comment. Drew shrugged, having no removed his eyes from Ash. "Saving peoples lives."

"I suppose." Drew clucked his tongue at Ash. "What brings you all the way to Sinnoh?"

Ash stammered momentarily, habitually taking togpei into his arms, just as something to entertain his hands so he wouldn't fumble. "Ah, I'm just looking around."

"I heard you ask about Paul's chimchar." Drew cut shrewdly in, and Ash recoiled.

"Ooooh. His chimchar. How did you know about him?" Dawn questioned with a smile and under both of their overly-kind, charismatic personalities, Ash almost shattered.

"...I...was just curious." he coughed, while pikachu face palmed at his weak delivery.

"If you're going to lie, do it better than that." Drew mocked, smirking. "The last time I saw you, you were traveling with that red-head gym leader from Kanto, and now you're fighting with an Elite Four member in Sinnoh?"

Dawn's pure joy and entertainment seemed to simmer down, and she scowled. "Red head? You mean Misty?" She questioned unimpressed, her entire mood having switched. "Are you in cohorts with Misty Waterflower?"

"Ahh.." Ash started, taking a step back, suddenly feeling like he traded Paul for pokemon investigators. He didn't know which was worse."Uhmm.."

"You're scaring him." Drew mocked, watching Dawn's temperament lower slowly as he scowled. For a moment, his mind stopped; stunned at the absolute disbelief that his dreams were stretching to fit so far north. He inhaled, and steadied his feet calmly.

"My name is Ash Ketchum, and yes, I'm friends with Misty, the Cerulean City gym leader. I'm traveling to new regions to find some old pokemon that I knew, and Paul's chimchar is a relative of the chimchar I had many years ago." A lie, sort of.

His calm, collected, almost confident voice drew both of the coordinators attention; Dawn's jaw locked visibly, as if unable to collect the correct words to appreciate what he had just said, while Drew seemed to relax.

"You're not here to start up drama between coordinators and battlers?"  
"No. But you didn't seem to have a problem doing that in Pewter City." Ash countered a bit hastily, Drew put up his hands in defense.

"I apologize." he rushed with a brief sigh. "I'm Drew Shuu, a top coordinator from Hoenn. I was passing by at the time and over stepped my boundaries." he then looked at Dawn, who rolled her eyes.

"I'm Dawn, but you probably already knew that." she scoffed. "For one reason or another."

Immediately after, she glared between the two males. "You two know each other?"

Ash rubbed his neck nervously, and smiled at them. "...so, do either of you know where Paul's chimchar is?" he asked, desperate to change the conversation. Dawn pursed her lips.

"Well, sort of. There's a pokemon pound just at the edge of town, if you're lucky, it might be there."

Ash tried not to let the joy fill his eyes, to get his hopes up; but the shared inhale of appreciate between him and his pokemon was enough to bring a smile to Dawn's face.

"Can I get that address from you, and I'll just be on my way?" He asked quickly, shocking the two coordinators.

"That's it?" they spoke in unison.

Confused, Ash rubbed his neck. "What's it?"

"Most people who meet Dawn want an autograph... or something." Drew murmured while crossing his arms skeptically at Ash's behavior.

"And _most_ people who are saved from being pummeled say _thank you_."

Ash's face turned red and he laughed nervously. "oh, right. Thank you."

Still, the coordinators looked at Ash as if he had grown horns from his forehead, he could feel the build up of sweat on his neck and he shuddered. "I just...you know. I'm not interested in autographs—I mean, cool congratulations on being top coordinators, but that's..." He started off, looking at Dawn who seemed confused the most by his response.

"And what about Misty?"

"What about Misty?" Ash asked quickly, a little to quickly. Dawn licked her lips.

"She didn't say anything to you?"  
"...Not really. Why would she?" Ash asked, blinking. "But now that you mention it, would you care to explain what happened between the two of you?"

The blush that covered Dawn's face was impeccable, and she crossed her arms over her chest protectively. "It's nothing. Never mind." She said quickly, glancing away from Ash who appeared as confused as he was when the conversation had started.

"The top coordinator and Gym leader rivalries, you don't know anything about that?" Drew asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Ash shook his head.

"Very little, if I'm honest." Ash said quickly. "Misty didn't see the point in speaking about the situation since she thought it would be best to move forward from it...or something like that." He glanced down to togepi, who had been present for many of Ash's conversations with Misty about the topic during his stay in the gym, and the pokemon purred its agreement.

A small smile tucked onto Dawn's lips. "She did, huh?" she said under her breath so quietly, Ash almost didn't hear it. Seconds later, she slapped him on the arm and wrapped another one around Drew's shoulder in such a way a sister would.

"I like you, kid. So we're going to take you to that pound."

Sparkles formed in Ash's eyes. "Really?"

"We don't have time for that." Drew hissed, but Dawn cheerfully pushed the boys forward.

"Nonsense, we will make time!"

 **XOXS**

On their way to the pound, Dawn explained 'humbly' how she and her mother reshaped the Sinnoh regions view of pokemon coordinators. Unlike other regions, Sinnoh had a near equal level of power granted to both their top coordinators and their Elite Four members. Sinnoh, as Ash had assumed earlier, was a safe haven for neutral trainers. Drew was there to talk about new contests in Hoenn, which was a struggling island to the far south. They told Ash about the Elite Four, how they still call most of the shots, set most of the rules just like in Kanto, the only difference is that the top coordinators of Sinnoh have to agree and sign off on the changes, that way, contests get equal funding as tournaments.

"Why can't other regions follow that?"

"Because they're too backwards, most of the Elite Four refuse to admit change is needed." Dawn sung cheerfully, her sing-song voice carrying pikachu like a rag doll was enough to send Ash into his own make-believe past. "So while Paul can be a righteous asshole, he did believe in assisting with the process of creating equality for all trainers—he was the only new Elite Four member willing to bend the rules."

"He still treats his pokemon terrible..." Ash muttered, unimpressed at hearing praise for the trainer. Drew shrugged.

"That's just how it goes. Not everyone believes that pokemon should be companions as much as they need to be effective in battle." Drew commented, tapping his toes against the ground as they came to a stop.

Ash stared at the large building, almost the size of a normal prison. Or, at least the prisons he saw on television.

"...what is this place?" He hissed, watching the lumbering building. Dawn and Drew made a noise behind him.

"A pokemon pound. Haven't you seen one before?"

"...Never." Ash mused weakly.

"It's where pokemon unwanted by gym leaders, trainers, and others go. _Defective_ pokemon if you will. They were made mandatory after all of that nonsense with Giovanni stealing his students pokemon."

"Can't they just release them back into the wild..?" Ash asked, staring at the large, metal fences. In his arms, he felt togepi coil back into his egg due to frustration, and pikachu squirmed out of Dawn's arms.

"They could, but that can lead to over population—it's easier if they charge trainers." Drew said and Ash shuddered.

"...charge?"

"This is a pokemon pound, you have to pay for the pokemon you want here." Dawn quipped negatively, as if it were the simplest of news. Ash's stomach churned at the thought, trying to hide his disgust with a forced smile.

"I see..." He grunted painfully, eyes turning back to the tall structure. "Why would anyone send a pokemon here..."

"It's not usually by choice." Dawn assured him, clapping him on the shoulder to straighten his back. For a moment, he looked back at her as if he had known her forever, though the same look did not resonance in her eyes.

"Anyways, we need to get to our meeting, so it was nice meeting you. I hope you find the pokemon you're looking for." Dawn said while dusting off her hands. Drew gave him a weak smile.

"It was nice meeting you again. On better terms." he said and Ash nodded slowly.

"You guys are leaving so quickly." he muttered pathetically, getting a look from the two few them.

"A fan already?" Dawn taunted, and Ash pursed his lips.

"No, just... it seems like I-" He stopped himself, blushing awkwardly. "Never mind." he added, scratching his cheek. In return, Dawn and Drew waved. _Do you know who I am?_ He wanted to ask Dawn and Drew, but if they had known—they would have said something, wouldn't they? Better to not make himself look crazy in a new region. His face soured as he looked down pathetically and sighed.

"Take care, Ash." Dawn muttered, and he watched them descend the hill they had just climbed with a sort of pained look.

"Toge, briii." The egg emerged, looking at the fading bodies of Drew and Dawn while Pikachu sighed pathetically beside Ash. "Pika." it added it's sentiments, together telling Ash that maybe he should have told Dawn about his dreams the same way that he told Brock.

"...No, it's okay." Ash said while glancing down at the two of them. "I've already gotten Brock and Misty in trouble for sharing my dreams. I think it would be best that we don't tell anyone right away." Ash hummed as he turned slowly back to the pound where the steel gates mocked him effortlessly.

 **XOXS**

The place was huge, holding well over three hundred different pokemon. The staff looked and acted like prison employees, and they were about as nice to talk to as a cactus was to hug. He clung to togepi, assuring the baby pokemon that it was fine, while pikachu, as well, huddled near Ash's neck as closely as possible.

Whether this place was the 'better' alternative or not, it gave Ash the chills.

"We have thirty one chimcharrs in stock. Would you like to pick by level or age?" Ash's face scrunched up at the dull man's question. He looked at Ash from across a clipboard, and apparently missed Ash's clear disgust from beneath his glasses because he started to repeat the question when Ash shook his head.

"Neither. I want to see them." Ash muttered angrily, causing the man to shrug.

They walked down a few paths that lead into a grayer cell, a darker cell where he could hear the sound of whining pokemon—more than that, he could _understand_ them. His heart ached tremendously, listening to their moans of agony, their want to be free. His shoulders stiffened, unable to believe such a place existed—seven months awake, and Misty _never_ told him about this. Did Kanto have these things as well? Was this the reason Misty was adamant that Ash only send her pokemon that were water types, otherwise, the league 'takes' the rest?

He felt sick, as he marched to the _pin_ where a house of chimchar sat huddled together in a cell hardly big enough for ten of them, let a lone thirty. They didn't seem so kind when they saw Ash, and his heart nearly snapped as he put his fingers up to the cage.

"Don't get so close. I am not liable for any injuries you sustain." The man mocked as another group of people walked behind Ash, a small girl talking about getting a 'pet'. This was _normal_. Impounding pokemon and selling them like cattle was _normal_.

"Chimchar? Is there a chimchar here who knows an Ash?" He asked abruptly, getting a look from the man who was showing him around. He obviously thought Ash was crazy until the monkey pokemon in the corner sat up—a raged, torn chimchar that slowly moved from the corner of the cell, away from younger pokemon of the same kind, and towards Ash.

No words were passed when the pokemon's black hand was pressed against Ash's fingers which reached through the bars, and it let its head rest against his finger tips, where Ash scowled bitterly, watching the all but defeated pokemon.

"I'll get you outta here, buddy." Ash said silently to the pokemon which slowly had tears form in its eyes as Ash rose to his feet and exhaled loudly.

"Did you decide then?" The man asked hoarsely, and Ash sighed, his fists trembling.

"Do you have a buizel here? A staraptor, or tuterra? Maybe a gliscor?"

The man seemed stunned by the dark tone Ash displayed with his questions, and flipped through the electronic touch-screen clipboard.

At least the discover of 'pounds' would make it easier to search areas. How disgusting.

 **XOXS**

In the end, Ash's buizel wasn't there, neither were his other three pokemon. More than likely, buizel, who had a devoted passion for battles had already found another trainer—and if that was the case, Ash would be more than happy for the poekmon. However, he needed to focus on getting chimchar out of that pound, and he wasn't exactly carrying around five hundred dollars.

So, as he did in any and all situations where he ran into a brick wall; he tried to reach Misty.

"Hey, Misty." He said bitterly as she answered the phone—his nervous were shot.

"Ash! Hey! It's been a long time! How are you?" She hummed chipper from her side of the line, and Ash swallowed hard. Her cheerful voice wasn't enough to pull the chill from his soul after walking into a pound.

"...I'm ah..." He started and shivered. "I need a favor."

She paused for a brief moment, questioning the sound of his voice. "Are you okay? Did something happen?" She asked quickly, concern lacing her words.

"No." he lied, "I just..." he stopped. "I found a pokemon pound today."

A long pause from her end had Ash checking if she had disconnected, and she shuffled to hold the phone to her ear. "I'm sorry you had to see that." Misty mumbled, and Ash could feel the pain in her voice.

"Yeah. Me, too."

"Are one of your pokemon there?"

"...Yeah."

"They're not horrible, Ash. They're...a little over ran, and a little dark, but the pokemon aren't injured..." She tried to justify them and something in Ash snapped.

"It's not okay, Misty! They're terrible!" He shouted, and Misty coiled.

"...I know. I'm sorry." She muttered solemnly, and Ash inhaled, and exhaled.

"Can I borrow five hundred dollars from you?"

"Yes." She said instantly, much to Ash's surprise—is sour mood jarred quickly by her willingness.

"Really?"

"Do you need more? Is it just the one pokemon? Should I wire you more just in case you find others in other pounds?" he could hear her opening the tab of her bank information on her phone as she spoke, and Ash grasped for the correct words to say.

"N-no, that's okay." he stammered, awestruck by her kind gesture.

"I'll send extra just in case." She offered, catching his hesitation. Ash cracked a smile and pinched the bridge of his nose gratefully.

"Thank you." he hummed, and then suddenly, Misty's gentler voice graced his ears.

"No," She stopped him, humming on her end calmly. "Thank you, Ash. Seriously. _For everything_."

While his mind was elsewhere, namely on getting chimchar out of that facility, he was sucker punched in the stomach at her words, and felt a wave of embarrassment on his face as he grinned slightly.

"What did I do?" He asked anxiously, hearing a chuckle from her side.

"I'll tell you later. In the mean time, go get your pokemon. Have you found any outside of the ones you told me about last time?" She asked suddenly and Ash felt a bit of relief as he rocked togepi on his lap and smiled at the pokemon.

"No..." he said sadly. "but I'm not giving up yet."

"Good." She said quickly. "just be careful."

"I will be."

Suddenly, her demeanor changed, into more of a frivolous tone as she shuffled through some documents. "Also," she added, getting Ash's attentions and dragging his thoughts away from his astonishment.

"Gary called. He said that he is now able to license you." She said honestly and Ash grinned,

"Really?" He half shouted, jumping in the phone booth.

"Yeah, he also informed me that you call him _much_ more than you call me." She mocked him, getting a nervous rise from Ash. "It's not like I fed or clothed you or anything."

Ash snorted in response, his mood lightened. "Jeeze, Mist. You're not my mom."

"At this rate I should be." She added snappily back.

"Ahh, don't say that. That makes this weird."

A pause.

"Makes _what_ weird?" She asked suddenly, cutting the silence. Ash's face fell, turning red form his head to his toes.

"Ah—uh, I don't know?" He grunted, confused by his own selection of words, his heart reminded him that he was living by the constant ramming it made against his chest. Misty hummed in delight.

"Really?"

"I...I need to go!" He said quickly, and then not so gently slammed the phone on the receiver with wide eyes and a jump.

He huffed from outside of the phone booth, clasping his heart. In his jump, togepi had rolled off of his lap and onto the floor with a thump while pikachu offered a very knowing 'cha' while crossing it's small arms.

Without speaking about the incident, Ash ran his hands down his face and shook his head violently.

"Let's just go get chimchar." he said, while digging through his pockets for his gym card, his feathers obviously ruffled.

 **XOXS**

Obtaining chimchar wasn't the problem that Ash was met with next, the man was accommodating enough; he was able to collect chimchar for a _small fee_ of five hundred dollars. Ash was even able to leave the pound without feeling like the world was ending. Chimchar explained that Paul, as he did in Ash's dream, abandoned him—but the pokemon had no place to go outside of the pound, so it was there, waiting for Ash—because deep down, he knew the trainer had to be real.

And Ash was.

...And in the same way that Ash was real, he was _really_ reckless and stupid sometimes, too.

At the top of the hill where he pulled off a black ski mask and stared in awe at his handiwork, Ash could feel his face twitching—begging him, asking him, what in the world he had just allowed his pokemon to do. The fires burned high, higher than that of route eight, he was sure, sitting at the edge of Sunnyshore, along the side of the ocean; the compound which held pokemon that should be wild was burning to the ground in one giant blaze.

Not only that, he knew that even though he was _no where_ near the scene of the crime; it wouldn't take long for Misty to deduce the culprit... Considering there was a stampede of pokemon currently fighting their way into the forests, ocean, and where ever else they could go. Ash _might_ have allowed pikachu to fry the generators after closing... and he _might_ have allowed charizard to rain fire down on top of the high, gray walls. Said disruption might have even caused a mass hysteria and disruption of an official league meeting. He might not have even thought about what would happen to him if Drew and Dawn managed to put two and two together to realize that he was the one who decided that complete _annihilation_ of the dark impound was the correct solution for such a place.

...but he wouldn't have a problem _explaining_ all of that to Misty, right? She would understand.

Brushing his hand against his face where a bit of soot had collected, he took off into the forest with pikachu and togepi and a rather joyous chimchar at his feet.

Maybe it would be safer to avoid Misty for the next century; considering that she would hear about this.

And she would _know_.

He was probably safer if he stayed to talk with the cops. Regardless, Ash didn't regret his decision. He just saved over three hundred pokemon who were being held in absolute captivity. Pokemon weren't like normal animals, they managed just fine on their own without people—Ash knew that even before he was in a coma. Pokemon did _not_ need to be held captive, it was cruel.

...Oh man, he hoped he wouldn't have to explain that to Misty.

 **XOXS**

The teal haired woman watched the news from her office in the assisted living home with a gaping mouth, shoulders slumped forward as she watched the headline "the destruction of the Sunnyshore pokemon compound". Speculation pointed to 'freedom fighters' though she thought she had an idea who it was. Only sixty of the freed pokemon had been captured once again, but the rest returned peacefully to their natural homes.

When her phone rang, she swore to herself as she rolled to the land line and inhaled.

"Hello?"

"Abby." The shrewd voice of Dr. Sebastian answered her, and she inhaled.

"What can I do for you?" she answered calmly, licking her lips generously and biting them.

"That incident in Sinnoh. Was that boy involved? The boss isn't going to be happy to hear an _entire_ compound was burned to ashes."

"Ah, I don't believe so."  
"Well you better be _sure_. And soon. I want this taken care of." he paused. " _NOW."_

She shuddered. "Yes, sir." She grunted, slumping in her chair as the click of the call ended waved from the other side. With a sigh, she rolled and ran her hand through her hair where she saw beady black eyes staring at her in the hallway. Dr. Abby watched the lumbering old woman, who gave the young therapist a long, wired look, before slipping away.

Agatha retracted from her position in the hallway, and Dr. Abby inhaled like a fish out of water before pinning for her phone once more to call the next best solution for Ash;

Misty.

 **Author's note:**

Quickly, I don't doubt that unwanted pokemon would be sent to a place like a pound. Secondly, I know that Dawn and Ash's reunion wasn't very...emotional, but I think Ash wouldn't want to freak her out; like he said. Haha, Yes, for those who asked that specific "Green haired" boy from Pewter City was dundundudn, Drew! Secondly, Paul. Ahh, Paul. Ash's world just got so much bigger.

Also, fireworks, anyone? Really, this kid sometimes. So, coincidentally, this runs on an old gag from the original series:

"Ash: I have everything under control!

Misty: Everything is on fire!

Ash: is it not supposed to be?

Misty: No!

Ash: Well the...I'll just be going then...

Brock: Oh kids."

So, in celebration of passing all of my exams and all of my classes (I was really, reaaaaaally worried about one of them) I've decided to binge write (is that right?) The next chapter will be up in 10-15 hours, followed hopefully by two more updates in the two days following that. NOTHING, and I mean _nothing_ beats stress quite the same way that a writing marathon does.

Goodbye school, hello freedom!

(cheers to the end of a semester -toasts-)

Enjoy.

P.S. I'm going to be editing older chapters; a special thanks to Third Fang who pointed multiple reoccurring errors. I edit better when I haven't stared at a chapter for three hours straight, so it's easier for me to edit once I've cleared my head. So, if you guys have seen anything up until this point that has really bothered you, please let me know so I can tackle those! Thanks in advance. :)

I'm thinking that once (if) this reaches 300 reviews I'll do like a tribute chapter or something, (A kiribian?) to show my appreciation? If so, what would you guys want to see? Pertaining to Locked Away, of course; given it doesn't have spoilers as well. If you guys think that's a good idea, let me know. Otherwise, I'll just keep updating as normal.

Also, thank you all for your patience during such a busy time -tears of joy- I'm so glad to have started summer vacation.

NINT


	26. Chapter 26: The Journey Pt1

**Locked Away, Chapter 26**

Maybe it was like his mom said after all; Ash was born to be a trouble maker. No matter where he went, or when he went there, he seemed to cause some mayhem, or destruction, or problem. Face palming as he snuggled into the warmth of his sleeping bag past Pastoria City, he cursed to himself mentally.

Misty's words kept flashing in his mind like a radar; y _ou could go to jail,_ or _you could die!_

Ash knew this, he really, honestly knew that these were consequences, and yet at the time, nothing anyone could have told him would have changed his mind. There wasn't a single consequence more important than freeing those pokemon. It wasn't like anyone was hurt during the process, the facility was most likely empty, and the pokemon escaped unharmed. Ash had done well, or so he thought.

...Yet the guilt ate at him more than exhaustion pulled at his eyelids.

Aside from Misty being mad at him, he put her in quite the predicament. If she was _ever_ connected to the fire, the league would surely frown upon that, especially if she didn't turn Ash in. Worst yet, he _knew_ that Misty wouldn't.

Glumly, he sat up rubbing his face and grabbing for his back in the darkness to fish out a flashlight and his notebook. Snapping a pen and rolling the notebook open, he started some half-sassed apology note, without out rightly saying "I did this". More than that, he allowed charizard to burn the place to the ground only _hours_ after she lent him thousand dollars for finding his pokemon. So he tried to apologize for that, and yet the only words he could think to phrase were:

 _"I wasn't thinking, and if I had been, I think I would have still done it."_

Because Ash was a lot of things, but a coward wasn't one of them. He wouldn't have been able to sleep at night after witnessing the stress those pokemon were under—maybe it wasn't so hard for other people, people who couldn't _hear_ them. But Ash could. He _understood them._ Those pokemon were all but happy, and this idea was only reinforced by chimchar, who had been stuck in his holding 'cell' for just under five years.

With the help of chimchar, Ash was able to draw a time line of events as well—according to chimchar, he didn't start developing _dreams_ of Ash until a bit before Paul removed him from his team. Charizard, bulbasaur, and pikachu remembered Ash for just over ten years; which meant that, regardless of the obscurity of his dreams—they were in some form of a time line.

Drawing a line, Ash wrote out the names of the regions, and then a rough guesstimate of the time he spent in each region in his dream. If Sinnoh had been under five years ago, that meant he spent just around the first five years of his coma traveling through Kanto, the Orange Islands, Johto and Hoenn, with Sinnoh, Unova and Kalos starting only five years ago. It was only a theory, but it made _some_ sense. He wouldn't know more until he was able to find more of his pokemon.

Rationally, from Sinnoh, the quickest route would be to head east to Unova, which was a part of a large, unexplored continent, where as Kalos was directly west, resting above Johto, but not quite as far North as Sinnoh.

However, because he needed to get a license anyways, his next destination would be the region of Johto, which was south west to Kanto, and only a short flight away from Gary's laboratory.

On top of that, Ash, while writing the time line of events and _attempting_ to write a letter to Misty, he decided that after checking in Pastoria City, he would head back south to Gary's laboratory. Ash would pick up his license so he could put chimchar, bulbasaur, and charizard into proper pokeballs; because right now, chimchar didn't have one, and was currently sleeping beside pikachu and togepi at the trunk of a tree.

Ash also had a sinking feeling that _sticking around_ the scene of a crime he _technically_ started might not be his brightest decision. Yes, he wanted to find buizel, not to mention that he hadn't even started to look for gible yet! But it seemed the longer he looked, the least likely it seemed he would find the pokemon. Besides, he knew that if he stayed in Sinnoh, it wouldn't take long for people to realize _he_ owned a charizard and _he_ just _happened_ to be in Sunnyshore the day that the compound was burnt down. People weren't oblivious; he would be caught in no time.

Thinking made his head hurt.

Everything had gotten so complicated over the last couple of days that he was only grateful to catch a short break where he could relax, sleep, and catch up with chimchar—however, now that he was sitting in the forest, he was restless.

Glancing once more at his sleeping pokemon, he sighed and tucked away his flashlight and journal and then pulled himself out of his blankets to step onto the frozen dirt path they had been sleeping on. Unlike Kanto, Sinnoh's cold weather kept most pokemon at bay in the forest, so he felt safe to wander around and clear his head.

Along with his growing list of arson, he had _thoughts_ and _weird_ feelings that kept popping into his head whenever a certain, _not-to-be-named because she would cause his head to implode for his most recent reckless, idiotic behavior_ , was brought up. It happened earlier with Dawn, in fact, he almost felt protective _of her_ , he cared about what happened, but more importantly, he didn't want Dawn to think that _she_ was a bad person. Again, the rapid beat of his heart reminded him sinfully that he had one, and his stomach lurched with a tingling sensation, mimicking the feeling of soft wings.

His knees buckled ever so gently, and he fell to a squat, where his left arm wrapped helplessly around his dancing stomach in a poor tempt to calm himself down. His right palm cradled his forehead and he groaned loudly.

Ash needed to focus on his goal; finding his pokemon, not having _thoughts_ weird, obscure, borderline inappropriate thoughts about his bed friend.

 _You'll make this weird_. He remembered his words and smacked his head before falling back onto the dirt where he stared up at the wispy sky with a loud sigh. He was already making it weird enough for the both of them.

 **XOXS**

As he made his way back to Pallet Town nearly three days later, his exhaustion had not subsided. Sleep was not Ash's friend during his time in Sinnoh; he had been spending every waking hour looking for buizel and traces of gible, only to come up empty handed at every turn. In the end, he determined that it was selfish to spend an excess amount of time on one pokemon—and he could always return later. He needed to, anyways, to look for tuterra once winter was over.

The flight to Kanto was a shorter one than Ash had recalled; traveling at day time was much nicer, since he had the clouds in his hair and could see the land below. The breeze, the smell of the trees as the end of January was setting to close brought a wave of nostalgia through his body as charizard swooped down right above the treeline outside of Pallet town. He could see in the distance the lab in the after noon sun, and his heart twisted.

The last time he had been to the laboratory was right after leaving the assisted living home, before staying at the Cerulean City gym. A part of him wondered if he should stop in to visit with the family that had moved into his old house but.. His face twisted; even the thought of it made his stomach churn.

Moments later, Ash landed on the outside of the lab with charizard gracefully landing with his wings spread outward onto the base of Gary's porch, where the man in question was standing in his lab coat, holding a coffee mug, with a clear look of disprovable on his face.

Ash didn't slide off the dragon, he barely even jumped—instead, he rolled, sliding painfully to the ground where he hopped up to look at Gary. Ash's clothes were more torn than they had been days prior, the bill of his hat was ripped on the sides; his jacket was nicked from obvious travel wear, and as chimchair, pikachu and togepi jumped from his shoulder and pack to stretch their legs, the growing twitch on Gary's face grew even larger. Where did he _find_ these pokemon?

"Hey Gary!" Ash said in a chipper tone, waving at the man as he unzipped the black winter coat. Ash pointed to his new companions he had gained since he started and smiled. "this is-"

"No. I don't want to know." Gary hissed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He _knew_ that Ash was only supposed to have a maximum of two pokemon, and yet here he was, being Ash. "The less I know the better." _The less he was accountable for_. Gary added shortly after with a loud sigh as he turned back into his house, not bothering to close the door as he shouted after Leaf.

"Leaf, Ash is back." he hollered into the distance as an innocent Ash, and _all of_ his pokemon followed the auburn haired man into his house; only, charizard didn't exactly _fit_.

The screen door cracked when Ash looked behind him, as Gary did.

"Put him away, Ash! For the love of-"

"Okay, okay!" Ash laughed nervously, tossing the unimpressed charizard an apologetic look as he returned the pokemon to its ball.

Suddenly, as Gary watched pikachu, togepi and chimchar take immediate comfort in the house while Ash tugged off his jacket to place on the coat hanger, Gary could feel veins pulsing on his forehead.

"Do you even think?!" He shouted. "Take your shoes of, you're filthy! You smell like you rolled around in mud!" he swat Ash, using a magazine in the same fashion the old professor used to get onto them when they were children.

"Go have a shower you smell like shit!" Gary hissed once more as he cornered Ash into the bathroom near the porch exit. Ash hobbled on one foot, tripping over his own feet as Gary slammed the washroom door closed behind him.

"It's not my fault!" Ash groaned pathetically as he heard Leaf laughing at Gary's antics. Behind the door, Gary grumbled, cursing his old friend for such behavior—though, a part of him wasn't surprised. Ash was worried about more than personal hygiene...but still..

He didn't even use the front door!

 **XOXS**

Ash didn't take long to shower, he used whichever soaps Gary had available and washed an impressive amount of dirt off of his body. Apparently forgoing pokemon centers for the last two weeks of his journey had been a mistake after all. He simply couldn't afford the outrageous prices trainers were supposed to pay to rent a room—he instead showered in open gyms when they were available, and occasionally if a nurse at a pokemon center took pity on his appearance, he could stay there for free.

Still, he had to admit that being clean was always preferred. When he stepped out of the shower, he gave little thought to his appearance. Unlike before when every curve and dip in his body felt uncommon and strange; he was used to his body now. He was used to the scars on his abdomen and the length of his constantly growing hair. Ash knew about his muscles, his dips, his bones; it was all familiar now. Contrast to how he used to think, it felt _normal_.

A knock came to the door and he wrapped a towel around his waist before shambling slowly to crack the door.

The eyes of Leaf stared back at him.

"I brought you a change of clothes. Gary said you were filthy." _but I'm sure he used a much nastier word_. Ash thought with a twitch of his eyebrow. He took the articles of clothing and smiled.

"Thanks, Leaf." Ash hummed, and watched her leave before shutting the door, and tossing the clothes on the counter top.

He finished drying, spending extra time to run the towel over his shoulder length hair, and then tugged on a large red t-shirt, and a pair of baggy jeans, courtesy of the Gary, who was a decent five inches taller than Ash.

In Ash's opinion, Gary still had a girlish temper, focusing more on Ash's appearance than the fact that he was alive and visiting. Chucklign Ash rolled his eyes at Gary's behavior. When they were kids, he would have given the older boy hell for acting like such a girl had Ash not been used to a familiar behavior from _another_ redhead... another redhead who was probably beyond words upset with him. Thinking about the event in Sinnoh, Ash slapped his forehead once again, and then collected his used towel and dirty clothes into a pile to remove from the washroom.

As he exited the bathroom, he saw Gary had put his pokemon the floor with a container of poke pellets, and was seated at his couch, sipping his coffee while Leaf sat beside him groaning about the weather. They looked so in sync, natural and snarky together. Like a puzzle piece that made him feel a bit nauseous. Ash watched them for only a moment before he blinked and smiled nervously.

"Where can I leave these?" He asked politely, and Leaf was to her feet once more.

"I'll show you, just follow me."

"He doesn't need to wash his clothes here!" Gary snipped, but Leaf snapped back at him, eyes narrowed.

"Shut up, Gary, it's only one load of clothes..." she paused as she pulled open the door to the hallway. Ash smiled broadly, grateful for her hospitality as opposed to Gary's, though she continued her speech. "Besides... he's technically homeless!"

Ash's head hung at the comment, he should have known better than to think Leaf wouldn't have the same snark as Gary. They were married after all, they had to have something in common. Gary was left laughing in the living room, and Ash blushed at her words. He wasn't _homeless!_

 **XOXs**

When introductions were finished, or in Ash's case, when the mockery regarding being filthy, under fed, and lacking in manners was finished, they spent the better part of the afternoon catching up. Gary talked about becoming the new pokemon professor for Kanto, mostly complaining about how much work there was, while Ash talked about Sinnoh, and the difference between the regions.

After their time catching up, and a short lunch, compliments of take-out. Gary brought Ash into the lab room where he rolled out a few files of paperwork, and slapped them in front of Ash.

"This is the paperwork you need to sign to verify that you are not some kind of terrorist." he pointed to the next one. "And this one you need to sign to verify you are who you say you are to the league. And finally, this one is to have access to your license."

"Okay." Ash muttered quietly, signing where Gary told him—only skimming the fine print, as he was sure Gary wouldn't try to swindle him for some reason. "I don't remember having to sign anything like this when we were kids." Ash hummed as he wrote his name on the last document. Gary shrugged in response.

"That's because pokemon trainers didn't have to. The league keeps tabs on all licensed trainers now though."

"What? Why?" Ash almost chuckled, thinking Gary was joking, but his stern look said otherwise.

Gary turned to his computer and clicked a few buttons as he plugged a pokedex into the computer. "They like to keep tabs on which type of pokemon are being caught, when, and where. Pokedex also have a built in tracker so if someone goes missing we can find them."

Now Ash snorted; "That doesn't seem to be working."

"I know." Gary snarled, and unplugged the red device, he folded it into a black case, and then slipped the gadget into Ash's hands; all business, with no small talk.

"This acts as a pokedex, phone, and browser. They're not usually issued to newly licensed trainers, but..." he paused, as if recalling a very unpleasant memory. "Misty is very persistent."

Ash laughed nervously at this, recalling her temper for himself; but more than that, her persuasiveness. He rubbed his neck and watched Gary press the 'on' button.

"It uses satellites from around the world to link you to the web in any location where you have signal, which will give you access to pokemon information and detail. If you somehow catch a new pokemon, the detail will be automatically recorded in your pokedex once the capture is made; which then gets sent to me, where I'll include it into the official database." Gary lifted the screen so that Ash could see, and flipped open a latch on the side. "To search for a pokemon, point this camera lens at it, and it will read off the pokemon information."

As and example, he pointed the object at pikachu, who appeared on the screen of the pokedex. Ash's mouth fell open in awe as Gary closed the lens with a button and pressed the touch screen. "As I said before, it doubles as a phone, but the reception isn't always the best. You can text, and call so long as you're within range of the Kanto satellite. Not only that, you can browse the internet for information you can't find by clicking here, and typing it into the search engine up here."

"Yeah, I know how to do that, Misty showed me."

He grunted, as if unimpressed by Ash's observation, and continued his spiel. "The pokedex keeps a constant live connection to your pokeballs, so if you ever need to transfer a pokemon, you can press the button in the corner to open that screen and switch the contents of your pokeballs without going to a pokemon center. Furthermore, it's a self charging pokedex and runs off a new chip invented by Silph Co. which means that if it dies, you only need to leave it in direct sunlight for a few minutes, and it will start to build power once more."

"That's crazy." Ash hummed, taking the technology from Gary's finger tips and examining it himself. It was smaller than his hand, as thin as a pancake, and possibly the most advanced technology Ash had ever held in his palms.

Gary waited a moment, his business persona passing as a smirking grin fell over his face.

"It's not a toy, either, Ash. Don't break it."

Ash scowled visibly. "I won't."

"So... wow, I can't believe you're traveling so soon already." Gary hummed, sitting back in his office chair. Ash thumbed the pokedex between his fingers and stared at Gary.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Well," Gary scoffed. "Aren't you with Misty, now? She was okay with you leaving?"

Ash blinked once, and then twice ad if Gary's words went directly over his head. With Misty? Sure, he was with Misty for a few months; why would that matter?"

"...so?"

"So you are?" Gary gasped, mouth falling open.

"Yeah, I'm with Misty, why does that matter?" Ash asked quizzically, and Gary snorted.

"How did you manage that?"

Ash blinked once, and then smiled innocently. "Well, because she took care of me, of course."

Gary's mouth hung open for a moment, as if secretly giving his nod of abolsute approval before he snickered. "Is that why she's been _calling_ me everyday since that explosion in Sinnoh, asking about you?"

Ash grew visibly very uncomfortably, fidgeting in his seat and wanting to crawl out of his skin.

"I have no idea why she would call about that."

"Really? Because the news recently said that a _charizard_ was caught fleeing the scene and you _own_ a charizard and you just came back from Sinnoh region." Gary deduced quickly, and Ash realized his snippy personality was entirely justifiable now. Ash rubbed his neck.

"Coincidence?" Ash manged weakly.

"The same way that it's coincidence that Misty keeps calling here, asking for you?"

"Possibly?" Ash squeaked, hearing his pokemon also stiffen at the remark Gary made. Pikachu not so carefully tucked togepi under a table and sat with the pokemon, as if the small object would protect them from the impending doom that would likely rain over their head when Ash spoke with Misty.

"She actually requested that when I see you, I should tell you to call her." Gary offered, watching Ash sweat bullets before grinning and snorting.

"But I think you'd be safer if you didn't call." Garry ruffled Ash's hair like a child with a snide chuckle. "You really know how to pick them, don't you?"

Ash felt his soul slowly leave his body as his shoulders slumped in gratefulness. "Thank you." He wheezed.

"Nope, instead I invited her here while you were in the shower." Gary said while taking a sip of his coffee. Ash's face paled instantly and he shot out of his chair.

"You didn't." he gasped, inhaling to calm his nerves. His hands trembled.

"I really did." Gary hummed, raising his eyebrows.

"You're joking."

"I am most definitely not." Gary said flatly, and Ash could see the serious nature of his face and shuddered.

"Why would you do that!?" He shrieked and Gary sighed. By fast train, Cerulean City wasn't even

"Ash, you burnt down a pokemon compound. She was pretty mad." Gary offered quietly, as if he, himself, was worried for his own sake, not only Ash's. "I wasn't going to be the one to keep that news away from her."

"You don't know that I did it." Ash panicked, grabbing his things while Gary watched comically.

"Yes I do. I've known you since we were kids." Gary said sardonically, watching Ash collect togepi and pikachu and then turn to the clock. Ash would buy pokeballs on the road, he could battle for money—he could move and change his name.

"Damn it, you didn't have to tell _her!_ "

"She already knew, she was calling me, wanting to know when you came to see me for your license so she could talk with you. She's reasonable, why are you freaking out so much?"

"Gary." Ash stopped, looking directly into Gary's hazel eyes. "Forget _everything_ she told you. She will _kill_ me."

"But you two are dating, she can't be _that_ mad."

"Dating-?" His face turned red as he gasped. "What? Where did you get that idea?"

Gary smacked his head, and pointed at Ash, "You said you were with her."

"...Yeah, _with_ her not like... like that! No!" Ash choked, slapping his face for missing Gary's meaning, Gary followed the same face palm and looked worriedly at Ash.

"When did you call her?" Ash asked, stuffing togepi into his backpack, as well as tucking his clean clothes into the largest pocket and throwing the entire case over his back.

"When you got here.. so a little over three hours ago."

Ash's face paled, mentally counting the time it would take for her to reach Pallet Town, and unwilling to think that she was _already_ here.

"Uh, Gary. You know. It was really nice to see you again but..."

Gary looked flabbergasted, eyes wide. "Are you just going to run?"

Weakly, Ash nodded with a squeak. "Yeah..."

"Wouldn't that make things worse?"

"...Yeah, but I choose life."

"She's not that bad, I'm sure." Gary tried, and Ash could only throw pity at his friend's unfamiliarity with the youngest Waterflower—he didn't have to live with her. When her temper flared, it was luckily never at Ash, but he saw it—he was a witness, and it was not pretty.

When a knock came to the door, Gary's attention was draw to it, but Ash's adrenaline ran through his entirely body and he raced through the second half of the house as if it had caught on fire. His legs carried him through the house, past the porch, and down the steps where he lunged charizard's pokeball out and carried chimchar in his arms. The ape pokemon never knew Misty, so it watched Ash quizzically as he hoped onto charizard's back without words.

"We need to leave." Ash hummed into the dragon's ear, and charizard, who was exhausted still from the flight into Pallet Town, could only grunt in response before kicking off the porch slowly.

"You're leaving already Ash?" Leaf called from the open window.

"Yep! Thanks for everything!" Ash called in a sort of panic while the brunette woman raised her eyebrows.

"Well, be safe!" Leaf said cheerfully. "And if you come to visit again, call first!" She added menacingly with a complete flip of her personality that made Ash question if all women were crazy, or if it was just the ones that _he_ knew.

He was twenty feet in the air when charizard took off over the forest towards Johto, but her voice carried. It always did.

"Ash!" Misty screamed from the porch of Gary's laboratory, she would have only been the size of an ant in his vision, but he refused to look back; fearful of what he would have seen staring back at him.

Moments later, when no further screaming was included, he swallowed and bravely looked back, only to see what he thought _might_ have been concern where anger should have been, and fury was replaced by _disappointment_ on her face. His heart flipped, and he tucked his head into charizards neck to protect himself from the wind and looked glumly at the forest below.

"Sorry, Misty." he muttered pathetically, and sighed.

 **XOXS**.

Running away probably wasn't his best idea—but what was he supposed to say to her when he did see her? He was stuck somewhere between apologies, thankfulness, and _something else_ entirely. He had no idea which one would have bubbled out when he saw her at Gary's laboratory, and he refused to take such a chance. The last thing he wanted to do was mess up their friendship because he wasn't making the _best_ decisions. Misty had every right to be mad at him, but he wasn't exactly in the mood to be scolded for something _he felt_ was the right decision; no matter how silly it was.

When he landed about a mile outside of New Bark Town so that charizard could rest, he heard the continuous, persistent sound of a vibration mixed with a beeping noise, and he feared the worst as he pulled the new pokedex from his back pocket, and looked at the numbers that flashed angrily at him.

Ash had no doubt it was Misty.

The call ended with one more ring, and Ash tucked the phone away while sloppily tying his hair back into a pony tail and pulling out his winter jacket. Beside him togepi frowned disapprovingly.

"Toge briiii." The pokemon chirped at its trainer while it waddled beside him to stare into his face. Ash grimaced.

"I know I shouldn't have ran away." Ash said pathetically. "But I didn't want her to.."

"Toge!" The egg yelped and Ash's shoulders slumped as he zipped his back.

"I know she's probably worried." beside togepi, pikachu chirped in.

"Pikachu-pi pika!" the grunted, chattering beside togepi, berating him with such a drastic decision. It _was_ Misty after all, she was probably just full of a lot of hot air and once she got it out, she would have been totally normal.

He would have liked to see normal Misty. His face turned a deep shade of red as the pokedex pinged in his pocket once more, and he stared at the numbers.

"Chim, chim char." the monkey told Ash while the trainer hummed, staring at the number before very nervously swiping to answer the call.

"Hello?"

A pause, a long, shaking breath followed his introduction, and he looked away painfully, waiting for the fireworks.

They didn't come, instead, her voice radiated a calm ooze. "Why did you run away?" She hummed, tapping her fingers against a solid surface.

"...I..." He started, though he wasn't entirely positive himself. A part of him simply wasn't _prepared_ mentally to see her, and another part of him was simply terrified that she was actually mad at him for the compound. He was confused about the weird feeling in the pit of his stomach which was the reason he kept terrible contact to begin with; and because of the short notice, he just... panicked.

"I panicked." he deduced, hoping the answer would suffice.

Luckily, it did.

"Why did you panic?"

He chewed on his lip, not liking the calm tone of her voice. "I thought you would be mad." he lied, rather than spewing and stammering over the full truth.

"Mad is an understatement." She admit, the shrewd voice he was familiar with taking tole and he exhaled calmly.

"I'm sorry..." he tried but she snapped, he figuratively _heard_ her snap.

"Sorry?" She hissed. "Ash, you said that you wouldn't do anything stupid!"

"I didn't...I." He inhaled, flopping onto his bottom to put his elbows on his thighs and hold the phone to his ear while his pokemon watched him sympathetically. "I didn't mean to, Mist."

"Don't you 'Mist', me, Ash Ketchum! How do you _accidentally_ burn down and _entire_ pokemon compound!?" she yelped into the phone Ash shirked away for a moment but remained firm.

"Because it was cruel, and a horrible place to keep pokemon! You should have seen the place!"

"Arson is a _felony offense_ and that makes _twice_ for you, Ash!" Misty shrieked and he could feel his blood boil.

"You don't think I know that? I'm not stupid, Misty!"

"Obviously you are!"

Insulted, he flinched. "I am not!" He shouted in his defense. "What would you have done in my situation?!"

"Literally anything else?!" Misty shouted back at him; a moment of growling silence passed between the two of them. Ash clutched the knee of his borrowed pants and grit his teeth.

Simmering down, her voice carried. "I was worried." She said in a hushed, meek tone that didn't suite her at all. Filled his chest full of guilt and his temper and frustration was gone.

"I know."

A pause.

"Stop doing that! I'm going to get gray hairs!" she shrieked, the anger lost.

"You're not that old yet." He laughed awkwardly inspite of the situation and then Misty's sigh carried him into her next topic.

"I guess I can't tell you what to do anyways, even if _I should_ report you." She muttered with a pitch to her voice that convinced him that she was contemplating just that.

"...Please don't." Ash mumbled weakly while she scoffed on the other side.

"Anyways, I actually had some _things_ I needed to talk to you about and thought I could catch you here before you left; but." She hissed at him. "Apparently you think I'm too scary to be around."

 _Yeah, make me feel worse_. Ash thought bitterly while rocking his head back to look up at the sky. "What did you need to tell me?"

"Dr. Abby called me, asking specifically about _you._ I told her I didn't know where you were, so I would fill in for you at the assisted living home, apparently it's some kind of follow up appointment."  
Ash hummed. "She never mentioned a follow up appointment before." Ash uttered while looking down at his hands.

"I know she didn't."

He thought for a moment, and then his lips curled into a grin. "You went all the way to Pallet Town _just_ to tell me that? You knew I was getting a pokedex already, you could have called."

Misty stammered for a moment. "It's been awhile since..." She coughed. "I haven't seen togepi in months."

Ash grinned at that. "It's okay to say you miss me." He teased and she all but choked on her words, sharing in the familiar dance, throwing her words she used on him when he was staying in the assisted living home back in her face felt rejuvenating to some extent.

"I do not!" She hissed, while he laughed, glad to have the conversation on his side for once.

"Okay. Togepi misses you too." there was a long silence that followed, as if she were expecting him to say something else, but the confession never came, instead, she sighed.

"I guess I'll deal with Dr. Abby then, since you're already off wherever your going." She groaned and Ash laughed nervously.

"I appreciate it." he muttered, while she croaked on her end.

"Yeah, yeah, just now you don't have an excuse not to call me; I hope you know that." She muttered while pursing her lips. Ash's face paled.

"Right." he swore, though mentally started a list of excuses in his mind while she chuckled, as if knowing he was doing exactly that.

"Thanks for all the letters by the way." She added, while Ash turned a bit red.

"You're welcome."

"Seriously. All one hundred of them." She added with a snark tone and he hid his face below his hat, even though there was no one else but his pokemo to relish in his embarrassment. She paused.

"You know," She hummed, causing shivers to shoot down his spine. "I think _you're_ the one who misses _me_." She teased through the phone and Ash felt his heart drop into his stomach.

"I have to go." He said suddenly, removing the phone from his ear and ending the call before her voice could carry further.

"Pika." The pokemon mocked him.

"Don't say that!" Ash shouted, shuddered as he fell back wards to look up at the sky fading into a darker shade of blue. He exhaled once, and then pinched the bridge of his nose, questioning further his reasoning for having such a reaction. What was wrong with saying he _missed_ her?

"Pika piak chu." The mouse poked his trainer with his paw and Ash could only respond with a glare.

"I do not, pikachu." He muttered while picking himself up off of the ground and dusting off his pants. He tucked the pokedex back into his pocket, and then glanced at charizard.

"I'll walk from here buddy, rest for now." Ash spoke calmly while returning the pokemon, in the meantime, chimchar had taken to walking beside togepi, holding the small egg upright while they waited for Ash to finish. He chuckled at the two of them.

"Well guys. I guess we'll go to a pokemon center and figure everything out there. We still have quite the journey ahead of us." Ash mused with a red face as his pokemon shared a knowing look.

 **XOXS**

The next day, after Misty had finally peeled herself away from visiting with Leaf, the first female outside of her sisters she ever spoke with and actually enjoyed speaking to, she took the train to Viridian City. Rather than catching the late train home the night prior or staying some expensive hotel, she stayed with the Oak's at their house for the night, and set out again in the morning.

Though, if she had to be honest, Gary drove her crazy.

" _You're sure you two aren't dating?"_ he had tried pestering her on the matter several times, as if amazed it was even possible. First off, how could Misty _date_ Ash, he was ten mentally! On top of that, his snide remarks were an ever present frustration that bothered her quite a bit more than she would have admit freely. He was a know-it-all, but one of the worst kinds!

Frankly, as she made her way to the assisted living home to deal with Dr. Abby, she was stewing. Ash hung up on her, _again!_ Was he not aware how rude that was? It wasn't like they spoke often, and she really _doubt_ that getting a pokedex with a calling feature would change anything in regard to his current resolution to send letters. It wasn't that she disliked letters, it was that many of them weren't addressed to only her—Ash included many for Cole, and trying to get those to the young boy was nearly impossible since she could not send them directly to his mothers house, and Gary was too busy to stop in after taking over for his grandfather, officially.

Which meant Misty needed to hand deliver the message; according to Gary, Delia was sweet on a normal basis—just not when it came to Ash.

When the assisted living home came into view, she shook her head to clear her mind, and then tucked any visible paperwork back into her new, red purse before she exited the taxi she had been riding in, and stepped out to the curb. Aside from the smell, nothing about the assisted living home had changed much, of course, she hadn't spent near as much time there as Ash did, and so she was less likely to notice any glaring differences.

Politely, she waved to the office administers who were at the front of the building, and circled back from her memory to the right hallway, and down half way into a small, closed off area where Dr. Abby's office was, and her small waiting area was built.

She was sitting on her overly bright orange couch, looking through paperwork when Misty approached the door, and knocked gently.

"Hey there." She said smoothly with a professional smile that made Dr. Abby jump. The teal haired woman had dark rings around her eyes where life used to be, and her stomach which had been plump with the growing life of a baby was now flat and pudgy beneath her lose fitting dress.

"Misty! Hello, you're early." said the doctor, jittery as she moved so that Misty could sit on the couch, and she was in the office chair.

"Yeah, I was in Pallet Town with some friends so my trip wasn't as long." Misty uttered while taking a seat on the couch, propping on leg over her knee, and setting her purse down on the couch beside her. Wiping her mouth with a cloth, Dr. Abby cleared her place and pour a cup of coffee for Misty as well.

"I see. Who so you know from Pallet Town?"

"Gary Oak."

"Really?" Dr. Abby said astonishingly, blinking wide-eyed. "You're quite well known." Dr. Abby mused while sipping her own coffee. Misty hadn't touched herd.

"So, what did you need to know?" She asked while rubbing her neck oddly.

"Oh, I imagine you're very busy so you just want to cut to the chase." She uttered, and Misty couldn't help but chuckle, watching the frazzled woman rub her eyes and gather documents. Motherhood affected everyone differently, including the overly-chipper doctor. "I just have a few generic questions that will help in understanding the benefits of my therapy sessions; deciding on where I need to improve, and also if I need to bring him back him." She explained while Misty nodded.

"Shoot." She said relaxed, trying to bury the thought that thinking about Ash made her skin boil.

"First, what is he doing now?"

"Traveling." Misty said quickly, catching the doctor my surprise.

"T-traveling? A coma patient? So soon?" Dr. Abby's mouth fell open and Misty nodded quickly. "Why?" She asked, taking notes.

Misty shrugged. "He wanted to catch pokemon, start a journey." Misty muttered, telling a half truth.

"I see. That's still a bit strange. Did he meet his mother?"  
"They met." Misty confirmed. "But they don't talk." She added and titled her head to one side. "More like she rejected him." she clarified and the doctors shoulders lowered.

"I see... that's too bad." She said, eyes filling with sadness. "Did he handle the news well?"

"About as good as anyone would, I suppose." Misty countered. "He was upset, but after awhile he sort of accepted it. What else could he do?"  
"No fits of anger, outbursts? Things like that?" The doctor asked, writing down more words. Misty cracked her neck to one side and then the next.

"Not really. I mean if he did get angry, it was within reason—a lot of his mistakes are founded on the fact he still thinks like an eleven year old, I think." She muttered, recalling his most _recent_ transgressions.

"What makes you say that?" the doctor asked with a smile.

"Children have a certain way of reaction to situation; instead of thinking, they'll get angry. He's not too bad though, I'd say. He's actually gotten a lot better." Misty admit with a half smile. Dr. Abby didn't seem to think much about her answer though, instead, her hand started to shake.

"And what about his dreams? Does he still believe in them?" Dr. Abby asked while looking at her, assessing her response.

"A little bit. I think he's out grown them though." Misty admit earnestly, while wrapping her fingers around the cup, the doctor watched her raise the glass and smiled.

"What about his charizard? He's catching pokemon again, is he not? How is he managing controlling such a pokemon?"

Misty's face drew into a line, and she promptly set the glass back down. "I don't recall saying Ash had a charizard." She admit, tucking her ankle behind the other. The tiredness left Dr. Abby's eyes and she snapped her eyes forward to look at Misty.

"On the phone, you must have mentioned it." Dr. Abby mumbled, fighting the urge to yawn, trying to smile through her mistake. However, Misty's eyes narrowed.

"I'm pretty sure I didn't." She said flatly, and the doctor cleared her throat.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She touched her throat with her hand, and then tapped her notes with the edge of the pen a bit more. "What about that personal issue I discussed with you before he left? Has he been okay with you around? I did think he looked at you as kind of a mother hen."

Misty paused, cocking her jaw to one side while narrowing her eyes at the woman. Recalling everything that Brock, and Ash had told her, she blinked. Straightening her back, she licked her lips. "Actually, I think we're done here."

"Oh, I'm so sorry if that was too personal of a question." Dr. Abby tried, rising to her feet as Misty did. "Why don't you just sit and have some coffee and we can catch up." She tried with an overly sweet tone that made Misty's skin crawl.

"You know, I came here out of the goodness of my heart, but we aren't friends." Misty muttered coldly, the tone she used when directing visitors to the gym rising in the back of her throat. "Furthermore, why the sudden follow up appointment?" _So close to the news of two recent fires, on top of knowing Ash had a charizard_. Misty watched her with intimidating sea-green eyes, but Dr. Abby didn't buckle.

Dr. Abby sat back down and nodded respectfully. "I was just curious. I'm sorry for taking up your time."

Misty narrowed her eyes, hearing the insincere tone of her voice and cracked her neck in response as she shouldered her purse.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help." Misty shot, clearly lying as she smiled nicely, and then stalked out of the therapy room. She paused there for a moment, waiting to listen for any noise from Dr. Abby, and when the sound of a very loud sigh perpetrated by a muttered "great" graced her ears, Misty started down the hall quickly to the activity wing where she knew one reliable source would be sitting, playing poker with her friends.

Dr. Abby was weird, and it wasn't just motherhood that changed people so drastically, she was borderline worrisome, information driven. Misty rubbed her neck and carried on her way to see Agatha sitting a table of old men, laughing chipper while Misty rounded the corner to snatch her away.

"Can I talk with you?" Misty asked hurriedly, catching the old woman off guard.

"Excuse me? Is that any way to speak to an elder?" Agatha griped, while shushing off Misty's grip. The young woman squat beside Agatha and cocked her jaw to one side.

"Tell me about Dr. Abby." Misty hummed, quickly drawing Agatha's attention. If the old woman was known for anything, it was to be a gossip. She looked between the other players at the table who looked genuinely disinterested from the conversation, and then she sighed.

"Sorry boys, I'll have to steal your money later." She mocked while standing up slowly, using her cane to prop herself up. She gestured to Misty. "Walk with me." She added and Misty rose to her feet to follow the woman down the hall, to her bed room.

"What brings you to the nursing home?" Agatha cooed, having hooked her arm around Misty's to stable her walk.

"Ash's therapist called for a follow up session. It was supposed to be general questions so I told her I would fill in for him."

"And they weren't general questions?"

"They were...sort of? She gave off a really strange vibe." Misty paused, narrowing her eyes as they turned into the dark room, flicking on lights. "She also knew something she wasn't supposed to."  
Agatha snorted at that, collapsing on her personal recliner with a loud huff.

"I'm not surprised." She commented. "She always making odd phone calls, and that weird therapist, the one the boy hated; he's always coming around." Agatha confirmed and Misty could feel the deep rage filtering through her veins once more.

"Sebastian."

"Dark hair, glasses, goatee that makes him look like a goat?"

Misty snorted at that. "That's the one."

"Ahh, yes. He comes by frequently." Agatha muttered while taking out a pipe and placing it between her teeth—not that she smoked, she simply liked the look of it. Misty rubbed her chin.

"Do you know why?"

"'fraid not m'dear." Agatha muttered. "Why? Did something happen?"

"No, actually." Misty assured her, taking a seat on the woman's bed. "But recently I've just been...wondering some things."

The old woman scoffed. "With your new found popularity, you would be good to do more than wonder; have you been accepted into the Elite Four yet? You have been the talk of the town."

Misty's face darkened at the mention, and she glanced to the door while crossing one leg over the other and resting her elbow on her knee. "The... information I've been wondering about, I'm not sure I want to be an Elite Four member."  
"So," Agatha chortled. "Did you come here to talk to me about Dr. Abby, or are you looking for an excuse to talk yourself out of joining the Elite Four?"

Misty looked to the woman with sad, daunting eyes while she shook her head in non-surprise. "Well, my dear. You won't find any here." Agatha assured the young girl, patting Misty on the knee. "I don't say many nice things, especially not about you gym leaders." She hissed with narrowed eyes, but then she smiled knowingly, mockingly. "But I know if there's one person who would do things right, you see her everyday in the mirror."

Misty smiled at that, a rose tint covering her cheeks. "Thanks... but it's not really that simple."

"Is it ever that simple? There are tons of reasons that people will run away from tough choices, but simplicity is never the cause of that."

Misty rubbed her fingers through her hair at Agatha's words, and then tapped them against her thigh. "When you were an Elite Four member, was anything ever...weird?" Misty asked, looking at Agatha.

Carefully, she watched the old woman's face change from complex seniority, to a pained wash. "I saw many things change, which is why I left, as you know."

"But was there every anything _dirty_ going on?" Misty asked boldly, and Agatha gave a weak shrug.

"Nothing that I could prove." At her words, Misty sucked in a breath of air and nodded her head skeptically.

"I see..."

"Regardless, kid. That was nine years ago. You need to take advantage of your youth—make a difference if you can, fear and worries are a silly thing to stop you from moving forward—haven't you learned anything from that boy?" Agatha crooned in such a way that Misty matched her mocking tone with her manacle one.

"The stories I could tell about 'that boy'." Misty hissed under her breath and Agatha let out a strangled laugh.

"I don't doubt that! He seems to bring trouble everywhere he goes."

"'least I wasn't the only one who noticed." Misty laughed, though Agatha shook her head.

"Sometimes you have to break the rules to win the game." Agatha challenged. "He knows that."

"You can say that, but I think it's just blind luck half the time." Misty chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck and sighing dreadfully, realizing the statement was more truth than playful banter. Agatha didn't seem to mind though, instead, she tapped her pipe and smacked her lips together.

"Either way, you will be fine." Agatha made a short promise, and tilted her head gently. The calm words reflected in Misty's heart and caused her shoulders to relax and her paranoia to sedate. She sighed gently, gratefully.

"You know, I still don't like you very much." She admit to Misty and the young woman nodded.

"Can't hate everyone who is young and beautiful Agatha, no one will come visit you." Misty mocked back to the old woman, before Agatha tossed a bedside box of tissues at Misty's head.

 **XOXS**

Misty visited with Agatha for ten more minutes after her stop in, they spoke about how Ash had time to visit _her,_ but had no time to visit Misty. Agatha defended him in all parts though; he was trying to make a name and life for himself outside of the Cerulean City gym, and Misty had to respect that. Even if she _maybe, sort of,_ missed him.

In the meantime, Misty didn't miss riding in the back seat of taxis; her greatest memory of Ash getting out of the hospital was her ability to walk to her destination once again. The hospital and her hotel room where too far apart to walk every morning, so she had made peace with taxi rides up until that point. Now, though, they were just as smelly, unclean, and disturbing as they were the first time. As she pulled up to the unfamiliar pink and white house, with a white picket fence, and a Mr. Mime sweeping the sidewalk off. Her nose scrunched up as she thumbed the letters Ash wrote for his younger brother, and thought back to what Gary said about Delia.

She was friendly to people who weren't Ash. She _knew_ Misty, sort off; they spoke sometimes when Misty would visit the hospital, but she doubt if the older woman would remember her now after so many years. Misty had a hard enough time picturing Delia as the cold woman that Ash described her, but she also couldn't envision the optimistic woman that visited Ash's hospital room with knitting supplies _every single day._

Clearing her throat, she tossed the taxi cab driver a twenty, and then dipped into the white fence where she approached the front door. Mr. Mime didn't seem to notice her walk by as he continued with his work thoughtlessly while she tapped on the door lightly with her knuckles, and then took a step backwards, waiting for entrance.

"Coming!" She heard from the other side of the door; a woman's voice, who didn't sound cold and distant. Busy, a little overworked, but not _cold_. Misty braced herself, expecting to have the door slammed in her face, but when it was pulled open; Delia's face reflected none of that.

"Oh my goodness!" She mused. "I haven't seen you in years!"

Misty's face twitched. "Y-you remember me?"

"Of course! How could I forget you, Misty? You saved my son's life." Delia exclaimed brightly while Misty found herself speechless, and her mouth gaping.

 **Author's Note:**

SOMEHOW, when I say a chapter will be up in 10-15 hours, I forget to factor in that I need to sleep at some point. -gets shot- However, the next chapter will be up in 2-3 hours because it's technically the end of this chapter. 26 was just getting really long, so I broke it up into two parts.

 **I want some advice from you guys** this is regarding pokemon speak. So it's clear that Ash understands his pokemon, and I feel like I'm intentionally giving them less of a role because I don't want to include "poke speak" because to me that's like incoherent babble. So I'll write that they did this or that, but I don't really include them. However, I was thinking that when it's just Ash and his pokemon I would drop poke speak (ex. "pikapikapika") and instead include what the pokemon are actually saying. This doesn't mean that they're using actual human words, other people still can't understand them, but I think that would better clarify some of their conversation. What do you guys think? I ask this because I went to write the noise chimchar makes, which is monkey noises not "Chimchimchar" buuuut, I was like how do you even right what sound a monkey makes? So, that's my main reason.


	27. Chapter 27: The journey pt2

**Locked Away, Chapter 27**

Misty was ushered inside of the house with gratitude and favor rather quickly, Delia was very hospitable, nothing at all like Ash had described her. Delia had served Misty tea while they sat in the living room. She was watching the news, reading a crappy romance novel that Misty wasn't unfamiliar with, and over all, acting totally _normal_.

"How many sugars do you take in your tea?" Delia asked, while walking back from shouting after Cole, who was upstairs playing in his bedroom. Still shocked, Misty's mouth opened and closed as she tried not to stare at Delia like a magikarp.

"..N-none, thank you." Misty hummed while accepting the tea as it was. Delia took a seat in the chair beside Misty's.

"So how have you been? I don't recall you being the shy type at all."

Misty blinked once, and then twice; and then deduced that who ever this was, it wasn't Delia, that, or whoever saw Ash _wasn't_ Delia, because this was a new level of weird behavior that Misty had never witnessed before, and Misty had three sisters. She knew weird!

"Oh.. Sorry, I'm just a little nervous. I have a lot on my mind you know, with the new job and...stuff." She tried, trying to sound as natural as possible. "I've been well, and how about yourself?" Misty asked, leaning in to watch Delia's tone and expressions.

"Oh, I've just been wonderful. The gals at the gardening club are starting a knitting club, and you know how much I love to knit—do you still have those mittens I made for you?"

"...No." She answered nonchalantly as the rapid thud of footsteps ran down the stairs.

"We have gues—Oh, its you." Cole muttered, seeing Misty sitting where he clearly expected to see Ash. Misty smiled weakly, and while Delia was rambling on about the knitting group she was in, Cole approached Misty with a kind of disappointed look until she winked at him and held her finger to her mouth for Cole to be quiet.

He obeyed, and found his way to the couch to sit beside her.

"Cole, this is Misty Waterflower, she's the gym leader of Cerulean City." Delia introduced happily with a pleasant, almost motherly smile.

"Are you?" Cole asked, his disappointment replaced quickly by amazement. "Can you show me some moves?"

Misty grinned at his enthusiasm. "Sur-"

"No!" Delia snapped quickly, and both Misty and Cole looked at her with wide eyes. She cleared her throat. "I mean, Cole, that's rude to ask."

For only a moment, Misty saw it with the quick snap, the callous nature of Delia; but more importantly, she saw it in Cole's features. A heavy tension hung over their conversation after that, and Delia tried to fix it with a shaking hand scooping sugar into Misty's tea—though she said previously she wouldn't like any.

"It's just that he has too much school work, and he already spends _so_ much time playing with his video games." Delia cooed, regaining her composure as she smiled cheerfully at Misty once more.

"Does he?" Misty asked to keep the conversation on track, while Cole sat there emptily, crossing his arms. Misty hadn't noticed it before, since she wasn't as familiar with Gary back then—but Cole was the spitting image of the new professor, his hair was the same auburn shape, he wore the same purples and grays—his eyes were even hazel, and his skin was pale.

...but his mannerisms, those were Ash's. One hundred percent. The thought brought a smile to her lips, and she took a sip of her tea to muzzle it, only to shudder and set the glass back down immediately, recalling the three teaspoons of sugar Delia shoveled in.

"Oh, dear. I'm so sorry. I'm not used to having guest over anymore." Delia mumbled, taking the tea glass and pouring Misty a new one and setting the other aside. "I don't know what came over me, truthfully." She added quickly and then offered another smile.

"So what brought you out here?" the look Delia gave Misty spoke louder than the woman's words; 'how did you get my address' and Misty knew that.

"I was driving by and I saw the name. I know Gary Oak, and he told me you married into the family. I thought I would come say hi." Misty lied, though it wasn't her most convincing tell, with awkward pauses between each sentence, however, Delia didn't question it.

"Oh Gary, he's been such a dear since..." She stopped, her facade breaking before another smile fell on her lips. "Cole, why don't you go show Misty your video game collection and I'll finish up supper?"

"Sure!" Cole said happily while shooting out of his seat, his small hand wrapped around Misty's and yanked her up the stairs after him. She stumbled forward, laughing lightly as she did while Cole skipped to his room. The entire house smelled of cinnamon, unlike the gym which was perfumed from woman's clothes and chlorine, Delia's house smelled more like a home than she could have ever imagined.

However, it didn't _feel_ that way.

Once Cole had dragged her into his bed room, he released her hand and spun on his heels to face her; his excitement was replaced with worry, and his eyebrows knit.

"Did something happen to Ash?" Cole asked quickly and Misty blinked and shook her head.

"No, why would you think that?" She asked and Cole shrugged.

"He wasn't with you." He questioned while sulking back to his bed where she saw the three baby pichus sleeping on the foot of his bed, and the female pikachu sitting beside them. Her ears twitched in response to Misty having entered the room. Cole pet the female pikachu's head while Misty took a seat on the chair beside his desk.

"He's out on an adventure." Misty tried to assure him with a sincere smile, but Cole didn't perk up much. He had the infamous Ash-puppy-eyes down to a tee.

"I thought you two were traveling together?" he muttered, flicking the game in his hand while his shoulders bobbed.

"We were, but he needed to go alone, you know? To find all of his pokemon he lost." Misty added, trying to keep a smooth voice for the frail boy. Cole cracked a smile.

"Has he found any?" He asked happily and Misty chuckled.

"Well," She said while opening her purse and removing a wade of neatly folded letters. "Why don't you read and find out?" She asked, watching his eyes light up like the sky.

"These are all for me?" He asked, taking them from her hands and flipping through them.

"Yeah, Ash tends to write a lot." Misty laughed, wondering how he found the time for it, given his busy schedule. "Gary was supposed to bring them by sooner, but he never made it back to Viridian City after Ash and I were here last. I brought you all the letters he had, too."

Cole's face softened as he held the folded papers, and stroked them gently with his thumb. "Wow..." he mumbled, having believed up until that point that Ash had forgotten about him—and since the trainer did not, his entire disposition change. Misty grinned at the reaction.

"You know, though. I have something even better than letters." Misty taunted him, and his eyes snapped to meet her with such bewilderment that she grinned even wider and took one of the letters out of his hand. Removing a pen from her purse, she wrote down quickly the number she _might_ have already memorized, and handed the letter back to the young boy.

"You can call him, too."

It took every inch in Cole's body not to squeal as he looked at the written numbers, and then threw his arms up and tackled the young woman into an odd hug. Squeezing her at the waist and burying his head just below her chest.

"Thank you so, so, so much!" He cooed happily, breaking away and spinning on his heels. "I can't wait to talk to him again, and to see how pikachu's doing!" He chirped. Misty smiled at that, though she didn't make a remark until her smile had long faded.

"Cole, do you know what's wrong with your mom?"

As if killing his mood with a sniper shot to the head, he turned to look at her with a sullen expression. His feet pranced on the floor, and his eyes fell on the open door, checking for his mother before he lowered his expression.

"...She gets phone calls. I don't know from who, but she never lets me talk to them." He mumbled and swallowed hard. "I...I don't think they're very nice. Dad used to yell at them, but then...Now mom just acts strange. She doesn't leave the house anymore." Cole mumbled quietly, shifting onto his bed where he collapsed in thought.

Misty's face contorted. "Cole, they're not hurting your mom, are they?" She asked quietly, but Cole quickly shook his head.

"I don't think so. I've never seen them, they just call every once in awhile."

Misty rolled her shoulders. "And you don't know who _they_ are?" She asked quietly, but Cole shook his head quickly and then inhaled.

"How was she after," Misty's eyes shifted to the door, where she thought she heard someone coming up the stairs. "Well, you know?"

"She cried for a few days. Wouldn't talk to me... she doesn't let me battle pokemon, or watch any information about it—she hates when Gary comes to visit, too." he very quietly lowered his head. "...When pikachu left, she was even more sad, but she never talks about it. She just... goes back to being happy like how you saw."

Misty's face softened, as if she could relate partially to the story, and she clasped her hands together over her lap. ",..Has she always been like this?" Misty wondered, tilting her head to one side.

A spark flashed through his eyes, a pure determination in his eyes as she sat up to smile at Misty. "No way, when dad was around she was always laughing! She always let me pretend battle, and we used to have pictures of Ash everywhere! When we moved from Pallet Town she was pretty sad...and... then dad..." Cole looked down at the palms of his hands which were resting in his lap, feeling the sharp sting of tears behind his eyes and the quiver of his lips. Misty watched him with slow, agonizing pain, and her heart snapped. She stood up, clenching her fists as she approached him on his bed and squat in front of him. On her walk over, she had removed a pokemon, and smiled widly.

"Why don't I show you a few tricks?" Misty suggested, winking at him. "We won't tell her."

"Really?" Cole asked as his eyes lightened up, the tears slowly evaporating.

"Yeah, really."

 **XOXS**

A month later, Misty was still shaken up about the events. She had tried on several occasions to get Ash to answer her phone calls—but he was either incapable of working a phone, or intentionally screening her calls. She guessed the later, due to several events.

When she got letters from him, sent from Goldenrod City, he tried to argue that he "didn't have service" but if he didn't have service, he wouldn't have known that she tried to call in the first place. Really, she didn't understand his issue. Misty also knew that he was _full of it_ because Cole, who she visited from time to time on the weekend would tell her all about the long conversations he had with his 'older' brother.

And if she was making a lasting impression on Cole, she _knew_ that Cole talked about her—so how was he dense enough to think she would believe some terrible excuse like "no service".

Oddly enough, Delia made it perfectly clear that Misty was welcome back whenever she wanted—but the redhead wondered if that would change the moment that Delia discovered that Misty actually _knew_ everything about Ash. Was the one who helped Ash, took him in when Delia turned him away?

Cole made sure that Delia had no clue what so ever, since he enjoyed her company when she would travel between Cerulean City and the Indigo Plateau for final meetings revolving around her acceptance as an Elite Four member. Her time spent in Viridian was also time spent watching Dr. Abby from a distance, and visiting Agatha. The odd time, she would meet Brock there, and he would discuss his conspiracy theories with Misty and Agatha at the nursing home—which had become their "home base" if Misty was being honest.

Misty was at one such meeting now, sitting on Agatha's rocker while Brock wrote words onto a white board and Agatha made snide remarks about the Pewter City gym leader.

"But Brock, Ash said that Sinnoh was a safe haven, and Paul helped balance out the inequality between coordinators and battlers; so we can't say _all_ Elite Four members are crooked."

Brock whipped around at her, staring at her with his squinted eyes while Agatha, who was leaning back in her recliner, pointed at Misty.

"You have a point, but each region is still their own individual board, as well. Just because we have a board of executives who monitor and watch all of the leagues to make sure they correlate to some level, doesn't mean regions can't have differences. For example, Dawn and her mother were two very distinct coordinators, they're well known in the public and highly liked—if the Elite Four of Sinnoh continued to deny their terms, they whole region might have revolted against them." Agatha directed with a nod of her head. Brock nodded equally as fast.

"Thus, why T.R. Has been-"  
"Brock, we still don't have proof of that." Misty jabbed in right away while he deflated and collapsed into the chair.

"But it makes so much sense!" He argued, and both Misty and Agatha shrugged.

"That doesn't make it true."

"I wish Ash was here, he would agree with me!"

"You barely know him!" Misty snapped with a playful snarl and Brock stuck his tongue out at her.

"Just because he doesn't call you." He managed.

A vein popped on her forehead and she stood up to _really_ jab him in the shoulder when Agatha put her cane between the two of them. "Knock it off children. Don't make a scene." She warned them with narrowed eyes.

Misty sat back down and glared at him while he looked at the board which was compiled data from him, Misty, Agatha, and the pieces from Ash. In reality, they had no more than what they started with, just more theories; the biggest one, however, pertained solely to Delia, and who was 'keeping' tabs on her. More than that, they each had an inkling that the late professor didn't die of _natural_ causes, like the media stated. When Misty told them about the phone calls directed at him, Agatha was able to make a brief point that Team Rocket _did_ try to recruit leading officials, and that would include the pokemon professor of the region.

After a pregnant pause shared between the trio as they wracked their brains to determine who was behind these terrible allegations; Misty crossed her arms and bit her lip childishly.

"Does he call you, Brock?"

The older man looked at her surprised, seeing her childish expression, and then chuckled briefly before laughing loudly, a sentiment shared with Agatha, that Misty didn't find quite as funny.

To be truthful, had it not been for his persistent need to send her letter, after letter, she would have thought that he forgot about her. Ash called other people; but wouldn't call her, and she struggled to wonder why. As if reading her thoughts, Brock wiped a tear of glee from his eye.

"No, he doesn't call me, either." the man said. "I'm afraid I would have no idea what to say to him even if he did. We aren't as close as you two are."

Misty smiled at that, recalling that Brock didn't really know Ash at all, and what he did know, was because of Misty and Agatha—not from the boy himself. Even still, it was comfortable around these people, as if Misty knew them a lot longer than she would have ever admit to.

For once in her life, she felt like a real twenty-two year old, hanging around someone her own age, with decent friends, and while, yeah, there was the whole Team Rocket scenario playing over her head, and her best friend was a coma-patient arsonist, she could have had it worse.

"When do you start training to become an Elite Four member?" Agatha asked, changing the subject and cutting Misty out of her thoughts.

Misty inhaled shakingly. "I leave tomorrow. I'll be spending a few months at the Pokemon School of Saffron City where I'll learn the most recent rules and regulations; then I have to take a test about water pokemon."

Brock's eyebrows furrowed. "You don't have to battle anyone?"

"Not that I'm aware of." Misty said honestly. "I think it's weird, too." She admit shortly after. Hiring someone as an Elite Four member who isn't trained to actually battle would be a nightmare—but they could have also been relying on her statistics as a gym leader.

"Man," Brock hummed. "Who am I going to conspire with after you leave for that?" He whined halfheartedly while Misty shot him a devious glare.

"Maybe I'll call you—or maybe I'll take a note from Ash's handbook and send letters instead." She mocked, trying to use her best Ash voice that made both companions roll their eyes.

"You should keep in contact." Agatha advised seriously. "It's easy to get swallowed up once you get into the big leagues, and if what we've been discussing has been more than a tea party, you shouldn't be alone." Agatha paused, looking between Brock and Misty very sincerely.

"I don't want to see anymore pokemon trainers go missing." She added, and Brock, who was a bit more emotional than Misty, sniffled, and hugged the elderly woman.

"Thank you, grandma!" he mumbled into the hug, only to be met with a swift hit over the head by her cane, knocking him away from her.

"I didn't say you could touch me!" She hissed angrily, causing Misty to chortle.

From the hallway near them, Dr. Abby held her clipboard close to her chest, listening in to the last of their conversation before very slowly turning and walking away. Looking at her notes, she removed the information she had just obtained from the conversation between them, and tore it off before tossing the note into the garbage, leaving whatever meeting they were conducting between them, as she stalked back to her office unseen.

 **XOXs**

Johto region shared many similarities to Kanto, so when Ash started his travels through the region, the pokedex made quick work of any unanswered questions he might have had regarding pokemon. Since he no longer needed to stalk cafes and pokemon centers, he made a habit out of gathering information about his pokemon in advance using the search engine provided by the pokedex. On the road, the first pokemon he found was bayleef, a pokemon who almost crushed him with her large monstrous sized body; like charizard, the grass pokemon had stayed close to where Ash found her at, mainly because she _knew_ that Ash would come back for her.

From there, he made his way though Cherrygrove City and Violet city, taking the time to pass through Azalea town, until he reached route thirty four, which was a swamp in comparison to the rest of the water areas he had been around; the murky water was home to the crocodile pokemon totodiles, and his evolved forms. Not many trainers bothered to venture so far west, but Ash dared—with his team slowly coming together, what couldn't he do?

Luckily, totodile was still around, older, _much_ older, his blue scales which were light and gorgeous in his dreams were now battle torn. Long gone were the days when the pokemon would dance happily around the area, instead, when the pokemon approached Ash, he was able to catch totodile only _after_ winning in a battle against it.

Luckily for him, he had pikachu, which was strong against water types. Soon after, he explored north to the lake of rage, taking him to the end of February, and through Goldenrod City. Like Saffron City, the capital of johto was enormous, and from most mountains in the region, Goldenrod City stood true to its name; it looked like a glowing mass in the distance.

Since Ash didn't waste time visiting pokemon center to pokemon center; he drifted away from the pull of sociability, and retrained his body and mind to work with his pokemon. Hours not spent traveling were spent training, and times after that, he caught up with his little brother and wrote letters mindlessly trying to align his confusing thoughts with what he was trying to say on paper.

Also, thanks to his pokedex, he had a sure way of removing certain pokemon from his list—he still looked, of course, but pokemon like herecus, the bug pokemon, had a short life span, as did noctowl, the bird type pokemon, and cyndaquil, the weasel pokemon. However, totodile, bayleef, and donphan, who were more closely related to large mammals, had longer life expectancy; just as Agatha had written for him previously.

Ash felt like he was lucky in Johto—finding three of the seven pokemon he captured in the region in such a short time. When he started toward Hoenn in the middle of March, his luck wasn't so great. First off, the boat ride there was painstakingly slow. He refused to allow charizard to fly over the ocean, especially after spending so many hours flying Ash around on his back. While the stubborn dragon refused to admit, he was tired.

When Ash finally arrived in Hoenn, he knew right away what Drew was talking about regarding contests; the entire region was under a full lock down—which meant pokemon battling was temporarily banned. Apparently, the tropical island had been home to great strife revolving around the mistreatment of coordinators and battlers, and the favoritism between the two of them. People started rioting in the street, and petitioners flooded the central region offices, where the Elite Four, and champion stayed. Needless to say, the region was in shambles and trainers were leaving by the boat fulls in the direction of the mainland regions; Kanto, Sinnoh, and Johto.

Ash tried to help when he could, his pokemon were very adamant, but in the end, their results were minimal, and people never stopped needing help. Instead, they returned to their normal goal; gathering the rest of his missing pokemon.

Ash wasn't so lucky here; he found torkoal in the presence of another trainer—a good trainer, and didn't muster the courage to break up the group. However, swellow, and corphish were nowhere to be found along the paths he traveled, if the pokedex was correct, and his time line was accurate, swellow would have only had a five year life expectancy, where corphish spent most of their time migrating through the ocean—he would, like torterra, be a pokemon that Ash came back for when summer rolled in.

In the mean time, he discovered that the pokemon "snorunt", and other pokemon whose natural habitat was the islands around Hoenn, were on the verge of extinction following the eruption of a volcano near the Izable island, which turned the group of islands around the Hoenn region, into a mountain of rock from cooled laava. Some people complained that they could still see the fire burning in the distance when the sun went low enough.

Ash's last stop in Hoenn was the Petalburg woods, where he searched for treecko, or sceptile. While he was under the belief that his pokemon evolved in his dreams the same way they evolved in the real world, a part of him might have made the evolutionary disbursement differently depending on his feelings at the time. For instance, charmander didn't evolve in the real world until Ash was five years into his coma, but in his dream world, charizard was the first fully evolved pokemon that Ash ever owned. He wagered the inability to contain charizard was directly related to the fact that charizard was only fully evolved in Ash's head, and not in real life.

Through his march through Petalburg Woods, he outwardly wondered to pikachu and togepi if he should stop in at the gym. Sharing old stories of May and Max with togepi, while pikachu chimed in his own memory of the events. Most of the time, they lined up, but pikachu liked to point out how unreal some of Ash's adventures were.

"That's what made them so much fun." He told pikachu, getting a distance, saddened look from togepi.

"Togeiiii?" It asked, citing the equivalent of 'isn't this fun?'

Ash laughed a little. "Yeah... I just wish we could find everyone." Ash hummed sadly, recalling the few pokemon he had caught. Most of them went directly to Gary's once he captured them, since he reached his max of six shortly after changing over charizard and bulbasaur's pokeballs. Ash tried to keep the newest editions to his team with him more than the earlier captures, only so they had time to re-bond as master and pokemon.

"Pikaka!" Pikachu hummed from Ash's shoulder, causing the trainer to peer down at togepi, who was looked older than a baby now, Ash thought he almost looked too big for his shell.

"Maybe we will stop in for just a minute." Ash mumbled at pikachu's request as he turned from the woods, and towards Petalburg City were spring had already started to turn the leaves their famous shade of pink.

 **XOXS**

Before heading to the Petalburg gym, he decided to clean himself up—mostly because he looked like a wild, and beaten animal in his rags of clothes, and so he found himself at the pokemon center where he checked into a room long enough to clean himself. Exhausted from his long journey already, and with the random heat waves associated with spring, Ash found little comfort in the pokemon centers small, quaint room. Togepi and pikachu waited patiently for him to shower and clean himself up, but not without causing minor forms of chaos.

With Ash quietly distracted, his pokedex was left unattended,which meant the two pokemon were fully capable of contacting whomever they wanted from his list.

"Brrriii~" The egg chirped while pikachu clicked on the contacts application, to find that Ash had exactly three numbers saved: Gary, Misty, and Cole's. While neither pokemon truly read human text, they recognized names. Togepi rolled forward, pressing against Misty's name where a small box opened.

"Pikapika?" the mouse questioned while pawing at numbers, sending gibberish to the redhead; any shapes that were familiar, like hearts and stars, and money signs.

When the first message was fired off, the two mischievous pokemon giggled to themselves, gleeful of what would happen—but a reply never returned their gibberish, so they essentially spammed the woman with weird smiling faces, and an abhorrent amount of random letters.

"Do you two really think May and Max would be at the gym still? I mean, it belongs to their parents, not them." Ash hummed while walking out of the washroom, drying his hair with the white towel provided by the pokemon center. When he walked out and was met with that giggling faces of his two pokemon, his face paled.

"What are you two doing?" He grumbled, approaching the two of them who both rolled away, laughing like maniacs as he scooped up his pokedex to view the damage. His face drained of any tan he had developed over the last couple of months, and he threw up his arms.

"Are you serious?" He grunted, and glared between the pokemon as he tucked the phone away, hoping that Misty wouldn't bother reading the messages at all. Misty famously called them "pocket texting" or "pocket calling", therefore, given the messages were mostly incoherent babble, she might not even bother him about it...or she might, and in such a case, he mentally was not ready to speak with her.

Ash swallowed hard, staring down at his pokedex once more, as if awaiting a text from her—but when it didn't happen right away, he shook his head viciously, and then returned to the bathroom to finish dressing himself, making sure to bring his phone with him.

"Pika!" The mouse teased chummily while togepi pleasantly smiled beside the mouse, sharing a brief high five.

 **XOXs**

Petalburg gym hadn't changed the slightest since Ash saw it in his dreams. It was still a small looking town house, with trees surrounding the area. While Ash stood much taller than his ten year old coma-self, he very small in the area on the outskirt of town. Ash shouldn't have been here, not really. He had already agreed to himself that he wouldn't tell anyone else about his dreams until he knew what they meant himself—he wouldn't be distracted from his journey again.

However, here he was, staring down the sign which clearly read "closed".

"Well, it's now or never I suppose." Ash hummed while he tossed his ever growing ponytail over his shoulder, and popped the collar of his blue jacket. It flew in the wind behind him as he stuffed his hands into his pockets with both togepi and pikachu at his sides. He marched directly to the doors, but then hesitated before his hand reached the door handle.

"I'm sorry, Max, I told Bianca I would meet her there!" A female's voice shrieked from the inside, causing Ash to retract his hand as the door flew open, and a brunette rushed out of the door, smacking directly into Ash. He stumbled backwards, but didn't fall over. After months of hiking, he had greater poise, and instead steadied the woman before him before taking a nervous step back.

"Sorry about that, I was just about to go into the gym." He muttered weirdly, pointing past her to the door, but she paused, her crystal blue eyes staring up at him, awestruck.

Her initial thought was simple as she tucked her hair behind her ear and looked at him with curiosity. The boy before her with long raven hair, chocolate eyes and standing at least six foot was... _adorable_.

"Hi there." Her personality flipped as she raised a gloved hand. "I'm May. And what's your name?" She asked, extending her hand to greet Ash.

His face flushed automatically and beside him pikachu's jaw dropped. She was much older, still wearing a red bandana, and black tights, but she also had on a pokemon 'ranger' insignia necklace that was the most apparent item on her body. Ash grinned at her after regaining his wits, and straightened his hat in response.

"I'm Ash Ketchum." He mumbled, listening to the sound of something in the house shattering at the call of his name. His eyes shot forward, peering past the woman and into the house where he saw a tumble of a green blur fill his vision, before running directly into him.

The wind was knocked out of him in an isntant as a pokemon about the size of Ash when he was ten rammed itself into Ash's stomach. He gasped and staggered backwards, everything going black while May gasped and shrieked all at the same time.

"MAX!" She yelled. "Your pokemon just killed someone!" She screamed dramatically, stomping her foot. From the depths of the gym, a boy no taller than May rushed forward, wearing a pair of black glasses and an outdated green pokemon shirt and brown long shorts.

"Don't be a drama queen!" Max choked as he came forward to view the scene himself. "You know sceptile only likes me..." Ash he saw the vision in front of him, where an unconscious man was being fanned by his grass pokemon, he rubbed his neck.

"...oh."

"SEE, and he was a cute one, too!" May shouted, stomping her food. "I told you to keep sceptile in his pokeball!"

"Well _sorry_ most people know that the gyms are closed! What was he even doing here?" Max shot back at the girl who immediately moved forward to pinch her younger brother's cheeks.

"He's obviously not from here. Look at his other pokemon, idiot." She growled while pikachu and togepi sighed in unison. Ash groaned, holding his stomach and sputtering a form of his existence, but the arguing siblings didn't seem to notice that he sat up, and was watching the two of them.

"Well if _someone_ wouldn't just storm out of the gym whenever she felt like it, I wouldn't have to have sceptile out all the time!"  
"What? Are you afraid of the boogey-man Max? You're seventeen!"

"So!? You know there are weird people in the world."

"Guys." Ash started, holding his stomach while sceptile keeled beside Ash, apologizing for his accidental full-front attack.

"Let me tell you that they are _not_ going to bother you, nerd boy, you only have like two pokemon, anyways! Why would _anyone_ take you?" She threw up her arms, crossing them shortly after to make her point. Max stewed in response.

"For the same reason no one wants you! You pokemon hating weirdo!"

She gasped. "I don't _hate_ pokemon!" She yelled, and Ash rubbed his head.

"Guys." He tried again, feeling his face twitch.

"You hate pokemon and you know it! That's why you don't like that I'm going to be a pokemon researcher!"

"I am a friggin' pokemon ranger, I think I would have to _like_ pokemon to be in that job, don't you!?"

"You only joined the rangers so you could see the world and you know it!"

At that comment, May had grabbed her slightly shorter brother into a headlock, and pressed her knuckle against the top of his scalp with a scowl playing across her face while Ash returned to his feet and with the help of his pokemon, he shouted once more.

"GUYS!" he yelled in unison with togepi, pikachu, and sceptile, successfully ending their charades.

Blushing several shades, May released her brother and took a long look at Ash who was still wheezing from the blow to his stomach, and glaring between the two of them—before he broke into an odd, cheerful chuckle.

"Wow, do you greet everyone like that?" He asked, turning to sceptile and patting the pokemon on the head, the two siblings looked offended, though Max more than May, who covered her face.

"No, just you." Max chimed, huffing his chest out to look bigger than he was, trying to match Ash's height—something no one else had done before. "What's your deal anyways? Sceptile doesn't like other trainers." Max groaned while Ash raised an eyebrow and looked at the younger boy

"Oh." Ash said and glanced at the grass type which rubbed the back of his head. Ash looked once more at Max and then shrugged. "I'm just a likable person, I guess." He grinned, causing Max to flick his glasses.

"Hmph." He started. "Why are you here? The gym's closed."

"Oh Max!" May chimed, wrapping her arm around her brother's shoulders. "Don't be so rude. _Your_ pokemon did just attack him."

Sceptile agreed, as if insisting that he, too, wanted Ash to stick around, and the blue haired trainer's shoulder dropped. He glanced up at May, who seemed overly giddy that a stranger, who was cute by her standards, was finally coming to visit. With dull eyes, Max sighed.

"I'm sorry sceptile tackled you. Would you like to come in for tea...or something?" Max grunted, and while Ash wasn't big on tea, he wouldn't turn down the invitation. Pikachu beat him to the punchline, jumping up on top of sceptile's head, while togepi scaled the five feet from the ground to hop onto Ash's shoulder.

"That would be great, thank you." Ash hummed, getting a strange look from the duo as they raised their eyebrows quizzically at one another in regard to Ash's happy-go-lucky persona.

 **XOXs**

They gathered in the dinning room around the kitchen table where both pokemon, and trainers were welcome to sit. Pikachu and togepi practiced tossing pellets of pokefood into each others mouth, while sceptile warmly spoke with them in hushed tones—where pikachu filled the grass pokemon in on current events, Ash's coma, where Ash has been, and the events that lead up to their traveling to Hoenn.

Meanwhile, Ash spoke with May and Max.

"So, Ash, what brings you so far south?" She hummed, sitting closer to him, though Ash feigned complete obliviousness, a little disturbed that _May_ , his may was hitting on him—the same way he was disturbed when Brock hit on Misty; but to a lesser degree.

Max, who was clearly still upset that sceptile had taken a strong liking to Ash so easily, was brooding on the opposite side of the table.

"Well, I'm looking for special pokemon that I haven't seen in years." he told them honestly, watching Max's face lighten up a little, but watched May's turn into a frown.

"Why? Are you planning on selling them, or something?" She uttered, and this time it was Max who kicked her under the table for wild accusations. Ash blinked, confused.

"Ah, no. Why would I do that?" he asked innocently, Max fidgeted in his seat.

"Poachers are bad here. Every region has 'em, but since battling has been outlawed, poaching is the new thing."

"Poaching?" Ash asked as his eyebrows knit together. "Why would people do that?" He grunted but the siblings shrugged.

"Easy money." The siblings replied in unison, but only Max continued; "Since we can't battle for money, that put a lot of trainers out of cash. They sell pokemon on the black market instead." Max answered as May rose to fetch the steaming tea from the stove. She returned juggling three cups, and the pot to the table.

"That's terrible..." Ash grumbled while he looked at the steam rise from his cup. Max nodded his agreement.

"It is, but that's what happens when the government stops trainers from training."

Ash hummed. "I've been meaning to ask about that, why has a regional ban been placed on pokemon battles?"

May grumbled. "Because coordinators didn't feel like they were getting enough freedom, which means _everyone_ has to suffer." She said unhappily while dropping five teaspoons of sugar into her drink; Ash's eyes went wide as he watched. Max sipped his black, Ash didn't touch his at all.

"Doesn't sound like you like coordinators..." He grumbled, hearing the words himself, speaking to May, it sounded so strange.

She shrugged. "I don't mind them—really, there's only the _one_ in particular I can't stand with his green hair and better-than-thou attitude."

"She has a crush on Drew." Max added after her tangent flatly, with a poker face to rival the gods.

Her face turned scarlet. "I DO NOT, MAX!" She yelled, though Ash snickered in the same way that pikachu did when someone did the same thing to him.

"I didn't know you knew Drew." Ash stammered, and then collected himself. They both narrowed their eyes.

They spoke in unison, a trait Ash was beginning to realize was relevant only to the siblings. "Do you?"

"I might have ran into him while I was in Kanto...and then again when I was visiting Sinnoh."

"You've been to so many places!" May exclaimed looking earnestly at him, though Max shook his head, flabbergasted.

"Are you some kind of pokemon researcher, too?"

"Researcher?" Ash mumbled, scratching his chin. "No, though everyone keeps asking me that." he admit with a grin, watching both of their faces lighten up.

"Tell me, is he as much of an ass in person as he is on television?" May asked with a wagging eyebrow, though Ash could only narrow his eyes.

"I thought he was at first; but he's pretty decent. He saved me from getting punched."

May jerked backwards. "Punched? Are you a hoodlum?" May questioned while sitting back, when her hair moved from her neck, he could see the scar running up the side of her neck behind her ear and Ash blinked at it.

She noticed the stare right away, and covered the late injury with the palm of her hand.

"How did you get that?" Ash asked worriedly, though he already knew the answer. Dr. Abby mentioned that May had been in an accident during the start of the Team Rocket uproar in Hoenn, she just never specified what the accident was.

"It happened a long time ago, it doesn't matter." May mumbled, tucking her hands beneath the table, and glancing away from Ash. He looked to Max for answers instead, but he, too, was looking at the table, which had grown several times more interesting.

Ash paused for a long time, and then blinked up at May once more before smiling. "I had a friend once who told me you should wear your scars like a badge of honor." Ash tried, his words knocking them both out of stun.

"I have a few bad ones myself," he paused to reveal his right arm, which was littered with holes left over from the IV drips he had placed in his arms, and then pulled the color of his shirt down to show the neat vertical scar that he had in his neck when they had him connected to an old-fashioned feeder, which required a pump.

"Where did you get those? Are you a druggy?" Max asked while May stared at his scars with wide eyes.

"No." Ash laughed. "I'm a coma patient. I barely woke up." he said nervously, straightening the collar of his shirt once more while the siblings sat back.

"What's a coma patient doing here?" May asked skeptically, though her mood had clearly softened; relaxed.

"Like I said, I'm looking for special pokemon." Ash looked at sceptile, which had been in his own world with togepi and pikachu, and pat the pokemon's head. "And sceptile is one of those pokemon."

Max sat back. "He always has been a little strange—sleeping at odd hours of the day, whenever he felt like it. Sometimes he would even black out randomly." Max lowered his brows at the pokemon. "The pokemon doctors said he was narcoleptic."

Ash chuckled, grinning; having heard that story twice now, once when Cole described pikachu to him, and now with Max. "I don't doubt that." Ash said confidently.

"But only a few months ago, the sleeping spells suddenly stopped—and he's been perfectly fine."

"Max has been trying to study the phenomenon behind it, but he has no clue." May chimed in, with a grin. "he thinks he is a pokemon researcher." She added and Max felt a red blush crawl onto his cheeks.

"Someday I will be." He growled at May, who in turn rolled her eyes and took another sip of her drink. Ash smiled awkwardly.

"Why can't you be one now?"

"Because pokemon researchers need to study under a professor, and Hoenn doesn't have one right now since battling is outlawed." Max muttered under his breath and kicking on his feet.

"So why not go to another region?" Ash asked with a head tilt.

"Because other professors prefer to have someone from their region since they already know the pokemon." Max hummed with a prevalent sigh. Humming, Ash tapped his fingers on the table.

"I know a pokemon researcher who is always complaining that he needs more help." Ash offered, staring at Max; in turn, he glared at Ash.

"Why would you offer that? You don't even know me." caught in the glare, he realized May had taken the same stance—possibly growing distrust where trust had been forming, so Ash pointed to sceptile; his scapegoat.

"Sceptile likes you, which means I like you, too."

May scoffed at that. "That's a pretty old way of thinking."

"But it's true, isn't it? You can always tell who a person really is by how a pokemon acts around them." Ash said quickly, crossing his arms in his defense while togepi and pikachu nodded their agreements before returning to their business with sceptile.

Astonished, Max leaned forward. "Which professor?"

"Professor Oak, but I call him Gary. He's the new one from Kanto."

May clapped her hands together. "The cute one!"

Both men stared flatly at her, unimpressed as their lips pursed questionably while she rolled her eyes and sat forward on her crossed arms.

"I need girl friends." She hummed under her breath.

"You could ask him for me?" Max questioned, returning the conversation back to Ash,

The raven-haired boy nodded. "I can. I can also give him your number so that you can call him yourself." Ash twitched. "I'm not sure how friendly he would be though...but it doesn't hurt to ask." Ash admit while rubbing the back of his head. Max nodded eagerly.

"It doesn't! Thank you, Ash!"

"No problem, Max." Ash hummed naturally.

"That's funny." May mocked, eyelashes lowered. "We never told you his name."

Ash's face fell and he looked at the siblings who had so artfully played him. He blinked a few times, and then shook his head.

"What?" Ash questioned bitterly while May pursed her lips.

"What are you really here for, Ash? You're not from that stupid gang that tried breaking in last week, are you?" She grunted lowly, in the same voice Ash associated with Misty when she was angry. Ash shook his head, insulted.

"No. Why would _I_ do that?"

"Because the gym leaders have been at some stupid meeting for the last month? Everyone thinks they can do whatever they want to the gyms now." Max grunted, crossing his arms. "Besides, look at your arms. You're probably just trashed and trying to steal money."

Ash narrowed his eyes. "Excuse me?" insulted, he growled, and in return, sceptile also rose to defend the trainer, alerting Max and May. Both pikachu and togepi rose as well to face the siblings.

"I understand that bad things have happened, but I'm not trying to steal from you." he paused, "I'm trying to help you." He added for effect, but May and Max looked at him defensively.

"Then how did you know Max's name?"

It would have been easy to lie, _"I heard it when you screamed at him earlier_ " or, _"The gym leaders kids are well known around here_ ", but instead, Ash took a seat calmly and placed his hands on the table.

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me." He offered in spite of himself, and pikachu sat back.

"pika pikachu." The pokemon muttered, questioning Ash who shushed him.

"Try us." Max and May said once more in unison, clearly impressed by his composure.

Ash smiled faintly and swallowed, remembering as clear as day what happened with Brock. But now, he was visiting with Misty, and working together—maybe the same thing could happen with these two?

..What was the worst that could honestly happen? "Well... like I said, the short form would be to say that I was in a coma for ten years and...I had dreams that resembled the real world, and real world people." Ash glanced at sceptile, who bowed his agreement. "In those dreams, you two were in it, and so was sceptile, and a bunch of other people and pokemon—the pokemon I met in that world seem to remember me, like sceptile, but I've learned that the people, you guys, have no idea who I am—crazy, huh?" out loud, it sounded crazy, and he knew that, so he had prepared himself for their denials the same way that Brock had, but instead, they looked at him.

"...No, we've heard crazier." Max hummed, smiling.

"At least you were honest." May added while running her hand through her bandana.

Ash's face fell. "What?" He gaped.

"That's not uncommon, a lot of people have dreams like that—maybe it's not as famous in other regions, but Hoenn has many cultures that view dreams as a part of reality." Max muttered, straightening his glasses to prevent a gleam.

"Really?" Ash asked. "So you two don't think I'm crazy?" his voice pitched cheerfully, but May snickered.

"I think your crazy." She said sardonically while lifting a finger. Max rolled his eyes.

"I think it's interesting, and if that's what you believe—who am I to say that you're crazy?"

"You just like him because he has friends in high places." May mocked him, while she pinched Max's cheek. He glowered, and squirmed from his sisters touch.

"I do not!" He squealed, rubbing his cheek painstakingly while Ash smiled in return.

"...You guys." He hummed, closing his eyes. "Thank you."

 **XOXS**

Ash was happy to admit that the fourth and fifth numbers that he was able to add to his pokedex belonged to May and Max. While they weren't _his_ versions of the duo, they were still closely related. They were still who he remembered them as, the same way Dawn, Brock, and Misty were. Enough of the same, but different.

In the end, he chose to leave sceptile with Max. Not because he wouldn't have enjoyed the pokemon's company—but because Max needed him more right now. The way it sounded to Ash, Hoenn wasn't exactly the safest area in the world, and he would be damned before leaving the two with no protection at all.

He dusted off the grass pokemon, and as a parting gift, removed his hat and tipped it onto the pokemon's head.

"Watch out for them, okay? You seem to have been doing a good job of that, anyways...but... I did miss you." Ash said confidently while the pokemon moved forward to hug his former trainer. May and Max watched the scene amusingly. The sun faded into the background as Ash parted with the pokemon so that pikachu and togepi could share their goodbyes.

"You know," May said with a charming smile. "You can visit whenever you like." She wagered with a joking wiggle in her eyebrow. Ash laughed awkwardly and took a step back.

"I think I'll be okay," He rejected her, watching her left cheek puff up in a pout. He continued, "but in the meantime, I'll call Gary about that understudy, Max." Ash said quickly while putting his hands on his hips. Max smiled and nodded.

"Thanks, I would appreciate that." he said while he watched Ash shoulder pikachu and togepi, and start back down the path leading into the Petalburg Woods.

"Hey, good luck Ash!" May cried while cupping her mouth with her hands. Ash waved at them with a grin on his face and Max felt a weird chill run down his spine.

"...He was a _little_ familiar, wasn't he?" Max uttered, breaking the ice between him and his sister. May stared silently for a moment, and then smiled with her eyes closed.

"Do you think maybe that's why you believed such a crazy story?" May laughed while fanning herself and walking back into the gym, knowing that she missed her 'date' with Bianca, and would likely never hear the end of it. Max stomped his feet.

"It wasn't a _crazy_ story!" Max argued.

"So you believed him?"

"At least he was harmless, besides, sceptile liked him!" Max chanted, pointing to the pokemon for emphasis as it laughed at his trainer. May cleaned her ear with her pinky finger in a mocking way, and narrowed her eyes.

"If you say so."

In the distance, Ash could still hear them bickering, and shook his head, laughing at the two of them as he tapped the pokeball to release charizard. Where soon enough, he would be on his way to the Orange islands.

 **Author's Note**

Next chapter should be up late tomorrow (my time) or sunday morningish~ I ended up combining the end of last chapter and the beginning of the next chapter for this one.

I'm not entirely sure if this resonates to the Japanese original, but one of May's first observations of Ash is that he's "cute". And like Misty, without Ash around she probably still kept parts of her personality that Ash specifically helped change; so I included it in.

Furthermore, treecko was caught in the petalburg woods, which is (shocker) right next to petalburg gym, I don't doubt that a picky pokemon like treecko wouldn't have allowed another trainer to capture it outside of someone he knew already; and I always found that treecko and Max got along really well in the anime so... yeah. -dies-

Regarding May and Max's belief in Ash's dream. Just based on their character personalities, they are the two that I could see going: "Okay, yeah, I don't care if your crazy so long as you're a decent person." you know? They don't have a position of power like Brock, where they have to think about whether or not someone is trying to get something from them, and they're not in a seat of high popularity like Dawn, either. I dunno, I thought it worked for them.

Had quite a few time skips in here, as well; so I hope nothing was confusing.


	28. Chapter 28:Melt down

**Locked Away, Chapter 28**

With what money he could manage, he took a boat from the shore of Petalburg City, and head east to the Orange Islands which were located beneath Kanto and Johto. The boat ride had taken all of the evening, and through the early morning of the next day. It was noon when Valencia island came into view, but it was well after 1:00pm by the time they docked.

Ash spent most of his time on the boat speaking to several guest passengers about the Orange Islands, though he discovered shortly after bombarding a few people with questions that _most_ of the passengers stuck their nose at him, though he couldn't imagine why—he was showered!

"The seven grapefruit islands?" Some guy Ash had been speaking with muttered while they both shuttled off their boat. By the tone of his voice, Ash could tell that he was only being friendly because he had to. Each individual showed off their passports or pokedex as they exited the vessel as a form of identification and Ash budged the man once more.

"Don't bother me with stupid questions!" the man finally snorted with an eye roll. While scooping up his vacationing bags, he skipped through the dock, ignoring any further questions from Ash who was left to wander.

"Well at least give me a chance to explain..." Ash mumble disheartened as the wave of people rushing past him nearly toppled him over the edge of the boardwalk and into the water.

"Togeee." The egg squealed in fear from within Ash's backpack, looking onward at the bustling crowd of people as Ash forced his way through the crowd, getting jerked around at each corner. Pikachu walked at Ash's feet, getting kicked around as well several times before a shoved Ash finally managed to wrangle the pokemon into his arms, and escape to a bench at the side of the dock, away from passengers.

Valencia Island was full of tourists! But not only that, they all wore shorts, hawaiian t-shirts, flip flops and large, floppy hats. They were vacationing, and unless his mind was playing tricks on him, most of them consisted of the upper-class citizens. They wore gold necklaces, designer swimsuits and diamond earrings with their tacky apparel, and everyone had someplace more important to be than the shore, but that didn't mean they had to push him! Ash wasn't invisible.

Sparking electricity from his red cheeks while pawing at his face where a shoe had promptly kicked him, pikachu snarled.

"Pikapika." the mouse mused angrily while Ash nodded. The mouse suggested leaving before he lost his temper, and Ash was well on his way there.

"We will just go out this way. Hold on guys." Ash offered while pointing over the railing where he promptly began to climb over the metal walls and into the city located behind it.

Once over and on his feet, it felt as if he left the ocean, and stepped right back into Saffron City. Large buildings loomed over him in every direction, blocking the sun, and trees, and everything, mostly. Cars whizzed in front of where he landed, blowing his hat off of his head where he began the chase. A short dash later, he snagged the hat directly out of on coming traffic, where he lurched backwards to avoid being hit himself—the driver then honked at him, screaming unpleasant words at the pokemon trainer.

"Gee, thanks. I'm okay." Ash grumbled to himself while brushing off said hat, which had only been cleaned a few days ago before he left Petalburg City. Since he hadn't trekked through any forests, and he had a own room on the shuttle boat, he managed to keep clean—but now, he wondered if that was worth it. Maybe the stench of wilderness would have fended so many people off. Grumbling, he shifted the backpack on his back, and started forward through the island.

"Well, we'll just look around... Maybe find a map of the area." Ash grimaced while dashing across a street quickly when he was given the walking signal. Drivers all seemed so angry, he didn't want to give them a reason to simply run him over. Instead, he hurried forward, following the signs to "down town" Valencia, which cordially brought him to billboards which reflected a famous artist he knew well.

"Pikapi!" The pokemon on his shoulder exclaimed, pointing his small paw to a rather familiar image plastered over a billboard. When Ash looked up, he saw that across the billboard was a golden, shadowed flying pokemon, with a bright rainbow painted behind it. His mouth fell agape as he looked forward.

"That's Tracey's work. I remember that from the hospital." Ash grimaced, making a note of the address located at the bottom right corner of the painting. Pikachu squealed in response, alerting togepi who had popped its head out of Ash's backpack to view the area that they walked through.

"Pika!" Ash looked at the yellow rodent and stuffed his hands into his pocket as they started toward the direction the signs plastered on the walls led him.

"I didn't know that you remembered that rainbow pokemon as well, pikachu..." Ash hummed, and then smiled as he walked forward, letting his spirits rise as they moved further away from the crowd of angry island dwellers. "Maybe Tracey can tell us more about it, huh, buddy?"

 **XOXs**

As he walked the two blocks north, turning when signs told him to until he stared at a large, expansive manor, guarded with large, royal-looking gates, and men in dark suits. Ash tugged on his collar, feeling a bit put out by the appearance of the building and made his way forward slowly. Maybe they were friendly?

At the closed gates, two large men stood with shaded sunglasses on, and dull expressions over their faces. They remained stoic even as Ash waved at them for their attention, and he rubbed his arms nervously. Ash rubbed his neck and cleared his throat before providing the duo with his best smile.

"Hello." Ash started, receiving no immediate reply. He scoffed. "Is this where I can meet Tracey?" He tried, but again, no one answered him—only the sound of fluttering wind and brustling trees in the distance.

Patience lost, Ash threw his fists down. "Hello!?" he shouted, to which one of the guards pointed at a sign to the left of him that distinctly read: "Sketchit studio".

Blowing out air of frustration Ash narrowed his eyes. "Thanks." he tossed before walking to the sign, accidentally interfering with several photos that were being taken by girl tourists around his age, maybe younger. His face scrunched up, though not bitterly. If he couldn't get answers from the guards, maybe these girls would know. He gave them a charming smile and titled his head in the direction of the manor.

"What's so special about him?" Ash asked the females.

"Like, everything! He's a great artist who has scene the most rare pokemon!"

"He's a pokemon annalyst!"

"It's his job to watch pokemon!" Behind the loudest girl, the others joined in like a chant, and Ash took a firm step backwards and then retreated quickly away from the fan girls.

On his retreat, Ash decided that he should sneak around the corner and get a look inside. If he's lucky, maybe he could talk with Tracey, avoid the guards, and the girls outside.

Pikachu is his scout as he jumped the south wall into the manor's fortress. There were no guards around that either could see, so with some forced stealth, and rolling behind a few bushes to avoid being seen, Ash moved forward to look into the buildings windows—maybe check to see if one was open. His heart pounded at the his ribs while he manuevered the latch of the window.

"Bingo." He mumbled while lifting the door very slightly, though he froze the moment he felt a large, heavy hand on on his shoulder. Ash looked up to see the face of a burly guard looking down at him unimpressed, and he offered his best smile.

"...Hi?" he tried, but the guard picked him up by the scruff of his jacket, and dragged him back to the main gates with only little effort.

"If we catch you snooping around again, we will inform the police. That's your first warning kid!" The guard bellowed, throwing him with one lunge.

Ash landed hard against the concrete and rolled over to look at pikachu who had crawled onto his chest apologetically—obviously, the mouse was _not_ a good look out. He should have asked togepi instead.

"Thanks for that pikachu." Ash grunted while sitting up. "You alright togepi?" He asked, referring to the egg that had most likely been squished in his backpack.

"Bri..." the egg groaned from within and Ash let out a weak laugh as he rose, dusted off his jeans and looked once more at the guard who seemed _a_ little happier now that they had the opportunity to throw someone out.

 _Nice guys_. Ash thought bitterly while rolling his eyes and smirking at his own inability to be stealthy. Oh well, he didn't come to Valencia island to find Tracey—though that would have been a nice cherry on top of his ice ream. No, his next destination was The Seven Grapefruit island to look for Snorlax, a small group of islands far to the east of Valencia.

 **XOXs**

Ash didn't investigate once he was flying on top of charizard, but he was able to see a scar left on the island where he distinctly remembered Professor Ivy's lab. Her laboratory sat at the tip of the island, dark and abandoned. The building was a shell, but it was also warded off by caution tape and police barricades; as curious as he was, he wasn't ready to break the law.

Shortly after, he was headed east, but found the further he flew the less he saw—the islands were few and far in between. If he remembered correctly, there were many more islands, and he had checked on his pokedex previously—they weren't supposed to be too far apart, nothing that charizard couldn't handle.

...yet, he seemed to fly forever with no end in sight.

"Hang a right here, lets go towards Mandarin island to the south—we don't want to get lost out here." Ash hummed, feeling the sun on his back as charizard roared in response, and turned elegantly mid-flight, spreading his wings out.

Ash couldn't have been sure, but since he started riding on charizard frequently, he felt the pokemon's muscles building under his weight, the dragons wings seems to stretch just a little farther, and his head seemed to grow the slightest bit taller with each passing day. Needless to say, their journey had been kind to many of them—but none as much as Charizard. He was becoming a beast.

By twilight, he landed on the northern side of Mandarin island, onto a small boardwalk that _wasn't_ full of rude, hustling people. Once landed, he returned charizard to rest, and found his way to a pokemon center to rejuvenate the dragon. Ash hums cheerfully as he shoulders pikachu and togepi, taking in the salty smell of the ocean as he trekked along the beach front town and toward the large pokemon center sign.

Once there, he waved to the nurse who had been reading a book behind the counter, and smiled widely at Ash.

"Hello, how can we help you?" Ash hummed in response, and removed charizard's pokeball.

"I need to heal him, and get some information"

"Sure! Let's just get him set up first, okay?" The green-haired nurse took charizard's ball, and turned back to a machine where she placed the ball down onto a bowl shaped platter, and watched as it began to glow. She turned to Ash, and smiled.

"What can I help you with?" She asked sweetly while Ash leaned over the counter and smacked his lips.

"Ahh, I was just wondering if you could give me a rough estimate of where the Seven Grapefruit Islands were?" he asked while giving her an earnest smile. However, her smile faded quickly and she placed her hands over her chest.

"Oh dear...What did you need to see those islands for?" She asked gently while Ash blinked, glancing at pikachu and then to togepi who both shrugged.

"I'm looking for my lost snorlax...did something happen?" He muttered quietly, and the nurse exhaled.

"A few years ago—well, nine years ago now, a massive tsunami ruptured from shamuti island and flooded many of those islands..." She paused. "That's when the Orange islands revoked it's privilege an official region." She smiled at Ash weakly and shook her head as charizard's ball beeped at her to alert that it was finished.

"We don't get a lot of trainers in here that don't know that." The nurse added bitterly, staring at Ash's awestruck face as he took charizard's pokeball and looked out into the ocean.

"I haven't been around much..." Ash grumbled while giving his thanks to the nurse, paying his fee, and leaving the pokemon center.

For awhile, he walked the path around the island, keeping his eyes trained on one island in the distance that seemed to remain tall. Moro island, Ash guessed, as he tossed charizard's pokeball up and down. If he left now, he would make it to the island by nightfall, which meant he would be sleeping on the soil—but, that could give him more time to find snorlax as well.

...it was a long shot, but Ash had done more with less.

 **XOXS**

When he arrived on the small island, he circled around a few times as the sun set in the distance, and found perch when charizard landed gracefully into an open field. Ash decided to set up camp, including a large fire so wild pokemon would flee, and fed togepi, pikachu, and charizard. While waiting to see if they would be approached by snorlax, Ash spoke to his companions about their journey so far. They joked, and laughed and before long, they had fallen asleep around the fire, the tropical weather warm enough so that Ash did not have to use a sleeping bag. Togepi curled under his right arm, and pikachu took the familiar perch on Ash's chest while charizard wrapped a protective wing over Ash, and drifted into sleep.

Ash fell asleep first, which wasn't often, his pokemon would occasionally stay up—talk about their travels before; share stories with the baby togepi of grand tales of adventure. Charizard liked to share the ones about squirtle the most, both real and dream land. Their chatter never seemed to affect Ash, who slept quietly on the dirt. But they could never express in words how wonderful it was to be together again after so many years.

Morning arrived early the next day, startling the travelers with a large snore that ruptured any chance the pokemon or trainer had of sleeping. Ash looked up, his tired eyes squinting to see slanted eyes staring down at him from the form of a large, plushy pokemon and Ash's stomach lurched as he shambled to his feet. His mouth was dry when he spoke.

"Snorlax?" Ash tried, swallowing hard against the lump in his throat, it almost seemed like the pokemon would eat him. "It's me, Ash. Do you remember me?" He tried, owrried that for a moment it _wasn't_ his snorlax, at least until he saw the snorlax fall backwards beside the camp fire, and sprawl out, passing out once more.

Ash grinned. "You don't change do you?" He asked the pokemon which was larger than two charizard's side by side.

 **XOXs**

A week after his time at the Orange islands, Ash's next goal was north east, to Unova.

However, to get there, he was going to need to catch a ride from Pastoria City in Sinnoh, which required that Ash spend the better part of the week hopping ships to Sinnoh since he did not feel comfortable flying with charizard anywhere near the north country.

Once there, he had few problems going from the dock to the next boat which was stationed where the ship leading to Unova used to be. He paid for his tickets without looking, since he wanted to be in and out of Sinnoh as quickly as possible, and found shuttle onto the docked ship.

When Ash was seated on the small boat, sharing the large passenger area with several other residents of the ship, he found many angry trainers and non-trainers. The news was showing once again the large Sunnyshore City pokemon compound burning, as a news anchor phrased the damaged.

Citizens were mad for a reason—the act of arson was treated as a terroist attach by radicals, and taxes were going up to implement higher security at all pounds, not just the rebuilding of the Sunnyshore compound.

His good deed ended up causing more problems for citizens and pokemon alike. They were no 'reinforcing' the compounds so that another gruesome, 'terroist' attack wouldn't happen. What a way to make him feel like he did a wonderful thing—only to learn his goodness was destroyed by the cruel nature of politics.

"They couldn't just leave it alone! They should have known something like this would happen!" A girl muttered from her seat at the boat before walking away in a huff. Ash watched her sadly, and then hung his head while he stroke pikachu, who felt equally as guilty for allowing his trainer to go through with such a poorly thought out plan.

There would be consequences for his action—but he was thinking that those consequences would be _better_ for the pokemon, not _worse_. He could only imagine what chimchar felt like while he was sitting at Gary's laboratory. Hopefully, Gary wasn't giving him too hard of a time.

Unable to sit still as the boat left harbor, Ash rose to his feet, and promptly followed after the woman with purple hair, who let everyone else know her opinion on the matter.

"What do you mean they should have known this would happen?" Ash asked her as he moved to the railing where she was looking over. Her pale skin reflected the water against her face, and her hair fell into her eyes as she sighed.

"They always do this, take something small and turn it into _another_ reason to control us all..." The woman muttered as her eyes filled with mirth. Ash sighed in agreement.

"Why does this happen?"

"Hell if I know." The woman added while standing up right. "Sorry, I'm being rude... My name is Burgundy." She said, offering her hand to Ash. He took it happily and smiled up at her. This was another woman he knew, more importantly, a woman from Unova.

"My name is Ash." he smiles in return, watching her face light up.

"Well it's nice to meet you, Ash! What brings you to this side of the world with a pikachu?"

Ash looked down at his friend, the number one tell of his home region, Kanto. "I'm going to Unova, to look for some missing pokemon. What about you, Burgundy?" He asked in a chiper tone, but his voice did not carry to the woman whose face was full of shock.

"...Is.. is that a joke?" She asked, to which Ash watched her with surprise, his shoulders ruffling.

"...no?" Ash paused. "What do you mean?"

"You can't go to Unova." Burgundy informed him flatly while he narrowd his eyes in response, obviously confused.

"...uh..." He started, "Why not?"

She shook her head, raising her eyebrows. "Have you been living under a rock? Unova has been quantined since the war. No one is allowed on shore."

Ash's mouth fell open in disbelief as he scoffed. "That hasn't been mentioned anywhere. Why aren't other leagues told this?"

Burgundy shrugged. "It's a need to know basis, I suppose?" She muttered, looking longingly at the large island that they could see from the distance. Ash's face scrunched up as he twisted his arms around his chest and glowered. He remembered very clearly what Dr. Abby had told him about Iris and Cilan, about the damage caused to Unova during the worst part of the war with Team Rocket, but he had no idea people weren't _allowed_ to enter anymore.

"So, then, where is this boat going?"

"Paris, I believe." She muttered.

"But the sign said..."

"I know, they never bothered to change it. Some people view it as a tribute..." She looked down sadly once more. "I look at it is a terrible memory..."

"You're from there, aren't you?" Ash tried, leaning on his palm while the woman nodded.

"Yeah." was all she added, Ash looked onward at the island, staring longingly at the shadow.

"Do you know why...?"

"There's lots of rumors." Burgundy muttered pathetically before shaking her head. "But it doesn't matter. It's not home anymore." She said quietly, leaving Ash staring into the distance.

Misty mentioned Unova once or twice, but she never mentioned that people were not allowed there—that the league had been disbanded, that the champion was gone; but never that it was closed off to the rest of the world.

His finger itched, it sounded _suspicious_ , and he was going in the wrong direction if he wanted to reach Unova. Checking over his shoulder, Ash gripping the railing tight, and inhaled.

"Hang on guys..." He grumbled. "We're going overboard."

Against his better judgment, Ash shifted togepi into his arms, zipped up the water proof backpack that Misty purchased for him at the start of his journey, and stuffed his hat into his back pocket once again. He placed togepi into his jacket before zipping his hoodie, and then looked at pikachu with determined eyes. The pokemon always matched Ash's bravery—or stupidity.

"Hang on pikachu." Ash told the pokemon as he took one large breath, and plunged himself over the railing.

Ash hit the blue water with a crash, his arms spreading the water gently as he maneuvered to the surface, his clothes felt heavy, but he was able to float to the top, even against the pressure of the boats rapids.

He shook his head once, the waves splashing into his face as he unzipped his jacket to allow togepi to float to the surface. The small pokemon coughed several times while he smiled down at it with chattering teeth.

"No problem, huh?" he mumbled, shivering at the temperature of the water—it was much colder than he remembered it.

"pikapika." his friend pointed to the boat as it left and Ash gave a brief yawn, before nodding himself.

"We'll wait until they're out of view to summon charizard. After that, we'll check out what's so scary about Unova." He grinned, impressed with his plan, though togepi and pikachu both seemed unimpressed with his decision to _swim_ in the middle few the ocean.

Catching on, he rolled his eyes and stroked a few times toward the island in the distance. "Oh, c'mon, a swim will be good for us." He tried in his most confident voice, in an attempt to cheer his pokemon up—but one was an electric type, and the other an egg. They weren't exactly the _best_ companions to take into the water.

 **XOXs**

Ash summoned charizard around early evening to fly them close to the region in question. To be honest though, the island was _much_ further than Ash remembered it. Where it was only a speck on the boat before, it was a huge continent now, the region was attached to a larger piece of land, and while Ash was amazed—the night sky didn't offer him enough light to see the objects at shore. Unlike the other regions, when at nighttime all few the cities seemed like fireflies in the distance, Unova was dark. Isolated. The entire region was on lock down, and not a single light twinkled back at him as charizard swooped closer to the surface.

"I can't see anything..." Ash grunted. "Do you think you should use flame thrower?" He asked while looking down. In the distance, he could see the shape of buildings, even more towers—but they were all concealed beneath the dark blankets of night.

In response, charizard roared, and his tail flame grew brighter while togepi and pikachu in Ash's backpack spoke quietly amongst themselves. The bright flame illuminated some of the distant objects—but they looked _strange_ almost like weapons.

When he heard the whiz of an object fly past his head, his fears became a reality.

They didn't just _look_ like weapons, the entire shore was lined with whale guns.

"Charizard fly up into the air, get out of their reach!" Ash screamed, wrapping his arms around the pokemon's neck, but as charizard went to narrow his wing span to fly upward once more, another harpoon flew directly at them, hooking past Ash, and directly into Charizard's right wing.

The pokemon lurched, letting out a cry of intense pain as Ash, togepi and pikachu were thrown off with a loud scream when the pokemon jerked in attempt to free himself. Ash had been falling with his arms spread out to grab at togepi and pikachu who fell from his backpack from the velocity of the spin. He swung his arms out to grab them, pikachu ducked and grabbed onto his collar while he snatched charizard's pokeball and pointed the item, towards him, the red beam hitting him the very moment another harpoon would have punctured charizard.

When his head spun back around to look at the surface below, sheer panic filled his chest when he realized they _weren't_ over the gentle protection of water anymore, and land was coming fast.

"Hold on guys!" Ash screamed, though it was togepi who wailed in Ash's arms, letting out a soft, scream before a bright light illuminated the night sky, and they were teleported a few miles out once more, above water where they landed with a loud splash.

"Cha!" The rodent whined as it threw its ears back upon reaching the surface, he swam around slowly, looking for Ash or togepi—the egg rose to the top first, using the natural boyant force of its body ro float as it chirped childishly for Ash, who hadn't resufaced. Togepi could not swim, as it's anatomy prevented it from doing so, but that did not stop it from trying as both pokemon scowered the area.

"Pika!" the mouse called for his trainer, swimming back and forth desperately as bubbles rose to the surface shortly after, Ash's dark, damp hair poking from the water seconds later, followed by a loud gasp of air.

"Brrii!" the egg cried to Ash, waving its arms in relief as pikachu raced to his trainer.

"That was a close one." Ash mumbled, hacking on the salt water he accidentally swallowed. In the middle of the ocean, he looked to his right, and to his left, seeing nothing but darkness on either side—and one very large angry island that was off limits.

What the hell had just happened?

 **XOXS**

Returning to Unova was not going to happen, since neither he, or his pokemon felt like becoming living kabobs, but they were suffering a whole different problem outside of nearly being harpooned.

Ash felt the pain in his side long before pikachu pointed out the trail of blood that was leaking from his abdomen. When that bolt crossed with charizard, a portion of it nicked Ash, though he struggled to think of a way to dress the wound in the _middle_ of the _ocean_. The dark, thoughtless ocean, at that.

"Pikaa." Pikachu moaned from his place beside Ash's head as the raven-haired boy floated on his back, staring blankly into the clouded skies. Togepi was standing on his chest since the pokemon was light enough to prevent him from sinking below water, but it struggled to stay on without help from Ash's jacket.

"I know." Ash hummed mutely in response, a wave rushing against his face, keeping him awake. The cold had all but robbed him of the feeling in most of his limbs, but he was lucky the water was so calm. If those clouds above turned into storm clouds, he would surely drown.

...That was something to think about.

 _Drowning_. After so many hours recovering, trying to recollect the pieces of his lost life—to die here, in the middle of the ocean because of his own reckless behavior was almost poetic. He smirked in spite of himself, his left eye twitching. It was ironic in the worst of ways, he always thought he would die in a fire, or an explosion. Another brush of the waves rocked against his flesh, and Ash let out a frustrated breath that made togepi fall on his back of his shell.

"Toge bri?" The egg muttered quietly, asking if Ash was alright while rolling back onto his feet. Ash inhaled once more. He didn't have an answer for that.

Misty's words echoed in his mind like daggers.

 _"You could die". S_ he wasn't wrong, he _could_ die.

He had come so far, and was probably going to drown because of curiosity.

Ash inhaled, wincing at the pity he felt for himself—how _pathetic_ it sounded. Until now, his way of coping was to keep moving forward at a constant, never slowing pace, and for once, that thought process hit him in the face with a full fist of karma. If he had waited, researched a little bit about Unova before deciding to jump _off_ of a ship, he wouldn't be _here_.

"Bri..." The pokemon on his chest cooed to him, reminding him that the egg and pikachu were still here, waiting on his reply to his question. Ash's brown eyes turned to said pokemon one at a time.

 _"Are you okay?"_

The egg was shadowed, barely visible, but he could make out the dark eyes of the pokemon, as if it had read his thoughts and Ash's breath hitched in his throat. Extending his hand from the water beside him, he maneuvered his fingers to brush to egg pokemon's face affectionately, and heaved a sigh. Droplets of water ran into togepi's eggshell, causing a brief shudder and whine while pikachu gasped, keeping his head above water. Ash pinched the bridge of his nose, tasting the salty water against his lips.

When he went out on a limb like this, he wasn't just screwing with his own life anymore—he wasn't some lost ten year old boy wandering through the world without a goal anymore, he was Ash Ketchum. He had friends in this world that would weep to see him leave it. More importantly, as small, and insignificant as it seemed in comparison to his great imaginative world, he had a _life here_.

Ash swallowed, closed his eyes and then exhaled, chuckling at himself. 2What a time to be philosophical. When he should have been thinking of a way to survive, he couldn't stop thinking about the life he lacked.

He never thought about it, not really. When he had to think, he was always thinking about his next destination, his next goal with no end in sight. It was easier that way, moving forward, pretending his issues weren't as grand as they seemed. Naturally, Ash had never thought about what came next. He flirted with the idea on several occasions—Misty brought it up herself before he left on his journey, but even then, he didn't _have_ to decide, the decision was always made for him.

What would he do after he recovered? He worked for Misty. After that? He found his mom. What would he do after he found his mom? That question was answered by the call of his pokemon. Up until _now_ , he never _truly_ had to think about what the next step was; where he would go from here.

Well, Ash rolled his eyes sarcastically, from _here_ his best option seemed like doing everything possible to avoid a watery grave.

...but, what was he supposed to do _after_ this? Stop Team Rocket?

He wasn't even _sure_ there was a Team Rocket—for all he knew, he was just trying to find _another_ simple solution, _another_ way to run from his outstanding problems. Ash's face scrunched up, his thoughts jarring feeling into his otherwise numbing body.

This world was _complicated_ and _cold_ and _gray_. Nothing like he remembered it, but it was the world he belonged to. It was as much a part of him now as he was of it—to suddenly leave would be heartbreaking.

Air filled Ash's lungs, remembering everything he had done since leaving the assisted living home. His reckless behavior which resulted in massive bruises, two major fires, a few minor ones in Johto, a riot in Hoenn and most _recently_ his lifeless body floating endlessly in the vast nothingness of a cold, unkind ocean. His body twisted. Brock was convinced Team Rocket was involved in Kanto, and since this was the world Ash belonged to, he _wanted_ to help. He _wanted_ to have his own life, even outside of that, maybe his own pokemon journey in this new world, or the chance to make new friends. Maybe the chance to make amends with his mother and work out their problems. See parts of the world he hadn't gotten the chance to see before... Meet pikachu's family, teach Cole to battle. Figure out what the hell these weird _feelings_ were for the redhead.

He wanted to _live! T_ here may have _always_ been another mountain to climb, but that was _apart_ of living. And if living without his friends _killed_ him inside, he could only imagine what such a thing would do to the friends _he made_ now _._ So he couldn't stop, he couldn't drift, and he couldn't give up. Not yet, not after so much!

His heart pounded rapidly in his chest, though not from a surge of emotion, rather from adrenaline pushing through his veins once more as his eyes turned to focus on the the task of swimming.

Misty worried enough about him as it was, he didn't want to think what _dying_ would do to her; what that would do to him if the situation were reversed. What would pikachu and togepi do? They were with him right now, suffering along side him every step of the way—and he never even had to ask. His face flushed as he spread out his arms and kicked his feet out to adjust his back to a position he could reach his pokeball belt.

On his person, he had charizard, a pokeball for togepi and another for pikachu, totdoile, and snorlax. Most were non-swimmers, and charizard was more than just injured, he needed to get the dragon to a pokemon center as soon as possible. Pokeballs might have _slowed_ the decay rate, but he was sure that if left unattended, charizard would be _another_ name crossed off his list.

Ash couldn't let that happen.

Bravely, Ash twisted his fingers behind him, grabbed a small red and white ball, and silently prayed that this would work. He raised his hand to the sky, grabbed a hold of pikachu and togepi who had been relatively quiet since he began sulking, and the red beam of the pokeball releasing ignited the area around them with a glorious blaze of red. From the pokeball, snorlax emerged, causing a splash that drove Ash's head below water. He didn't think to breath before sinking, so he took in a mouthful of salt water that he promptly spit back out upon reaching the surface.

In front of him, however, snorlax had fallen into a sort of panic—wondering how it was that he was in the middle of a dark ocean when Ash called out to him.

"Relax! We need to float on you so we can find land and not freeze to death." Ash hissed, knowing well that totodile simply didn't have the size to carry Ash now. The large pokemon glanced over to Ash, watching through his slanted, beady eyes, and gave a soft growl of approval before laying back, puffing out his belly, and floating.

With a sigh of relief, Ash tossed pikachu up first, followed by togepi so that the mouse could catch him, and then slowly climbed up himself, until he was seated at the center of snorlax's large belly. Ash took up the majority, but it was enough to clear his head. He rested his hand on the pokemon's chest, who didn't seem to mind Ash's weight.

"Thank's buddy. I owe you after this." He grumbled while hanging his head. Shortly after, he pat togepi's head and smiled softly. "And thanks to you, too. That was quick thinking to use metronome like that." He assured the pokemon as pikachu squeaked his agreement. Togepi smiled as well, and chirped excitedly for the first time since leaving route eight.

For a moment, he stared at the two pokemon who had followed him without complaint through five regions, and his lip quivered. Exhaling, he grabbed the two of them, ignoring the shooting pain from his side and squeezed the two of them.

"Thank you both, so much."

"Chhaaa~" The mouse gasped as togepi happily buried his head into Ash's welcoming chest. They remained like that for a moment, enjoying the warm, thanking the heavens they survived one more time before Ash set them back down with a sigh.

"Now..." Ash muttered as he looked down at the cut embedded into his right torso.

Red lines oozed from where his shirt had done little to protect him, and he pressed his fingers against the wound to address the depth of the injury. Wincing as he traced the crescent shaped injury, he sighed in relief to discover that it was no more than a scratch—a scratch that hurt like hell.

"Pikapika." The pokemon directed while tugging on Ash's backpack.

Ash nodded, following pikachu's instruction and pulled out the red scarf that togepi had used since it was an egg, and sighed.

"Sorry, Mist." He muttered bitterly while lifting his shirt, and then using the length of the scarf to wrap his waist twice, tightly. He couldn't see the real extent of the damage—but stitches were no doubt something that he needed.

"Toge." the pokemon said while crawling into Ash's lap as he used the flat of his palm to apply pressue. He slumped over, narrowing his eyes to see any form of life, and then gave a brief exhale.

"That will just have to do for now, we need to figure out a way out of here." He fished for his pokedex from his back pocket, only to find that the object in question was no longer there and gave a loud, pessimistic growl.

"Great."

Misty and Gary would be _thrilled_ to hear that he _already_ lost _that_.

 **XOXs**

Brock rambled on the phone while Misty looked over her notes from her most recent exam. He talked about conspiracies, more more importantly, he complained about the new tax rate that would be effecting trainers in order to reinforce the pokemon compounds. She hadn't told a soul that this was thanks to Ash, she was too scared that she would be linked to the incident, so instead; she listened to Brock spin tells about pokemon rioters, and how they probably hired an expert to destroy the facility when everyone else was asleep.

Right, Ash was an expert and she was his accomplice. She rolled her eyes once more. It wasn't an expert job, far from it, he got _lucky_. Again.

Sighing as she hummed her goodbyes to the busy gym leader, she rested her phone on the desk beside her in the small, dainty dorm room she was forced to live in while attending class, and leaned back in her chair.

She hadn't heard from Ash since a week ago, when a blurb of emoticons and gibberish came her way—it wasn't hard for her to discern that it was pikachu or togepi who had attempted to use his phone, and while that was enough to sate her worry about the boy, it still _frustrated_ her. He wouldn't call her. He called Cole and Gary to check on them—the later mostly to check on his pokemon—but that wasn't the _point_.

He didn't call _her._ Ash always had a reason for everything though, so she was sure he would have on for his improper negligence of their friendship, he did, after all, send a copious amount of letters; the most recent being post marked in the Orange Islands, but none came after that.

She fumbled with her phone, playing with the screen for a moment, and as she had gotten into the habit, started to flip through her pictures. It was full of time spent with Ash at the gym, and time spent with her sisters. Pictures that reflected her _home_ away from the small dormitory, where her pokemon could swim freely, and she could relax.

After being accepted into the league as an Elite Four member, the _last_ thing she could do was relax. Since her last meeting with Brock and Agatha, she was paranoid to the point that sleeping was a challenge on most occasions. Misty was worried that they would try to brainwash her while she was asleep, or worse, kidnap her and throw her into the waste side with the rest of the popular trainers of today's world.

As she reached the end of her gallery, she flipped back to the image of Ash a few days before his journey, where he was standing beside Daisy, holding togepi, and sticking his tongue out at her unapologetic. He had grown so much since then—and even more since she first met him almost a year ago, and her heart ached at his absence.

It didn't hurt at first, she knew that this was something that he _had_ to do, but the longer he was away, the more letters he sent, the more she struggled to focus. Minimal tasks were growing difficult and she _lost_ to a poliwag yesterday. Her mind, whether she wanted it to or not, was stuck on Ash—more importantly, _worried_ about Ash.

Grabbing her phone once more, she swiped open her messages, and left a hearty reply consisting of few words. "Alright. I cave." She sent first, her face scrunching up. "I miss you. I hope you're doing okay. Call soon." The moment the message was sent, she dropped the phone like it had caught fire, and jumped backwards onto her bed to drive her head into her pillows.

What was wrong with her? There had to have been _something_. She turned over, staring up at her ceiling where even the stucco reminded her of Ash and togepi and she let out a loud, frustrated groan while thrusting her pillow into her face.

After a moment, the jingle of her phone tore her body awake, and she lunged at the device, and brought it to her ear in the same movement.

"Hello?" She gasped into the phone, though the voice that replied wasn't what she expected.

"Hello, is this Misty Waterflower's number?" The female asked in return. Misty's face scrunched up in thought—wondering who would be calling her at such an hour.

"This is Misty, to whom am I speaking?"

A chuckle framed the conversation, "It's Dawn Matthews."

Misty's throat grew instantly tighter, her knuckles turning white on her grip of the phone. She swallowed. "To what do I owe the pl easure?"

"I met your friend a few weeks ago...well, a few months ago now." Dawn admit. "The one with the pikachu and the egg." for affect, she paused once more. "He isn't the smartest tool in the toolbox, is he?"

Misty gnawed on her cheek, trying to decipher Dawn's words. "Not usually. Why?"

"Well, you've read about what happened with the compounds, right? How they're raising taxes now..."

"What does that have to do with Ash?" Misty grunted into the phone, knowing now how this conversation was going to go.

Dawn scoffed. "My colleague and I were the ones that showed him to the Sunnyshore compound only a few _hours_ before it went up in flames..." she muttered. "it's not hard to put two and two together, Misty."

A brief panic filled Misty's chest, but with one calming breath, she squeezed her eyes shut; playing it safe. "Then why are you calling me? Go report him."

"I was about to ask you why you never did." Dawn added quickly, and Misty made a strangled noise.

"I wasn't a witness, I wasn't even there. What would I say?"

"Misty. I'm not stupid." Dawn barked. "I know you know, and that's why I'm calling _you_ not the police."

A silence fell between them while Dawn gathered her thoughts. "We haven't always gotten along, that much I know, and we have quite a colorful past, thanks to the huge rivalry between coordinators and battlers but...if you are _really_ working to make everything better. I want to help." The earnest tone of her voice caused Misty's mouth to fall agape.

"I don't agree with the pounds, and when Drew and I discovered that it had burned to the ground, we were elated...and then, well now _this_ is happening. You've seen them for yourself, when they take pokemon from trainers. It's inhumane."

"I know." Misty found herself agreeing. "But why should I trust you?"

"You don't have to. I want to find a peaceful solution as much as you, and so long as we can agree on that, our personal goals don't matter."

Misty paused for a long time. "How did you get my number?"

"I called your sisters at the gym." She said automatically, eliciting a loud sigh from Misty who smacked her forehead.

"Well, what did you have in mind? I'm not even an official Elite Four member until July."

"We'll stay in contact. I just wanted to be sure that we were _really_ on the same boat."

Misty gasped. "What? This was all you wanted?"

"Having an ally is sometimes more important than having a plan. We'll keep in touch." Dawn mused gleefully from her end of the phone while Misty took at hers, in complete disbelief.

"Is this really Dawn?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing. Only a year ago, if you had even heard my name you would have threw your phone across the room." Dawn muttered, chuckling on her end. Misty's cheeks blushed as she coiled her knees to her chest.

"True..." Misty started, though Dawn was quick to interrupt—a loud clanking noise erupted from Dawn's end.

"I have to go now, but I'll call you again soon! Stay safe Misty!" And then she hung up.

 _Stay safe_ echoed in Misty's mind as she blinked down at her phone in a mixture of disbelief and horror. What in the world was Ash doing out there? Quickly, Misty found Brock's name on her list of contacts, and sent off a quick message; informing him that she found another 'conspiracy theorist' before setting her phone down like it caught fire.

Everyone seemed to be telling her to 'stay safe', did Dawn know something more about the Elite Four than Misty did? Was that the reason she was so eager to call her—they weren't exactly mortal enemies.

...but they were far from friends.

Misty laid back against the comforter of her bed, and pursed her lips worriedly at the ceiling—what in the world had Ash been doing since he was gone?

 **XOXS**

It was too dark to see. In either direction, all Ash could see was blackness. The stars were all but hidden behind a thick luster of clouds, and the moon was devoid of imagination. He and his pokemon were completely isolated. Tentatively, he coddled the dressing on his side as he swayed back and forth on top of snorlax.

In his current predicament, he felt bad that he thought about Misty. If there was one thing he felt marginally guilty about, it was how he decided not to call her while he was on his adventures—it wouldn't have been very hard, and what was he _so_ scared of, anyways?

So he liked Misty, what was the big deal? She was his best friend in this world, maybe even in his dream world, it was completely normal to like her. It wasn't like he was _in love_ with her or anything. They rose with an oncoming wave in the water, and Ash felt the pit in his stomach grow larger.

"Pikapika." the yellow mouse murmured while patting his trainer on the back. In response, Ash's head hung and he felt his black strands fall into his face. Why was he thinking about Misty in a time like this, anyways? He needed to get _out_ of this mess first. The time for thinking had passed—he needed to act! He had no clue how far form shore he was now, and thanks to the lack of sunlight, no idea which way was north or south, so he had _no idea_ which way to move so that he could find his way back to land.

Once or twice since releasing snorlax, Ash tried to have totodile survey the area—but the water pokemon was more of a marsh and swamp animal, and less of an ocean pokemon. It could swim decently enough, but it prefered water where his feet touched the ground. Needless to say, the pokemon ended up sitting on top snorlax with his trainer, and Ash was forced to return it. Time seemed endless while he shared what little food he had left over with his pokemon and snorlax. A lot of his rations were lost during the first fall when he had his bag open with togepi inside of it, so they were making due with sharing human food, since the can of pokemon food was sitting at the bottom of the ocean somewhere.

Regardless, his situation did not seem to improve; he could only wait until morning, and decide from their. Until then, they were drifting, lost in their own thoughts.

Pikachu tried to break the silence, talking about his family back in Viridian City. Ash knew that the mouse missed his family, though he didn't talk about it often. Whenever Cole called, pikachu would bother Ash for thirty minutes to poke-speak with his family back home. A small part of Ash felt bad for taking pikachu away from them—but it had been pikachu's decision to travel the same as Ash's. Togepi was the quiet type. He didn't yammer on like pikachu, instead he had a quiet collectivity about him, a silent reminder and brain of their small group—when they had decided that burning down the pound was an ultimate decision, togepi had been the only pokemon to insist it was a terrible idea.

In the end, the baby egg had been correct. Ash glanced at togepi, who was dozing off beside Ash's knee as he laid flat on his back on snorlax's stomach. He couldn't _really_ call togepi a baby anymore. In a short few months, he would be a year old—in less than that, Ash would have been awake for little under a year. Togepi had made the most progress of them all, coming from a crying, clingy pokemon, to one that _tried_ its hardest to always manage on its own. To be useful, helpful.

Ash thought a lot about that, usefulness. About his own short-comings, and faults. Where he improved and where he needed improvement. More aggressively though, as exhaustion pushed against his eyelids, he thought of Misty, of Cerulean City, and the gym. It wasn't the home he remembered, far from, but it was _a home_. He missed it.

That was a strange feeling in of itself, a earning he hadn't yet become self aware of. He missed not only Misty, but he missed the gym, the life he had there. While his time there was spent healing, and thinking about his mother, he genuinely felt comfortable, at peace with his life for the first time since waking up, now he was grasping for straws. Grasping for purpose in his life, and yet everything still revolved around his dreams.

He hadn't moved on. Not really.

A bump in the water lulled his senses once more, opening his eyes from their tired state, he sat up. Pikachu had dozed off along side togepi, and snorlax was doing what he did best—sleeping. Another bump, and Ash felt the cold water sting his drying clothes once more. He twisted once, reopening the wound that had stopped bleeding profusely since his blood congealed at the entrance so he could look over into the darkness.

He wasn't sure how far he moved, or even if they had been moving but he _felt_ that.

Again, the hump of the water alerted his attention, and this time, both togepi and pikachu awoke to look with Ash. Pikachu perched himself up onto snorlax's chest to look into the ocean ahead, but togepi was scooped into Ash's arms so it wouldn't roll away into the water.

"Pika, pikachu!" The pokemon yelped, alerting the trainer.

In front of snorlax, he saw the water rise almost instantly, though in the darkness it looked much like a tidal wave, what he was faced with when the water separated made his head spin. Looking back at him with large, tenacious red eyes was the massive dragon of the sea, gyarados, and he felt his stomach plummet to the ground. Unlike Misty's, this one looked vicious, underfed, and violent. It's eyes were narrowed into slits, and they reflected back at him death.

Ash swallowed hard, and then reached around to thumb totodile's ball and exhale.

"Looks like we're gonna fight a gyarados guys..." He inhaled, believed right away he had no other option—and simply giving up was out of the question. "Are you ready?" Ash asked his companions, earning a youthful growl in return.

Gyarados lunged first, not allowing Ash time to think, so he would have to do so on his feet.

"Pikachu, use thundershock!" Ash snapped, dipping low onto snorlax so he wouldn't fall off. "Snorlax if you can swim, now would be the time to do so!" Ash mused, listening to snorlax return back to him that he needed to turn over. Ash tucked togepi into the fold of his arm, much to the pokemons displeasure, and hopped off of snorlax right as pikachu's bright lightning erupted in a blast of electricity that sent gyarados revolting backwards into the water. Few sparks connected with the water, but the squeal of displeasure from pikachu's own wet body reminded Ash that he was fighting in a turf that was _not_ safe for any of his pokemon.

Once snorlax had rolled over, Ash climbed on top of the pokemon's back once more, watching as pikachu landed neatly on its head, and looked back to Ash. Its cheeks were still sparking, but he could see the damage such an attack made, and Ash knew he had limited options.

While gyarados was still collecting himself, Ash tossed out is next pokeball to release totodile into the water.

"We're just going to have to work together." Ash mused determinedly, pumping up his fists as snorlax moved his arms in attempt to swim, giving them some momentum. There was no way that snorlax had the speed to flee, but they could at least dodge if gyarados got frisky.

As they moved, the large dragon recoiled, facing Ash and his group, and then roared accordingly, stunning the pokemon and trainer. Pikachu flinched, but totodile had dove under water while Ash put his arms out.

"Pikachu, get on totodile's back!" Ash commanded while exhaling, trying to recover from the massive roar. His ears rang and he struggled to see straight.

Pikachu hopped from snorlax to totodile as Ash commanded, and instantly the crocodile pokemon lunged forward through the water, using its tails and arms to swiftly move through the waves, dividing the gyarardos' attention.

"Pikachu, get his attention by charging thunder!" _but don't release it_. He added thoughtfully, knowing that pikachu would know better than to release an attack so powerful while they were all wet—they got lucky with thunder shock, but thunder would decimate the group. Ash shouted, before he climbed up to the scruff of snorlax's neck, and hunched down. "Get in close, and then charge mega punch." Ash hummed to the snorlax who replied mid stroke.

"Toge, bri!" The pokemon in his arm cried, and Ash frowned.

"Next time, togepi. Metronome is to risky to use, and I don't think charms are going to be very effective." Ash mumbled thoughtlessly, glaring daggers at the dragon.

As pikachu and totodile moved south around the monster, its red eyes were drawn immediately to the spark of the yellow electric pokemon, and at that moment, his body rose high, straightening to better prepare for the impact of lightning, but also to prepare a counter attack that looked like the start of hyper beam, to Ash.

Once he was high enough, leaving the bare of his stomach exposed, Ash jumped from snorlax, letting the water splash against his back. "Now!" Ash shouted, kicking off and diving into the darkness as snorlax used his momentum to projectile violently from the water, and land a direct hit onto the distracted dragon.

With a roar of utmost terror that Ash barely heard as his body connected with the icy water in a tremendous splash, gyarados lunged backwards into the depths of the ocean. Monster splashes erupted from the water as the pokemon fell backwards simultaneous to Ash's break to the surface.

He gasped loudly, holding togepi up first before himself as totodile circled back slowly to meet with the trainer, and snorlax rested back into the water, prepared for another attack.

After a moment of silence, Ash found himself grinning and sticking out his arm.

"We did it!" Ash yelped to his small team of misfits, and the pokemon cheered in glee along side him.

However, their happiness was short lived as Ash climbed back on top of snorlax's back, once again soaked head to toe. The moment his knee made contact with the pokemon's flesh, beneath him, he felt another rumble, and he was flying through the air with such force that togepi had slipped from his arms.

"Agh!" Ash yelped, falling back into the water while the cries of pikachu sounded about him. He couldn't see for a time, the waves blinded him as he twisted to find the surface of the water. Once he reached the top, he swung out his arms to look around and what was there wasn't pretty.

Not one, but _two_ gyarados roared at the surface of the water, and the new one had neatly wrapped its tail around snorlax after knocking the trainer off. Ash cursed mentally, and ripped through his pokeballs to return snorlax before it could be injured, and then swore to himself as totdile rushed over with pikachu, who was holding togepi in his arms.

Great, one pokemon down, and they had only managed to scuff the outer layer of the dragon's scales—what was he thinking that he won? Now he was really was a sitting duck, staring down the dragons. He could have tried to capture them to buy himself time if he hadn't lost his bag somewhere, but he was out of pokeballs, and out of time as they twisted amongst one another and made the plunge.

Really, he only had one choice.

"Pikachu, use thunder, NOW!" He cried, grabbing togepi and covering himself as totodile prepared to dip under the surface of water. The frightened pikachu hesitated for only a moment. Pikachu bound into the air, kicking off of totodile to _hopefully_ put some distance between his friends and his attack, but he drew the same conclusion as Ash—fry everything, or be eaten.

Luckily, the attack never went off before the wonderful sound of an ice beam shot off from the right of them, followed by another, and another.

Soon enough, six or seven were fired, hitting the gyarados' in several weak spots, and knocking them down into the water. When they rose, the beams shot through the darkness once again like a beacon, and pikachu settled back down into Ash's arms, who was cradling totodile and glaring awestruck into the darkness.

A pleasant sound followed—a song, as he glanced in the distance to see the source of his protection—in the clearing, he could see several large water pokemon with huge shells on their back and his heart skipped several beats. For all he knew, it stopped working for a moment as glee and fortune spun through his chest and he threw his arms up in victory and glee.

"Thank you!" He shouted, ignoring for a moment that he had almost been eaten by a gyarados, and focused primarily on the horde of lapras' that came to his aid at his final hour.

With one final roar, the imposing, ruthless gyarados turned and left, and Ash floated beside totodile, waiting for the group to approach him. They swam gracefully, as if they hadn't just deflected and defeated a terrifying monster, and formed a circle around Ash as one in particular came forward to investigate.

It was older, _much_ older, but the sea-turtlesque pokemon's red eyes gleamed in the darkness, reflected with a sheer might of happiness upon spying the pikachu, and trainer floating in the water.

"Lapras? The same one from Orange islands?" Ash grinned, but was answered by Lapras lowering his had for Ash to stroke the pokemon. Relief flooded into Ash's heart as he not only pet the monster, he lunged forward the best of his ability, and hugged the neck of the large pokemon.

"You have no idea how perfect that timing was! Thank you!" He shouted cheerfully, his glee being shared amongst totodile, pikachu and togepi. Totodile even did a short kick of his legs beneath the water, much like he did as a young pokemon.

"Pikapi!" The pokemon cried, jumping forward himself to sit upon lapras' head with a short embrace. Shortly after, the long neck craned downward, biting onto the scruff of Ash's shirt, and pulling him from the water and onto his gray-purple shell. Ash thumped against the dull shell, and rubbed his neck from where his shirt had pulled and stared up at lapras who did the same to togepi, whilst leaving totodile in the water.

It sung to him deeply, closing its eyes as it looked forward, and Ash was to his feet, balancing. His side ached, but he didn't care as he put his hand on top of the lapras head. The pokemon was at least Ash's height in water, he couldn't have imaged its size outside of it.

"You'll take us to land?" Ash gasped gratefully, feeling warmth form at the center of his stomach as the other water pokemon moved forward as well, beginning their slow swim through the water.

"How did you even find me?" Ash hummed into the darkness as they moved forward. The pokemon sung once more, flapping its fins below water.

As ice pokemon, they did not favor the tropical climate of the orange islands, so they pressed north past Sinnoh. Ash leaned back, resting his head against the pokemon's neck as it explained that it did not expect to find Ash, they were merely helping a trainer lost a sea.

"Does that happen often? Trainers getting lost?" Ash asked skeptically as he saw the sun rising in the distance. Pikachu and togepi had long since passed out in his arms, and totodile had been returned to his pokeball.

"No." Was the simple reply from lapras, and Ash found himself grinning, thanking his lucky stars. He had the luck of a god, or some kind of angel watching over him—if he had doubted that before, he was sure of it now.

"So which direction are we going?" Ash asked, and lapras hummed once more, reiterating their position as north east of Sinnoh. Ash closed his eyes lazily, having not slept in well over twenty four hours. The current had taken them far in the hours they drifted, but it certainly hadn't felt that way.

If they were where lapras said they were, his destination was below the Unova region; Kalos, or known in this world as _France_.

As the sun sparkled and they moved with a bit more vigor, he could see the gleam of the Eiffel tower in the distance, and he exhaled, thinking of sleep.

This entire ordeal, this journey, as fun as it had been—he was tired. Tired of seeing joy turned into sadness, and tired of sleeping on the ground.

Kalos was his last stop.

After that, he was going _home_.

"Thank you, lapras." He muttered, feeling his head bob for the last time as sleep washed over his aching body, filling his mind with new determination.

 **Author's Note:**

"We are unable to process your request, please try again later"- ffnet when I tried to update the chapter the last couple of days. These words are the literal bane of my existence here on ffnet. Good news though; I found out that it was my ad-blockers fault.

The review problem was finally fixed again, yaaay!

What can I say? Thank you guys so, so, so much for all the awesome feedback! I'll be getting back to reviews from ch 25-28 this chapter, so I'll answer questions from there!

Furthermore, just as a rule of thumb (so I don't have to keep mentioning it), since my chapters run 10k words per, updates will come every three days-ish, sometimes faster. Generally three days, though. Running into updating errors is typically not part of my update schedule though, soooo...

 **So**... I played a pokemon game and taught my snorlax to surf, that's where -that- idea came from. -shot- Also, battle on water, I couldn't resist.

A lot happened this chapter... but really, the main point I wanted to convey this chapter is that at -some point- he has to move on and it has to be _his_ choice.

As always, thanks for leaving reviews; they're great motivation, and a lot of your theories and speculation brings a smile to my face! I hope that whatever happens doesn't disappoint anyone, but I appreciate all of the feedback. :)

NINT


	29. Chapter 29: Kalos pt 1

**Locked Away, Chapter 29**

Ash was barely conscious when lapras found perch on on the rocky shores of Laverre city's docks. Everything from his head to his toes ached as he maneuvered from the shell to lean forward. The cold water crashed against the rocks beneath as the sea turtle pokemon lowered its head, indicating their arrival. Ash stumbled from the creature, looking up at him with tired eyes as he scooped pikachu and togepi into his arms. The sun rise on his back gave him shivers.

"Are you going to join me?" Ash asked suddenly, looking into the distance where the other lapras left, and he knew automatically the answer.

Singing to him in a voice calm and sincere, it explained that due to the decline in its species, it wishes to remain with its companions, but will always watch over Ash when he is near.

Ash's face contorted. "Are you sure?"

The broad pokemon nodded its head, and then looked up at him with passionate eyes. A look speaking louder than words. " _Be careful_ ".

Ash turned slowly from the pokemon, in silent agreement that his next act of temporary insanity would be eating candy before dinner, not trying to fly headstrong into a fortress of... _whatever_ that was.

"Lapras, what was that?" Ash thought aloud, turning to the pokemon who could only only look on at him confused; having no idea what Ash was talking about. The pokemon hadn't witnessed the attack in Unova—and the recollection only reminded Ash that he had to go to a pokemon center, as soon as possible.

"Thank you, again." He mumbled, tripping over his own feet to hug the tall pokemon. As he extended forward, he felt the wound on his side opening up once more, and recoiled thoughtfully, trying to mask the pain on his face as to not worry the sea turtle. They hadn't even had time to catch up, and she was leaving already.

"I missed you." He added and with a tender nod, the pokemon slowly turned and drifted back into the horizon.

Grunting, Ash looked on at the city before him, and shambling up the path, he trudged over rocks while pikachu slowly came to in his arms,

"Pika." The pokemon squealed, still a bit frosty from the cold water and shocking itself. Ash hummed in reply.

"Straight to the pokemon center for charizard." He replied somberly.

 **XOXs**

The pokemon center was bright at 7:00am in the morning. The sun had broken over the horizon a little under an hour ago. After that nightmare at sea he didn't think he would appreciate the motion of the ground under his feet so much when he broke through the doors.

"You look like you've seen better days." The male nurse at the counter muttered upon seeing Ash enter through the front doors. The lobby was empty, save for a cleaning chansey, and Ash could only grunt in response.

"You don't know the half of it." Ash assured him, approaching the counter and taking out all of his pokeballs and dropping them on the tray.

"My...charizard's wing was beaten up pretty bad..." He stammered, "harpooned, actually..."

"Oh my lord." The nurse replied, taking the pokeballs and narrowing his eyes at Ash awhile the trainer placed togepi and pikachu on the counter to be taken as well.

"pikapika." pikachu muttered sadly while Ash nodded, forgetting that the man couldn't understand the mouse for a moment.

"Confused boater." Ash lied off the top of his head, hugging togepi and pikachu gently.

"I'll be back a little later, okay?" He told the duo while the nurse took the pokeballs and placed them into the machine—charizard's flashing red the moment the pokemon appeared.

"These wounds are too great for the machine to heal... He'll need emergency surgery," The nurse grumbled. "I'll have to transfer him over to the clinic in the back."  
"What ever you need to do." Ash said dutifully. "Please do it." He added while pikachu and togepi were taken on a stretcher to the back room. The nurse nodded, and carried out his business while Ash found his way to the poke-phone.

He stared at it for an hour, _at least_ before he fingers carefully dialed in the familiar numbers of her cell phone, and stuck the device beside his head when the tone started to ring. Longer, and longer, until he was left with the answering machine.

"Hi, you've reached Misty, leave a message."

The phone beeped, but he waited for a moment before sighing into the receiver. "Hey, Mist." He muttered glumly. "I'm just checking in and wanted to say hi. Weird, huh?" He grimaced, thinking she would worry at such a weird opening, he cleared his throat. "No need to worry or anything though, I'm doing fine...I just..." _needed to hear your voice_.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and scrunched up his face. "Anyways, I'm in Kal—France, now. So I will talk to you later. I hope everything is going well for you." He managed before dropping the phone back on the receiver and shuddering. The strangest sensation in the world was calling someone after some _half-assed_ admittance of emotions.

Sighing, he both lowered and shook his head thoughtfully with a brief inhale. What was he going to do now? He pat around for his pokedex once more, thinking he might have possibly over looked it in the ocean—but deduced that like his bag and all of his gear, it was somewhere at the ocean floor, most likely.

Ash dug through his pockets, finding a few dollars and a couple of coins while he watched the nurse run back and forth through the pokemon center. Without his pokedex, he couldn't battle other trainers for poke-credit, either, which meant he was hooped for money, _and_ food.

Pacing around the lobby for a little over an hour, trying to keep himself awake, Ash finally found his seat back at the phones, this time dialing the only other number he bothered to memorize since starting his journey: Gary Oak. The screen of the phone lit up, indicating a video call and Ash groaned inwardly. Couldn't phones like this have _only_ been in his mind?

After a few seconds of dial, Gary's smug face stared back at him in confusion. It was earlier in Kanto than it was in France, so he could see the tired lines of his friends aging face, imitating an aura of complete anger until he had a solid glance at Ash.

Gary's mouth fell open, and then closed once more, taking a sip of the black mug in his hand. "Ash, you look like shit." Gary observed, cocking an eyebrow.

Ash winced. "I _feel_ like shit, Gary."

"What did you do this time? Please don't say fire."

"The opposite this time, actually. Did you know oceans are _not_ a safe place?" Ash asked with a mock tone and snicker, watching Gary's face pale, followed by a long, frustrated sigh.

"I'm not so sure you should be on your own, after all..." Gary muttered. "Care to explain?"

Ash shrugged. "No." He said quickly. "But to make a long story short, I lost my pokedex." He said with a small laugh and scratch of his head.

In a fashion much like the old professor, Gary fell backwards in his chair, nearly slipping onto the floor and spilling his drink when he bounced back up.

"You _what_?!" Gary hissed, all worry suddenly lost. "How did you _lose_ your pokedex?! Do you have any clue how expensive that brand was?!"  
Still a bit dehydrated, dizzy, and exhausted, Ash's reaction was less of shame and more of anger when he pursed his lips, and narrowed his eyes.

"No, but accidents happen..." he argued weakly, thinking to mention that in his dreams, he never lost his pokedex, it never even occurred to him that such a thing was _possible_ until he was fishing for it to make a phone call or two.

Gary growled in frustration. "Why are you so cool about it?!"

Ash sighed.

"Gary. I just looked into the eyes of two large, very violent gyarados in the middle of an ocean with a swamp water type at my side. I haven't _really_ slept in well over twenty-four hours." Ash paused, raising his finger to silence Gary before he could butt in. "I'm pretty sure I need stitches, charizard is in surgery, and so yes, a lost pokedex is the _least_ of my worries right now." he grunted, mouthing off to the older male.

Taken aback, Gary shook his head for a moment and then leaned in close.

"...How in the world do you...?" He started, eyebrows twitching before he face palmed and shook his head. "No, I don't want to know." he said. "I _don't want to know_." he added once more for emphasis and then smacked his lips.

"Where are you?" he asked quickly, changing the subject.

"France." Ash said quickly. "Laverre City, actually."

"Wow." Gary said in amazement. "You're quite a ways from home."

The black bags beneath Ash's eyes answered that question far better than he ever could with words and Ash found himself chuckling at the realization. "Oh, you have no idea."

"Really, I don't understand you." Gary grumbled while twisting to grab some papers. "You were a trouble maker as a child and now you're one as an adult. I thought you would have out grown that at least a little bit by now." He muttered his thoughts aloud while rolling his eyes and clicking in some information.

"The nearest professor is Sycamore in Paris..." He grunted. "Can you make it there?"

"Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem." He hadn't had any issues getting around before, now wouldn't be any different.

"He's a bit of a... Sycamore is different." Gary warned Ash awkwardly. "But I'll fax over all of your information and he will get you situated with a new pokedex." The auburn haired male grumbled while clicking a few keys on the computer screen beside the phone.

"Thanks, Gary." Ash offered with the best smile he could muster but Gary shrugged in response.

"Just don't lose it again. I'm not going to replace it a second time." He warned earnestly. "I shouldn't replace it _this_ time, but because of your circumstances, I'll let it slide _just this once_." He grunted, sitting back in his chair with folded arms.

Ash grinned earnestly. "I'm sorry. I wont lose it again." Ash tried to promise, but Gary shook his head.

"It's not even that." Gary paused. "I can't believe _I_ have to tell you this, but stop being so damn stupid." He said in an authoritative speech that Ash was unfamiliar with in the snark man. "You have people here that care about you, and I'm not going to be the one to tell _Cole_ if you decide to die."

Ash tried not to show the worry in his features, but then after a moment he offered a short, direct smile. "Don't worry. I think I've pretty much decided to live under a rock for the rest of my life." Ash joked feeling the soreness in his shoulders and the sting in his side as a reminder of his new found motivation to _not_ get shot at, or blown up, or set fire to things.

Gary snorted. "I think a bubble would be safer, you would find a way to blow up the rock."

Ash seethed. "Bye Gary." He grunted with a twitch of his eye. "I think I'll get prepared to head the Lumiose city now." Ash muttered while Gary shrugged before pausing.

"I haven't heard it called that in years—where did you hear that at?" Gary asked, referring to Paris' old name. Ash looked up, stunned for a moment.

"oh..uh." Ash stammered, recalling he had never told Gary the truth about his dreams. "Misty mentioned it. I think it sounds better than Paris."

Gary scoffed, shaking his head as if saying 'weirdo' before they spared a few goodbyes, a short conversation with Leaf, and then Ash hung up and returned to his solitude at the pokemon center. He could hear the unpleasant sounds of charizard in the clinic in the back of the pokemon center—his roars of pain sent shivers down Ash's spine as he rose to his feet and marched through the front door to get some fresh air. A part of Ash was amazed that Sycamore was still the professor of this region; like in his dreams. It seemed that everywhere else, the professors were gone or _different_.

Each step Ash took was like glass shooting through his entire body, and he struggled to the map posted on the bulletin board outside of the center to look at the distance between Laverre City and Paris. Ash could see in the distance, south from where he was standing, the top of the large tower, but could not verify the distance with his mind. On paper, Paris was forty four miles away from Laverre, roughly a day's walk, but if he toppled that with his current exhaustion, it would take him probably double that, assuming he wouldn't pass out.

Weighing his options, Ash tapped his fingers against his side, addressing once more the rough scarf bandage, and looked down at himself. He was filthy, covered in salt water, and his shirt was ripped open at the side. Before he could do anything, he needed to wash himself.

 **XOXs**

He found his way to the public bathroom located at the back of the pokemon center and used paper towels to wash the dirt off his face, and some of the salty texture from his skin. He could do nothing about the sea-life smell, but he did manage to remove the scarf to view the red scar running along the right side of his abdomen.

It was an ugly thing, much deeper than he intentionally thought, that was bruised and red—but that could have been the dried blood as well. It wasn't _that_ bad. He did his best to wash the wound, but his skill in medicine was about as good as Misty's in cooking. He knew enough to survive, but this was far more than he was used to. Using water he cleaned the searing wound somewhat, but rather than reopening the wound, he packed it full of fresh paper towel, and tied the now-dry scarf around his waist to keep the clean parchment secure while he figured out his next step.

Without his license, he had no way of proving he was a trainer and had no money to his name. Most of his funds were transferred through credit on his pokedex if he won in a battle—that was as good as any currency in the world. However, that was lost along with his temporary ID, his pokemon food, and any semblance of his life and who he was. He needed to get to Paris—a pass, perhaps? He could call Misty again to ask for...no, he wouldn't do that.

Firstly because he would have to explain _why_ he needed the money—and not even Ash was stupid enough to believe _this_ little adventure wouldn't send her into a rampage of emotional warfare.

"She might actually kill me." he mumbled to himself. _Though, that would probably defeat the purpose._ He added thoughtfully with a chuckle as he tugged his shirt back on over his head; finding it strange that no one outside of him had entered the pokemon center.

On his way out of the bathroom, he was waved over by the same nurse as before, calmly Ash found his way over.

"I'm sorry, sir, but do you have your identification? I forgot to ask for it earlier." The nurse said calmly, watching as Ash fumbled thoughtlessly.

"No." he grimaced. "I list it in-" he paused, thinking to himself that his story sounded made up, even if it was true. _Normal_ people didn't have such adventures. Ash pursed his lips isntead. "I misplaced my pokedex, I'm actually on my way to Paris to get a new one... I'm sure you can look me up in the trainer registry."

The man's shoulders dropped. "I'm sorry, sir. I can't do that." he grimaced. "You have no form of ID on you at all."

Ash stared blankly at him for a moment, trying to convey the frustration bleeding into his mind as he let out a frustrated sigh. "I don't. The registry has my image in there."

"I'm sorry. I can't do that. It's a security issue." he paused to shake his his head. "As a pokemon trainer you're required to have your license on you at all times. I can't return your pokemon until you've shown me proof, and paid..." The nurse grumbled, muttering something about how he wished Ash would have mentioned that _before_ dropping his pokemon off.

The trainer scoffed. They did _just_ patch up charizard, who would be sleeping happily in his pokeball for awhile after the surgery, and pikachu and togepi were in calling distance—he also had a monster of a beast in snorlax. If he wanted to, it was only the one nurse and the doctor in the back watching over the clinic with maybe a handful of other nurses... if Ash wanted he _could_ just take his pokemon.

The idea crossed his mind, but after a short twitch he shook his head. That would be stupid though, he had no escape and there was no guarantee charizard would be okay and he _didn't_ need to make a criminal name for himself.

His brows furrrowed. Was _stealing_ even an option he was considering?

"Sir?" The nurse asked, pulling Ash out of his thoughts.

"is there a number I can give oyu to verify my ownership of these pokemon?"

"No, sir. I'm sorry." The nurse grunted, and Ash wanted to vent that he wouldn't bring pokemon to a center if they weren't _his_. Instead, Ash forced himself to smile.

"Then what _can_ I do?" He asked, trying to withhold is anger. After all, the nurse was only following rules—doing his job.

"Well, we will hold onto the pokemon for forty-eight hours. After that, they will be considered abandoned." He said quietly, feeling Ash's anger grow, he took a step away from the counter.

Ash's fists clenched. "Abandoned?" he grit his teeth. "How can they be considered abandoned if the trainer is _right here_?" He asked, gesturing to himself. The nurse shrugged.

"I'm sorry, it's procedure. After the forty-eight hours they'll be sent to the pound and from there it's really easy to pick them up. I can tell the warden that they are owned and explain you-"

"I'll go get my license then." Ash spat aggressively, his blood boiling at even the _hint_ that his pokemon; togepi, pikachu, charizard, snorlax, totodile might have to spend even a second in a _pound_. Chimchar was the unfortunate pokemon to live through one already, and Ash wasn't entirely sure the ape came out unscathed. Ash seethed.

"I'm sorry..." The nurse tried but Ash had already turned, rubbing his hair with his right hand while cursing under his breath about ridiculous obligations—there was no good reason they couldn't search him under the registry.

Ash allowed himself five minutes of blind rage, in which his foot found solace by striking a trashcan on his way out of the pokemon center. He sighed to himself, thinking of colorful words he had learned form the many companions he met over the last couple of months, and then slumped onto a bench across the street from the pokemon center. He needed to think of a way to get a ticket to ride the monorail to Paris. If he needed to return her in forty-eight hours, he wouldn't have time to walk.

He needed a sign, a break of some sort; calling anyone for money was out of the option only because he had no transferable way to receive their payment... When his brown eyes slit open, he groaned to himself; and as if his prayers were answered, a sign hung high above the pokemon center had a twisted smile over his face.

"Laverre ryhorn races—hiring part time help"

According to the sign, there was a race tonight, tomorrow and if he was lucky, he could land that—what ever it wasn't couldn't have been _too_ difficult.

 **XOXs**

When he made it to the ryhorn races only a few hours later, the job was easier than he thought. the position was a first come first serve and Ash was literally the _first_ person to show up at the gates. The races did not start until 5:00pm, but preparation started hours before that. His temporary position was 'service boy'; which meant he had a goofy hat, striped shirts, and tan pants to match the food he was supposed to walk to customers. It wouldn't be an easy job—walking up flights of stairs, but he was allowed to keep the extra money he received, and would receive a cash at the end of the night.

Before, when he stood at the shores of the city, he hadn't noticed before, how large and expansive the entire city was, but once he cleared the small suburb of the ocean horizon, he discovered that Laverre was massive. Like much of France, it held an old vintage style, decorated with vines and carefully placed bricks to imply the old nature of the city. Far north, it was home to the largest pokeball manufacture in the entire league, which opened many jobs for the old-fashioned city.

Not only that, it was home to one of the largest pokemon stadiums, otherwise nicknamed as "the Colosseum" which is where Ash found himself volunteering that day. It wasn't the _best_ job, and it was far from ideal, but it was humbling, and no harder than working for Misty at the gym.

Ash's job was essentially handing out food to people in the stands while they watched the races below. People wanted their drinks, their nachos, weird looking desserts and twists, and when they raised their hand with money in it, it was Ash's job to run up there and provide them the service of food. It was a terrible job, really, Ash couldn't understand why these people didn't just get up themselves, but apparently with ryhorn racing, _everything_ was a bet.

People bet on the number of accidents, the number of trainers injured, how many times they would be thrown off, when it would happen, how it would happen. If they missed a single minute of the show, they could lose out on money.

Ash wasn't a gambling man, so he didn't believe in taking bets on a race, but he didn't judge those that did. The man who gave him the job served pity on Ash who walked into his office like a wet dog—offered him a shower so he wouldn't smell and gave him a 'uniform', and let him start early. Thus, Ash didn't give much thought to the situation that fell into his lap. Money was money, and Ash wasn't in the best place to turn down the position. So, he gave _no_ thought to the races below since he was interested more in completing his task faster and better than the other people he was working with, since any change left over was a tip directly into his own pocket.

A tip to his pocket would buy him a ticket onto the midnight train to Paris, which he could then use to go meet Professor Sycamore, sort out his mess with his pokedex, and then return to Laverre before tomorrow's nightfall, and collect his pokemon.

So he worked hard, ignored the increasing pain in his side, and kept running. He might have paused for a moment when he thought Serena's name came up, but by the time that Serena was showcasing the races, he was finished with his six hour shift.

"You can stay for the late showing kid. I haven't seen someone so enthusiastic about giving out food in years..." His brief manager muttered while Ash handed him a wad of cash and a list of transaction notes. The manager returned a few bills to the raven-haired boy, and he sighed in gratitude.

"I can't stay. I have to take a train out of town." Ash grunted while removing the silly, orange pointed hat he was forced to wear, he did however, keep the clean uniform before retreating to the train station.

Ash waited a good hour for the train, using the spare time to count his earned income, and then folded it neatly into his pocket. He had a little over thirty dollars left over after purchasing his train ticket, which gave him just enough to grab a room at the pokemon center in Paris and _maybe_ a granola bar or something. Sixteen hours without a meal would have been a record for Ash, but the new level of sleep deprivation was winning out all else.

However, he ignored the ache in his legs, the pain in his side and pressed forward. The train was void of late night passengers, to make matters worse, his head was starting to ache and the dull buzzing in his ears was growing worse by the second.

The forty-five minute trip was spent napping, only to be rudely awakened by the snap of the train pulling into the Paris station.

Once he landed, he went to a map to find the nearest pokemon center and once he did, he spent the better part of an hour walking there. Ash had little time to truly admire the beauty that was Paris, the lights were awing, the scents were enticing, but after forty-eight hours of sleep deprivation, sixteen hours without food, and working a job that literally consisted of scaling flights of stairs for six hours straight: he was sore, and tired and the last thing he cared about was _pretty_ lights.

He arrived at the pokemon center ten minutes after eleven, where he checked in, paid the twenty-five dollar fee, and then immediately made his way to the traditional cafeteria attached to most pokemon centers. He could only afford a sandwich—but it was the _best_ bread, peanut butter, and jam sandwich he had _ever_ had. Starvation did wonders to the flavor pallet.

Afterward, he had intended to shower, but after eating, his attention was only on passing out on the nearest bed, and sleeping off the pain, fast forwarding to tomorrow so he could get his pokemon back.

Ash awoke three hours later, laying on his mattress with his hands sprawled out to either side of him, and his legs dangled over the bed. The throbbing in his side had intensified, and Ash took that as his cue to clean the injury once more. He stripped, and found his way to the shower, where he _might_ have passed out once the heat of the water hit him.

He didn't have money for the laundry room, so instead he washed his clothes out in the shower, being sure to remove the smell of salt water so he would be presentable to see Sycamore the following day, and hung them out over the balcony to dry over night.

There wasn't a lot he could do for the wound. It was redder each time he looked at it, more painful, but he only had to make it a few more hours, and then he could have a real doctor look it over. A few more hours, and he would see his pokemon again.

Staring into the empty abyss of his dark room, he sighed. It was quiet without them, lonely.

Naked, aside from the makeshift bandage he put together using paper towels and the red scarf from before, he crawled into bed a second time, and slept off the pain coursing through his body.

 **XOXs**

Ash woke the next morning at the sound of the distant caw of birds. He was chilled to the bone and most likely feverish, but he sat up anyways, against all pain in his stomach. It was an infection, Ash knew; he might not have known a lot about medicine, but he remembered the time he skinned his knee as a kid and didn't tell his mom. The unclean wound ended up becoming inflamed, sore, and gave out a terrible yellow puss. This was like that, but at a much _worse_ scale. When he removed the bandages to look over the wound before dressing, a yellow, mucus color had started to frame the edges of the gash, and he thought that it _might_ have gotten bigger in his sleep—but that wasn't possible.

Instead, Ash pulled on his black shirt, tucked his jacket on over, and pulled on his underwear and jeans before looking himself over. He looked _better_ than he did yesterday, but his face told a story much worse.

"It's okay. I can do this. Only a few more hours." He grunted to himself before leaving the pokemon center and making his way to the laboratory at the south border of the town.

 **XOXS**

Sycamore's laboratory didn't look different at all from what Ash remembered in his dreams. It was still well kept, and gave off an odd, flowery smell as he approached the front door. The trek there had taken Ash through the better part of the morning, and his head was sweltering from the fever, and his skin was clammy and cold to touch.

When the pokemon researcher's assistant answered the door, she gave one look at Ash, and ushered him in.

"Oh my..." The woman said. "Come sit down before you fall down, child."

"Thanks." Ash grunted, taking no time what so ever to fall into the house and slump into the guest chair beside the door. He exhaled breathlessly and hung his head back, trying to regain his smarts.

"I'm Ash Ketchum." He bellowed. "Gary Oak called about my license and pokedex—I came to pick that up."

A warm hand was placed against his forehead a second later, the woman before him narrowed her eyes and squat in front of Ash. She didn't seem concerned by his request at all as she narrowed her eyes to watch him.

"How many fingers am I holding up, Ash." She said while extending her hand.

"..." Ash pursed his lips calmly, trying to focus his eyes on her face and her hand, but found that nothing came to mind. "Two." he guessed, but the woman hadn't even been holding up fingers.

"You're running a very high fever. You need to see a doctor." She added while standing, and calling after the professor.

Ash yelped, kicking himself. He couldn't stop here. Not yet. He breathed. "My pokemon." He uttered, catching the woman's attention. "They're in Laverre pokemon center, I have to get them back before they're sent to the pound."

The woman lowered her eyebrows to Ash and shook her head, catching the collapsing trainer.

"That's alright, we will take care of that." Though her words sounded like she was speaking from under water and Ash shook his head to try and clear his mind. He made it this far, damn it, he was going to see this through!

...but his body wouldn't let him.

Each time he tried to speak or rise, a spell of dizziness greeted him, and he knew he was well on his was to unconsciousness before the assistant even had time to react.

 **XOX**

Ash had to stop making a habit of waking up in hospital rooms, anymore, and he was sure that he would be breaking records.

When his eyes cracked open to view the image of the sun blaring in, he immediately sat up, trying to address the situation. It wasn't the hospital room from Viridian city, _thankfully_ , but from the window he could see the Eiffel tower. Not good, he was still in Paris—what happened to his pokemon? Had he passed out and— _no, no, no_ , they couldn't go to the pound! He couldn't recall the last few hours before his initial ride in the ambulance. He knew that he _rode_ in one at some point, but was drawing straws to guess as to why. He wasn't _that_ sickly.

Ash hissed angrily, looking down to see the familiar set up of the IV needles pressed into his left arm, and promptly ripped the needle out before slipping his feet over the side of the bed. On the table next to him, his clothes from before were neatly folded, so he yanked off his hospital gown, and started to dress himself long before a nurse walked in, dropping her clip board.

"Mr. Ketchum! You can't just leave!" she shrieked suddenly.

Ash paused, pulling his shirt over his head to look squarely at the frazzled nurse.

"I have to go get my pokemon! I'm sure it'll be fine." He added while kicking on his sneakers. The nurse shuddered in reply.

"I.. you!" She gasped, and then threw up her arms before rushing out to call for a doctor.

Ash didn't care, he _had_ to figure out how many hours he had been sleeping for, and he could get all of that from the lady at the receptionist desk when he kindly checked himself out. What was he thinking working under terrible conditions—he missed rule number one about survival. Take care of himself before everything else—but he didn't _really_ expect to be so bogged down by a measly _cut_. It barely even hurt!

"Whoa there, Ash. Why don't you sit back down?" A booming, male voice called to him from the door. Ash was already standing, having yet to notice the immediate lack of pain in his side while he looked to the man, the doctor, who entered his room.

"Like I told the nurse, I need to go grab my pokemon." Ash said stubbornly, folding his fingers along the crease of his jacket as the doctor with brown hair and gentle eyes sighed.

"Professor Sycamore has your pokemon at his laboratory. He said that once you wake up you can go see him—but that's _after_ you are checked out thoroughly."

For a moment, relief washed over Ash, but then that was quickly replaced by the sudden wash of unpleasant nostalgia.

"I think I'm okay. Really." Ash grunted, deciding quickly that he _did not_ want to go through the same treatment that he had with the Viridian City hospital. Now, it was the doctor's turn to stare at Ash unimpressed, with a flat-line mouth.

"Mr. Ketchum, you had a ten centimeter, jagged, laceration on your right side, beneath your ribcage that cut into the deep tissue of your stomach. You came here dehydrated, malnourished, running a high fever of 38 Celsius, with an infection that required the removal of the surrounding skin at the point of the wound."

Ash stared at the doctor, and then looked down to his abdomen, which _hadn't_ bothered him at all until the doctor mentioned the wound he received a few days prior. Not fully understanding the doctor, Ash gnawed on his lower lip and then looked back at the older man.

"...What's your point?" He asked skeptically, and the doctor sighed, rubbing his scalp in the same way that Gary did when he was frustrated with Ash and his patience was running thin.

"You're hopped up on painkillers and antibiotics. If you leave now, the infection will most likely return, and you'll be in here again within the next few days."

"...oh." Ash grimaced while touching his side and falling back onto the bed. "Thanks, I guess." He added while pinching his nose.

"You're welcome. Now why don't you let our hospital staff do their job?" He gestured to the nurse from earlier, and then tilted his head. "and she can discuss with you about a _proper_ discharge, alright?"

In a scolding nature, the doctor nodded to Ash. Ash shot him a friendly thumbs up and then crawled back into bed where he gave a rather loud, unorthodox sigh while the nurse he startled earlier approached him wordlessly. She plucked a bandaid from the small table beside Ash, and after opening it, she placed one where the IV needle had been ripped out, and started bleeding. With one more nod, the curt doctor turned on his heels, and exited the room while Ash mentally tallied up the bill what would be stapled to his name. He already had a large outstanding loan to Misty, what was one more?

At the thought of Misty, he hung his head back and groaned deeply. "Oh no, Misty..." he muttered under his breath, thumping his head against the wall. She let it go that he _accidentally_ burned down a forest, and a compound; there was _no way_ she was going to let this one slide. Hopefully, no one _called_ anyone.

The nurse working on his arm chuckled as she grinned. "Your girlfriend?" She asked while unhooking the IV system, and collecting the clipboard off of the floor. She looked at him with large, blue eyes, and Ash felt his face flush.

"No." He answered smoothly, avoiding eye contact. "A friend of mine."

"Really?" The nurse seemed overly chipper now, her wide, cheeky grin sending shivers down her spine. "Seems a little weird you would mention a friend several times in your sleep, don't you think?" She giggled, getting a loud gasp from Ash as he turned to face her.

"I did not!" He whined bashfully, covering his face with his hands.

She chuckled to herself. "What's so embarrassing about liking a girl?" she grinned before settling down and giving him an earnest, sincere smile. Her aged face made a wrinkle where her eyes were, showing the mischievous nature of her words.

Ash pouted, crossing his arms over his chest with a low, indifferent scowl. The woman had a way of getting under his skin, like someone else he knew before.

"I don't _like_ her." he argued.

The woman chuckled again, in a motherly way.

"I have a son who does the same thing." her blonde hair shined in the sunlight. "He's all grown up now... probably just around your age." She sighed quietly while clicking around the room, completing her tasks before resting her arm against the door frame. "He's always so busy though—he's an inventor, you know." She smiled weakly at that.

"...Brightest boy I've ever know." she added in a sad tone that drew Ash's attention to her while he let his arms slip down to his lap.

Her bright hair seemed oddly familiar before, but her bright blue eyes were like pools of their own, and Ash grinned, connecting the dots.

"Do you have a daughter, too?"

"Oh heavens yes, a trouble maker at that." The mother grinned ear the ear thinking about her children.

Ash shook his head in disbelief, imaging his luck with a loud sigh. "I bet." _Bonnie and Clemont's_ mother, he had no doubt—oddly enough, he never met the woman in his dream world—but the resemblance was uncanny.

Realizing she had been gushing, she blinked awkwardly and shook her head. "Oh, excuse me. I'm sorry." She mused. "I'll be right back to discuss your discharge papers with you and the prescription drugs for your injuries. Don't run away, please?" She asked pleasantly, in a teasing way that reminded him an awful lot of his own mother.

His heart twisted and he nodded curtly before looking down at his bare hands. Left to his own thoughts, he shifted in his bed and looked out the window, glaring at the Eiffel tower. Pikachu and togepi must have been worried sick; if Gary had been called, he did not doubt that the professor would have called Misty over this. He seemed to enjoy throwing Ash under the bus after all. Ash pursed his lips unhappily while pouting; thinking about what the nurse had just told him.

What was _so_ bad if he _liked_ Misty? He asked himself once more. To start, she definitely did _not_ like him. At least, not in that stomach tied in knots way. She was way to calm and collected. Besides, since he showed up, her entire life was littered with his continuous problems over and over again. She would have to be _crazy_ to have any sort of feelings for him.

Not only that, his fingers twisted onto his bed sheet, and he curled his toes in his shoes, _romance_ in general was sort of a... _strange_ concept for Ash. In his dream world the thought had never once crossed his mind, and now in the real world he had a constant stream of weird hormones, emotions, and _thoughts_ that simply did _not_ seem natural. Worst of all, how was he sure that he _liked_ Misty at all? He had nothing else to compare it to, but so far, no one else made his stomach ache quite as much... Then again, maybe he was just hungry.

In an attempt to shake the thought from his mind, he hung his head back once more. Why was he thinking about this now? He still had to find greninja, noivern, goodra hawlucha and talonflame. He didn't need to be thinking about _girls,_ or so that was what the childish side of him chimed.

Ash's heart hiccuped, and a rosy tint filtered over his cheeks. Misty wasn't just _any_ girl though. She was a woman, and his best, and possibly only real friend in this entire, messed up world right now.

Ash wasn't _stupid_ , he knew about ladies to some degree, Dr. Abby made sure of that—but he wasn't keen on the idea, either. A part of him still believed girls had cooties, and while they were wonderful traveling companions in his mind, _dating_ one was a whole different ball game.

Oh god, dating? Did he just think of _dating_?

Panicked for a total of ten minutes, he decided the safest way to maintain his sanity while he waited for the nurse to return was to watch television until the nurse came back with his discharge papers. His thoughts kept running back to two things, Misty, or his pokemon; there didn't seem to a middle anymore, no matter how much he tried to argue that he needed to focus on the threat of Team Rocket, or maybe even what he was going to do after traveling. Instead, he drowned out his thoughts with the public news and prayed that the feelings would pass.

 **Author's Note:**

Decided to break up the chapter after all.

I think Ash getting injured is a good reminder that he is -human- because for awhile there, he seemed to think he was invincible, blowing shit up and stuff, flying over islands, jumping off boats, taking on gyarados'. Also, couldn't resist throwing in some part-time labor. You ever worked at a race show? Those things are brutal. Plus, I think it's important to understand that Ash can, without other people, manage on his own now. This includes without the help of pokemon. (even if he did technically land himself in the hospital again, -weeps in the distance-)

Literally going to post the second half of this in like two minutes. The chapter was simply getting too long, and everything after this was like a whole different subject, so it made sense (to me) to break them up.

NINT


	30. Chapter 30: Kalos pt2

**Locked Away, Chapter 30**

After he was checked out of the hospital, given the prescription for his drugs and had everything linked to his trainers account, Ash fled to the center of the city where the laboratory was.

Once there, Ash didn't actually get to meet Professor Sycamore in person; he was only able to speak with his assistant Sophie, who handled Ash's pokemon, pokedex, and was also the woman who called the ambulance for Ash. Apparently, he had made it to the laboratory, but once he got there, he passed out—Everything after working at "The Colosseum" had been a massive blur to Ash, so he wasn't surprised to hear this.

He thanked Sophie, sent his regards to the professor, and head out back onto the road before night fall. However, before he left the laboratory, he talked with the assistant about a froakie that would have been with Sycamore just around two years ago; Ash had been informed that said froakie had ran off on his own after being rejected by one too many trainers.

Froakie was still around, which meant that Ash had to travel to all of the important spots where he might find the water pokemon; more importantly, he also needed to find goodra, talonflame, hawlucha and noivern. If he was lucky, they would all be together. If he wasn't lucky, he would have an incident much like Sinnoh and Hoenn, where he walked around in circles; and this time, travel was going to be gruesomely slower without the assistance of charizard.

Sophie advised Ash to send charizard back to Gary until he healed, because the pokemon would _not_ be flying for some time—what ever 'incident' that had managed to mangle his right wing the way that it did, did a wonderful job of it. How could he say no to the advice of a pokemon professor? Ash didn't want charizard to get hurt worse.

In the end, Ash sent charizard back, in favor chimchar, and was now walking and taking trains when he could. Togepi liked to berate him about his recklessness like a certain redhead used to, and even more than that, both pokemon were convinced that Ash should call to explain what happened. Save Gary telling her, but Ash decided against his better judgment. As far as he knew, Gary didn't know anything and he was going to wait to talk with her again until he could see her in person. A lot had happened, and he needed to clear his head.

With his wound patched, his ego slightly brushed, his schedule for taking his drugs accounted for, and his pokemon taken care of, Ash was ready to begin his trek though the region.

 **XOXs**

For the first time since the start of his journey, Ash lucked out with noivern and talonflame—the two flying pokemon found perch in Santalune City, where he had his last stop before heading to the pokemon league in his dream. Apparently, they had met by accident a little over a ago, but stayed together since they both had frequent, reoccurring dreams about Ash. Ash had gone south from Paris to look for his pokemon, though the league was much, much smaller than he had ever remembered it, and so he turned back around, deciding that the best place to search for hawlucha would be west, back towards the shore.

In favor of having eyes on the sky—he traded totodile and snorlax for noivern and talonflame, the two flying pokemon were able to scout for his pokemon above large areas, while Ash, togepi, chimchar, and pikachu walked. When passing through route fourteen, and later route twelve on his way to the coast once more; he keep watch for any sign of goodra—but like most dragon type pokemon, he was finding they were all _absent_.

Chimchar, pikachu and togepi had taken to training frequently with the two fully evolved pokemon during their spare time. Since Ash wasn't flying everywhere like he had with charizard around, they seemed to have _a lot_ of spare time. They spent the better part of the month competing in small, unranked tournaments and pokemon battles in order to win some money. For the first time since he woke up, he felt like a _real_ trainer again, battling trainers and pokemon, talking with other trainers—though none of them seemed familiar.

As opposed to the other regions, France wasn't as commonly known for its battlers, _or_ its coordinators, and had the highest population of _non-trainers_ in the entire league. This dislike of battling created the change of presentation of the region. "Kalos" was exchanged years ago for the title "France", and the place turned into a tourist trap for other regions. For this reason, many of the stronger pokemon, including dragon and fairy type pokemon moved south back to Johto and Kanto.

In the end, winning battles wasn't difficult for an area where battlers were scarce, so Ash and his pokemon enjoyed simple victories while battling was treated more like a hobby and less of a life-style. When he returned to Kanto, he knew that the game would be much different.

While "showcases" did not exist in this world, pokemon modeling did—as did a form of pokemon acrobatics, several types of racing, different performances, shows, and entertainment plummeted through the region like a poison. Pokemon centers were few and far in between, and the allure of the region spurred several different popular tourist. Families spent their time at the five different cities revolving around beaches and boardwalks. The adults, looking for a good time, or a nice, relaxing time out in Paris, or other parts of France toward the east.

If someone was looking for a cultural experience, they would head south east, to Snowbelle city and Vaniville, which shared many common cultural aspects to vineyards and roses. North was the industrial section—Laverre city, Dendemille and Anistar city were dedicated production capitals, and produced everything from pokeballs, to gym badges... though Ash wondered why a region that partook in _neither_ of those, would house the largest facilities in the industry.

When Ash arrived in on route eleven, outside of Genosenge about a month and a half into his journey, it didn't take him long to discover hawlucha. The pokemon was still trying to keep peace in the area, using his strength and strong sense of justice to protect weaker pokemon.

However, the pokemon also refused to travel with Ash, as it already had another trainer. When Ash was introduced to the trainer, he noticed the boy was no older than eleven, with sparking, brown eyes and dark hair- a lot like how Ash was with hawlucha. According to the fighting pokemon, the boy needed more help than Ash did, but if Ash ever need help—he would be there.

Ash traded numbers with the young boy, whose name was Hiro, and promised to keep in touch. Hawlucha gave a hearty hello and goodbye to his former companions, and Ash promised to keep in touch before he watched the pokemon leave.

Hawlucha wasn't one to wait around for anyone. He followed a strict code of just and he would find someone else to help in this world, the same way that he helped Ash in his dream world. So it wasn't surprising to see hawlucha doing exactly that. As they watched Hiro leave with Hawlucha at his side, he saw the boy trip up over his feet, and Ash chuckled while scratching his cheek. To be fair, Hiro really _did_ need the help.

 **XOXs**

Two months in, he found himself seated once again in what used to be known as 'Lumiose City, at a bench looking up at the Eiffel tower, formerly 'Prism tower'. Somehow, after all of his walking, he ended up back here, staring up at the tower he had fallen off of in his dream world. That was when froakie noticed him before. Would Ash have to do something as insanely spontaneous to earn his attention once more? Though, Ash wasn't so sure _jumping_ off the tower was a great plan, unlike his imaginative world, he wasn't likely to survive—and he wasn't brave enough to keep pushing his luck.

If Ash learned nothing at all from the incident in the ocean, it was that he had one too many close calls.

But what had _really_ brought Ash back to Paris, was the wanted add posted in one of the local pokemon centers for a greninja that was 'causing mischief' in downtown Paris. While that didn't fit Ash's greninja's personality, maybe he, too, was trying to cause a scene to get Ash's attention?

Regardless, the pokemon was wanted for breaking an entire case of crystal sculptures. Ash snickered when he heard that, unable to believe that a _pokemon_ could be wanted for criminal activities the same way a person could—though it didn't surprise him, he found the ordeal rather funny.

"Well pikachu, togepi..." Ash hummed. "We can hang out here for a few days to see if he comes back, what do you think?" Ash asked the duo while swaying his feet back and forth beneath the bench. Togepi made a sort of strangled noise, while pikachu slumped beside Ash and let out a weak, tired 'chaa', indicated that he was tired.

Ash couldn't argue; traveling took a lot from him as well, he had to replace his sneakers and jeans a few weeks ago—both had been worn into dust, and that didn't even start the money he forked out to replace the supplies he lost out in the ocean. To make matters worse, he had to pay the hospital bill, which was a hefty two grand for spending two days there, and pay for his prescription drugs. Luckily, it healed with no problems, but he had also been a bit smarter about his actions as well.

If he saw something that was cruel, or unjust, he wrote it down in his new journal, rather than trying to fix it himself. Misty was right, destruction and grand arson only got him so far before his poor decisions were counter affective.

With a sigh, he smacked his lips together, watching the sun dim in the distance, and the bright lights of the tower slowly fade on.

In the gentle hum of city, across the street from where he sat, he saw for a very brief moment, the familiar cut of blonde hair that painted his dream world pink before he woke up. He sat up, knocking pikachu over and off of the bench as he leaned forward to squint his eyes, her back was already to him, but it was as clear as day—that was _Serena_ the 'princess' of Paris.

"Se—Sere-" Ash started, his mouth forming a slow stammer before he realized a shadow hopping behind her. His eyes narrowed, and he was to his feet a moment later, rushing across the busy street to trail her himself—while also keeping his eye trained on the moving shadow. Behind him, togepi and pikachu had followed after, but they weren't as quiet.

Ash wasn't _trying_ to be quiet anyways, so when Serena turned around and all but slapped him, he was thrown off guard.

"Stop following me, you creep!" She shouted, pumping up her fists as if she would fight him. Ash took two large steps back, having learned there was nothing more deadly than and angry woman and shook his head in his defense.

"I'm not following you!" Ash gasped, blinking at her several times.

"Liar! I've been trying to lose you for the last hour!"

"Then why would I suddenly show myself _now_ in the middle of the street?" Ash asked in a snippy tone, calling out her daft confusion. Her crystal blue eyes blinked once and then twice, and then she recoiled her statement with an authentic blush and shrug of her shoulders.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She chuckled weakly, earning a look of exasperation from Ash.

"But," He said quickly. "I did run over here because I saw someone following you, or something." He confirmed with a raised finger that made her face fall quickly. Her bubble burst.

"Oh." She mused weakly as togepi and pikachu caught up with him and stood at his feet.

"Not to worry, we'll help you." he laughed awkwardly as the small mouse cutely twitched his ears at Serena, as if passing his own hello. The blonde looked at the two pokemon before clasping her hands together.

"How adorable!" She cooed, snatching the two of them up in one swoop. "What kind of pokemon are these?"

Ash turned at her, removing his attention from watching the shadows and smiled. He pointed to each pokemon. "This is my pikachu, and this is my togepi."

While pikachu immediately warmed to Serena, enjoying the gentle squeeze of her arm, togepi was less enthusiastic, and began to physically struggle to be released; so much that it bit her arm, and jumped out onto the sidewalk.

"Ow! It bit me!"

"Togepi, why did you do that?" Ash scolded, staring bitterly at the egg while it shrieked up at him.

"Toge, toge bri!" it yelled, and Ash could feel sweat swelter down his neck as he pursed his lips.

"She's not replacing anyone." He told the small egg while squatting down beside the egg and patting its pointy head. "So just relax."

Serena smiled beside him, scratching fondly behind pikachu's ears while she watched their interaction. At least _one_ of his pokemon was nice.

"What's your name, anyways? I'm Serena, but you might have already known that from all the signs..." She laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck innocently while Ash stood straight and smoothed his jacket.

"My name is Ash Ketchum." He added weirdly, giving her a tilted smile that turned her blood cold.

"N-no way." She hissed, her eyes wide, her pupils dilated. Ash blinked once, watching her mouth fall open and her grip on pikachu released. Nervously, he looked around him. Maybe she saw a ghost?

"Something wrong?" He asked while scrunching his face. Serena gasped and then shook her head.

"You're supposed to be dead!"

Stunned, Ash shook his head back at her. "No, I'm alive." He answered back, as if it were the simplest answer in the world.

"No, you electrocuted yourself!" She argued, dropping pikachu in her brief panic as she took a large step away from him. "I saw the news papers!"

His face contorted oddly, and his fists tightened. "Do—do you know me?"

"Yes! We met when we were kids at a summer camp!"

Astounded, Ash's mouth fell open and he shook his head once, and then twice, and then looked at pikachu who gave a shrug while togepi looked away angrily. Good to know that wasn't a part of his dream.

 **XOXS**

Since Serena was still likely being followed, and it gave Ash a good excuse to talk with her, they spent the rest of the evening catching up.

"Still..." She mumbled earnestly. "Ten years...That's a really long time"

Ash nodded and scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah..." he scoffed.

She looked at him with bright eyes, a large, comforting smile on her face. "Transitioning must have been terrible! It must feel like you're in a completely different world!" She mused with a gasp that made him chuckle at her amazed nature.

"You have no idea!" He admit, her accuracy was spot on—Ash _was_ in a different world. But he wasn't going to tell her that.

"So why would someone be following you, anyways?" He asked while flicking his wrist, a grumbling togepi threw out a snark reply from Ash's backpack and the trainer clucked his tongue unhappily at the eggs sass while pikachu chuckled.

"I do a lot of ryhorn racing, like my mom." She explained. "Some people get upset that I don't always win."

"So getting followed is...normal, for you?" He winced, wondering how safe that was. Serena shrugged.

"Not really, there are so many celebrities in Paris that a ryhorn racer is the least of people's concern." She said mutely while stopping at a set of lights. They remained stationary while Ash exhaled.

"But enough about me, what brings you to Paris? This is an awful long way from Kanto."

Ash's eyes went wide and he tried to be nonchalant, but it came out in a mumble "I'm looking for pokemon."

"Pokemon?" Serena chuckled. "You really are the pokemon trainer from when I was a kid." She muttered awkwardly, chuckling as the light turned green for them to walk.

Unfortunately, they were stopped by the appearance of a blue blue swiping down, knocking Ash's cap from his head and forcing him to his knees as the pokemon landed in front of Serena and Ash, standing on the middle of the road.

"Ow!" Ash hissed, standing up only as pikachu pounced before Ash.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu yelled to Ash, drawing his attention to the pokemon that had not-so-gently knocked the sense into Ash.

"Greninja?" "A greninja!" Serena gasped, eyes wide as saucers.

Ash didn't have time to look at Serena as the pokemon rose its arms, indicating a challenge to battle. However, looking once over the ninja pokemon, Ash thought better of it—its right leg was bleeding, poorly wrapped. It didn't back down, even after listening to pikachu explain the situation about Ash's dream world.

"I'm not battling you." Ash said clearly, getting a shocked looked from Serena. She narrowed her eyes and whispered.

"Why not?"

Greninja only shared a hateful look, full of disdain and contempt. It had been watching Ash for awhile most likely; at least that was what the deep hues of his red, glaring eyes told Ash; screaming at him _"why didn't you come back sooner?"_

Ash didn't answer, he didn't have time to because greninja charged at him, though the attack was quickly subdued by an electric shot from his right that temporarily blinded the duo. Beside him, he heard Serena gasp and cover her eyes. For a moment, Ash looked down at pikachu, believing the electric surge came from the mouse, but when he looked up, two approaching officers in blue were talking on their radios, and pikachu was crying for Ash to do something.

"We have found the pokemon in question. We are moving in now." The woman officer called in a deep voice that send spikes into Ash's heart. From her hip, she pulled a metallic gun from the holster on her hip and alarms went off in Ash's mind as he quickly grabbed a pokeball off his belt and threw it at the collapsed frog pokemon.

In a bright light, the pokemon disappeared right as the woman and her partner drew their guns, and glared over at Ash.

"What are you doing interfering in police business?" she snapped.

"I was in the middle of a battle, and you interrupted it." Ash barked back, clearly lying. Serena made no point of correcting him. Ash couldn't believe what he saw, a human, a real _person_ was about to publicly execute a _pokemon_. He couldn't believe it; in fact, he was almost terrified.

She placed her gun back into the holster and licked her teeth. "That pokemon is a wanted felon."

"Its a pokemon." Ash argued. "You were going to shoot it in public" he waved his arms around, gesturing towards the many people who stopped only briefly to watch the exchange.

"Correct, because it is an _animal_ that broke the law." She said flatly, unimpressed by Ash's just tone.

"You wouldn't do that to a person!" Ash argued, taking a step forward.

"Right, because it _isn't a person."_ She returned coldly, looking over her shoulder to her partner who shrugged his broad shoulders. At Ash's feet, pikachu had stepped between the police officer and Ash, and togepi had climbed from his back and propped himself on his shoulder.

The officer sighed. "Listen, kid, we don't wanna hurt you; so just hand over the pokeball and we'll be on our way."

"No way in hell." Ash scoffed, shaking his head.

"He is wanted, which means we need to take care of him." She said earnestly, trying to sound sweet, but it sounded more threatening.

Ash remained still and mortified, pikachu's electricity threatened the police officer to keep a distance, and for once, Ash had no qualms about the pokemon attacking. Typically Ash didn't believe pikachu should _ever_ attack a human—but he wasn't so sure this woman with cold eyes didn't deserve it _at least_ a little.

Ash didn't back down. "Doesn't matter, I captured him which means he is mine now."

The police officer cocked her jaw to one side. "So you admit to holding a pokemon who created acts of regional destruction?"

"I admit to having a pokemon that was being chased down by the police and almost executed in the center of _town_." Ash growled in return.

Beside him, Serena watched, awestruck from the exchange. Whoever Ash was now, he was a seeker of trouble...but it was oddly humbling, she hadn't seen someone so brave in years. Her face flushed gently at the thought, and she shook her head gently.

"Listen, kid." The officer cut in, emphasizing with her hand to have pikachu stop its sparks, but the pokemon did _not_ listen in any way.

"I am _not_ a kid!" Ash hissed venomously, gritting his teeth. "Now _leave_." He added, and the officer sat back, before looking at her partner. They shared an unspoken conversation, a look between their eyes that Ash knew from his dream—it was the one that Bill and Cassidy shared before they acted on terrible deeds.

When issues couldn't be solved civilly, they used _force_.

"Wait!" Serena called from beside the two of them before they could turn the encounter into blows. "Technically anything a pokemon did before being owned by a trainer becomes obsolete the moment it is under human care." Serena squeaked from behind Ash, catching the officers, and Ash off guard. A twisted grin spread over Ash's cheeks as he looked back to the officers—knowing that if they touched him, they would have quite the problem on their hands.

The female officer clicked her tongue, and snarled at Ash.

"You got lucky." she said, staring at his eyes. "But if I so much as _see_ that pokemon out of its ball. I'll be there." She muttered, and Ash had half the mind to release greninja now, since she would legally not be allowed to touch it, unless challenged officially. After a second thought—he figured it was better _not_ to stir the pot any more.

Their egos bruised, Ash watched the officers leave with a straight back. He waited until they disappeared at the end of the street before he relaxed and looked at Serena gratefully.

"Thanks for that." He grunted while approaching the pokeball he threw earlier. As he suspected, greninja was too weak to resist capture.

"No problem..." Serena mumbled, looking at Ash as if he had sprouted devil horns. "Does...does trouble follow you, or is it a reoccurring theme?"

Ash hummed innocently and tapped his finger against his lip. "It's a bit of both, if I'm being honest." he said while looking at her with lowered eyebrows, a soft gaze.

"Ah—ha." Serena said with a blush decorating her pale features as she shook her face clear of a smirk, and turned to start walking once more. Ash took one more look back at the police officers, and follow after Serena.

"Does that happen often? They were about to shoot greninja if I hadn't captured him." following the woman, Ash's voice caught in his throat.  
"It happens enough." Serena hummed. "But it's not as common here as it is in other regions—pokemon here are usually pretty good." Serena said happily while Ash's face paled. He felt physically sick...but that explained a lot. First with muk, then with gliscor, and now with greninja.

"How can that be allowed..?"

"Pokemon are considered animals." Serena mumbled, but then fidgeted. "I don't really want to talk about this." She said awkwardly, but Ash felt his face heat up—he did, he wanted to know more.

"..Fair enough." He grit his teeth, respecting her wishes while also making a mental note to ask Misty later.

After a brief pause, Serena coughed to clear the tension; "Why don't you tell me more about yourself?"

"There isn't a lot to tell." He admit, though their was, he didn't think sharing his comatose dreams would mean a lot to Serena.

"Sure there is! Like, how long are you going to be in Paris, for starters? I just finished a marathon of races, so I'm free—maybe we could hang out?" Serena mused cheerfully, but Ash gave her a weak smile.

"I... would like that." He said honestly "But I have some place else that I'm needed." He admit, looking down at the ground.

"Oh." Serena hummed. "Well, how long will you be in town?"

"That's a funny thing actually... I was just leaving here very soon." Ash admit, intentionally leaving out the bit about how he was waiting for greninja. He wasn't going to tell Serena that greninja was following her because of _him_.

"Oh..." She said disappointingly. "That kind of sucks."

"Yeah...sorry.." he mumbled awkwardly, rubbing his neck while she inhaled.

"Maybe we will just have to catch up another day." still, she tried to keep the conversation going. "How is your mom doing?"

Ash froze at the question and offered a strange smile. "...She's fine." he admit, his disillusion flying over Serena's head.

"That's good." She paused, they were stopped at the section that led to the train station, and another that led into the part of town where she was living at the moment. She looked into the distance thoughtfully, and then smiled gently.

"Well, I guess I should let you get to it." She hesitated once more, pushing strands of hair behind her ear. "It's weird, but it almost feels like it hasn't been that long since I've seen you..." She laughed weirdly. "That's weird, I know, but... It doesn't feel like it's been ten years." She admit while turning to him and clicking her heels together.

Ash grinned at that, shaking his head. "You're not the first person to mention that. I must just have that effect on people." He said while rubbing his side where his most recent injury was. Serena raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms.

"You didn't even mention my status as a celebrity—you do realize that's what I am, right?" She asked but Ash shrugged.

"I think you're just Serena." he said but then gaped. "Not like your status doesn't _mean anything..._ " He tried to justify with a grimace, but Serena had started laughing and waved him off.

"It's okay. I understand what you mean." Serena grinned and tilted her head. "It's refreshing."

"I guess so." Ash mumbled weakly, feeling an underrated burst of warmth that was associated with the young woman. A long lost friend found once again.

"I'll catch you around?" he mumbled with a sort of weak smile; a strange feeling in his chest as he realized for the first time, that who these people are now, were not the people who knew before. Dawn, May, Max, everyone he stumbled across had some level of difference—change about them. Serena was the weirdest of all though—that light she had reflected in her eyes when ever she looked at him in his dreams was almost _dull_ now.

"Hey, when you get back to Kanto give me a call sometime." She said suddenly, grabbing a card from her back pocket, and handed it to Ash with a sweet smile. "And I guess I'll see you around Ash Ketchum." She mused with a pleasant wink before patting pikachu on the head, avoiding togepi, and then leaving down the path opposite of Ash.

He watched her for a short time, recalling their interactions in his dream world, and then rolled his eyes so far back into his head he could feel himself groan long before the sound escaped through his mouth.

Not only did he fabricate a land of enchantment and wonder—he fabricated a _crush_ on himself.

Slapping himself on the forehead hard, he recalled that look of adoration in her eyes, and felt his stomach lurch while pikachu snickered beside him, as if reading his mind. It was direct contrast to her eyes now, which ere gentle, but _far_ from the idolization he framed in his mind about her.

Shuddering, pikachu let out a strangle laugh when Ash picked the pokemon up and rubbed his fist in the spot between his ears.

"Shut up." he growled, knowing well that pikachu knew the memories just as well as Ash did.

"Togeii." The egg chirped, looking at the setting sun while Ash looked over his shoulder.

That was right; togepi had a point. He was _done_ now, technically.

"chaa?" The mouse squeaked to his trainer while Ash blinked several times.

"...I guess that means we go home...?" Ash grunted, and then felt himself smile. "We'll sort everything out from there."

Ash grinned to himself, happiness bursting from his chest with glee.

Mentally, Ash made a list while starting his walk to the train station.

Next destination: Gary's laboratory in Pallet Town. He needed to check in with all of his pokemon, and see about finding the others he had yet to find. There were still several pokemon he needed to catch up with—greninja being one of the most recent, but more than that, he wanted to spend time together, as a family once again.

Second destination: Viridian City, so pikachu could also do that. If he was lucky, Ash could steal Cole for a few hours without his mother knowing—heck, maybe Ash would give talking to his mother another _try_.

...But after that, he smiled warmly, staring intently at the reds in the sky. He was going to deal with _other_ issues; namely in the form of Team Rocket, old friends, and a redhead with a temper.

 **Author's Note:**

SERENA was hard to write for. I'm sorry that this wasn't the best written portion of the story but oh man. She was actually really difficult to write; I almost cut her out for that reason. ;w; I'm sorry.

No, she doesn't have a crush on Ash. Seriously. For anyone here that is past the age of 16, do you even remember kids from when you were seven? ...I dunno, I just couldn't see her realistically having a crush on someone she didn't know, and didn't see for so many years. (also thought he was dead, just saying?)

THIS ENDS PART 2

Originally part 2 **was not** supposed to end until five chapters from now at ch 36, but I actually felt like leaving 'Ash's journey' as it's own portion worked better than how it was broken up previously.

ONCE AGAIN, thank you guys so, so sosososososo much for all the lovely feedback. :D this has finally reached 200 follows and 300plus reviews. -so honored- I feel like I should bring up that tribute chapter again! I had one vote for a tribute chapter being about Ash's time at the Cerulean City gym, another about the time at hospital before Ash woke up, if anyone else has input they would like to add, now's the time to say it lol.

ALSO, next update will be a double post because I'm going to submit the tribute chapter before part then, and and then jump right back into the main plot.

Until then, thanks again everyone.

NINT


	31. Chapter 31: Tribute

**Locked Away, Chapter 31: The Tribute**

Ash arrived at Gary's laboratory a few hours before sunset. His feet were sore, his back ached, and his muscles felt like they would rip themselves apart had his skin not been there to keep him together. He had walked continuously for over eight months, and whereas the journey hadn't affected him at first, now that it was finally drawing to a close.

He was tired.

To make matters worse, greninja refused to speak with Ash; he wouldn't come out of his pokeball, and according to Gary, in order to rectify the problem, Gary would have to forcefully dismantle the pokeball. Ash didn't want that, though. Greninja would come out of his pokeball when he was ready, Ash wouldn't force the water pokemon.

So, when he arrived, he spent the better part of the evening catching up with the pokemon he reunited with. All eleven of them, in hopes that they would inspire greninja to emerge—but the pokemon never did.

Instead, Gary watched at a distance, mesmerized that Ash, a grown man, knew so many large, terrifying pokemon; charizard, snorlax, noivern to name a few, and they were all _friendly_.

While sitting in a group, Ash held togepi in his lap while sitting cross-legged and was not only _happy_ with his pokemon, he was having a _full discussion with them_. Never in Gary's twenty-one years of life had he ever imagined seeing such a thing, but when it came to Ash, he was starting to make very large exceptions. Ash, even though he might have been a little crazy, sometimes and his methods were unorthodox, and he was a bit of a child still... Gary couldn't ignore that since Ash returned things had _already_ started to change. Little by little, people seemed to open up, everywhere he went, everyone he met, _changed_.

In little under a year, Ash managed to influence the stubborn Cerulean City gym leader into accepting a role as an Elite Four member. He had managed to rekindle the bonds between two estranged gym leaders and the pokemon professor of Kanto. Ash freed an entire route of a charizard that was, surprising to Gary, very friendly. He managed to some how bring the press back to odd occurrences by creating several of them himself. While his use of pyromania was somewhat heretical, his ability to disrupt the normal flow of the world drew necessary attention back to the cruelty of the pounds, the unfairness of the league officials, and the difference in equality amongst all trainers.

Somehow, Ash managed to explore six regions, disturb the peace in all of them, and come back unscathed.

...and only Ash could do that.

Standing up as his pokemon started conversing amongst themselves, Ash pressed his hand against charizard's snout—who had been mostly disheveled and brooding since Gary received him a little under two months ago.

The large dragon would likely never fly _normally_ again. Whatever mangled his wing did a professional job of it, it had ripped through most of his bone structure, and wingspan—if he ever did heal, it would take years.

In a rather peculiar, touching moment, charizard lowered its head to face Ash, dipping its horned forehead against Ash's, knocking the trainers hat off. Gary wasn't positive, but in the glimmer of the sun, he thought he might have seen Ash apologize, and tears roll from the red-eyes of the dragon.

A terrifying scene at best, and yet incoherently... _sweet._

After the brief moment with charizard, Ash turned on his heels and headed back towards the laboratory, wiping his eyes the best that he could with the underneath of his wrist.

Mockingly, Gary snorted. "Still a cry baby, I see."

"I am not." Ash sniffled, grumbling under his breath as he straightened his hat so that Gary couldn't see his face. "Not crying."

"It's alright." Gary expressed rather quietly, sitting back on his patio chair while kicking up his calf onto his knee. "Finding out about the repercussions of bad decisions sometimes warrants tears."

Ash stared at him for that comment, and found a seat beside Gary on the patio chair opposite of him with a questioning gaze.

"Do you think he will heal?"  
"In time," Gary murmured, folding his arms. "Pokemon heal differently than we do, an injury that would have killed us sometimes only leaves a scratch on them. Charizard's are known for their durability, so...whatever struck charizard was designed to kill strong pokemon-" he paused, raising an eyebrow at Ash's expression.

"Charizard surviving says something about his character, doesn't it?"

Ash smirked at that, feeling better. "I guess so." He looked off into the distance, watching the dragon pokemon scowl in frustration as a playful togepi and pikachu climbed up on top of him, in an attempt to brighten his spirits.

"If it wasn't for me though...He wouldn't have gotten hurt." Ash's gaze fell. "I should have been more careful."

"Really?" Gary mused, snorting. "Did you know _whatever_ it was that hurt him was going to be where you were at the time? If it wasn't for you and that gym leader, he would still be terrorizing route twenty five."

Ash fidgeted uncomfortably at the mention of Misty, but then returned to normal rather quickly. "I guess."

"What _did_ happen, by the way?" Gary managed, thumbing his lip. The doctors hadn't called Gary, or anyone when Ash visited the hospital, thankfully.

"Ahh, just some stuff." Ash said, waving the conversation off. He didn't want to involve Gary, the pokemon professor in Kanto with any of his ordeals more than he had already. No, he would wait until he could talk to Misty and Brock before mentioning what he saw in Unova; and even then... Ash would have to choose his words wisely.

Gary shook his head, picking up that _whatever_ trouble Ash got into wasn't exactly legal, so he laced his fingers over his knee, and then stared directly at Ash.

"So, what are your plans now that you've raged mayhem on all other parts of the world?"

A long pause followed in which Ash took a solid look at his hands. His expression was unreadable, due to the bill of his hat obstructing his view, but when he sat back, Gary could see the hopeful expression on Ash's face.

"For once...I don't really have anything I need to do—no immediate goal..."

Gary crossed his arms, watching his childhood friend's gaze. "And what do you plan to do with that?"

A scoff escaped Ash's lips while he shook his head a bit.

"Honestly?" He glanced over to his pokemon, which were sleeping peacefully in the field together, as one, happy family in the dying sun. Pikachu, togepi, bulbasaur, charizard, chimchar, bayleef, donaphan, totodile, snorlax, talonflame, and noivern. A drop in the bucket to his original team...but, some of them were back—safe, happy. He stared down to greninja's pokeball, and glanced away. He many have failed many of his pokemon, but he was here now, and that's the best he could do.

"I think I'll go to sleep." Ash exhaled, with a smile tugging on his lips.

Gary laughed at that. "Not for ten years though, right?"

"Nah..." Ash waved him off, standing. "Ten hours or so might do it though." He laughed in return, giving the man in question a stoic nod, and then walking off into the back bedrooms where he would be staying for the night before he began his adventure to Cerulean City the next morning.

Gary watched him leave, and then turned his eyes to the pokemon in the field slowly as the door beside him tugged open and a rather frazzled Leaf popped out of the house. Ash and Leaf exchanged briefly, before the brunette found her way to the deck, where she plopped down into the seat beside Gary's, watching the pokemon as well.

"He caught quite a few high level pokemon for a beginner." She admired while Gary slumped into his chair further, looking at his wife.

"You're telling me. Half of the pokemon he has he shouldn't have even known about. They're not native to Kanto, and there is no way he got all that information from Misty."

"Hey, she's pretty smart." Leaf grumbled in Misty's defense, Gary blinked at her.

"I didn't say she wasn't." He argued with an eye roll. "I'm saying that the pokemon he has aren't well known to this region. He caught them too quickly to just-"

Leaf chuckled, taking Gary's hand in her own and stroking the palm of it with her thumb. "It's frustrating, isn't it?"  
"Yes!" Gary gasped. "I don't understand _how_ he managed to find so many different pokemon, _and_ cause as much trouble as he did after being in a coma for _ten years_. It doesn't make sense!"

A long pause followed his outburst, and then;

"You seem happier though." Leaf hummed. "Like something that's been missing finally came back."

With borderline pathetic eyes, Gary turned to his wife, and blinked twice before rolling his shoulders and sitting back in his seat.

"...yeah, I guess so..."

* * *

Misty rolled her head back, having been sitting at her desk with little movement for the last hour and a half. She checked her phone again—listening to the message that Ash left—wondering why he didn't call her from his pokedex.

Not only that, when she dialed the number for his pokedex now, it only reached a dial tone.

It had been a little under two months since he called, and it had been just under a month since he sent her a letter. Misty _knew_ he was in France, and for the most part _knew_ that he was safe, she however did _not_ like being ignored.

Her foot rattled beneath the desk, running over the thoughts in her mind about the trouble he could have gotten himself into. What if he _really_ did mess up? He didn't sound so great when he left her that message—sure, he said not to worry, but how could she not? He spent _five_ months sending passive letters and then suddenly decided to call her when he made it to France?

That wasn't right, _something_ had to have happened to him, and he was avoiding her.

...Because she had tabs on him through Cole. The seven year old boy still called Misty on a normal basis, asking about her training as an Elite Four member; he was overly enthusiastic about learning about pokemon, and would sometimes let it slip that he spoke with Ash regularly.

 _"He says he misses you a lot whenever I bring you up around him..."_ Cole had told her one day, followed quickly by: " _Are you two married?"_

 _Ahh_ , trying to explain to a seven year old the difference between 'friends', 'married', 'dating' and 'acquaintances' was a lot like stubbing a toe. Painful, shocking, and a little nerve racking. In the end, Misty complied to the seven year old's simple beliefs, and agreed only because it was simpler to _agree_ with him than it was to argue, and she wasn't _ready_ to explain to him the difference between what a 'mommy' felt compared to what 'she' felt.

...Mostly because whenever she tried to, she would stammer, bite her tongue and evidently find herself slamming her head onto what ever hard surface she could find to clear her mind.

Regardless if he had neglected to send letters or call, hearing that he _missed_ her was information enough for her to forgive the _man_. Slumping in her desk chair, she let out a long, frustrated sigh.

 _The man_. She thought while resting her chin on top of her folded arms. Since when had it become that? It seemed like only yesterday he was the little boy she ripped out of the river.

Drawing close to three in the morning, her eyelids felt heavy, recalling the event that was once a bitter memory. Sleep pulled at her eyes, begging her for a few hours of rest, and she could do nothing but comply.

Ten years ago... Misty's life changed.

She had been sitting off of route one, minding her own business, fishing for water pokemon of any kind. She had only been on her own for less than a year, but she was still determined—she would not return to the Cerulean City gym until she was a water pokemon master! It was simply out of the question!

Stewing in her own frustration, she recalled her sisters terrible behavior—how they treated her like such a kid. Just because their parents left because obligations were _too much_ didn't meant hat Misty couldn't handle her own in battle. She had been training pokemon since she was walking, there was nothing she couldn't do!

She would catch an amazing water pokemon, she would enter the league matches, and she would defeat the Elite Four and enter the championship match. Misty would win and then her sisters would _have_ to respect her!

Unfortunately, that moment would never come, as her life would be turned upside down the second her fishing line sunk.

"Oh, it must be a big one!" She gasped, tugging on the fishing pole to pull up her catch. It must have been a seaking, or a shelder! Maybe if she was lucky, it would be a golduck! _Whatever_ it was, it was heavy. With one heave, she pulled the submerged creature from the river, but she noticed right away it wasn't anything she wanted to see and a loud sigh escaped her throat.

"Aww, it's just a kid... and a pokemon!" She leaped from her place at the small dock to examine the boy who was coughing up water. As she neared, a look of worry washed over her face, and she knelt, looking only at the yellow mouse. "Oooh, are you okay?"

Suddenly, small rage boiled inside of her chest when the raven-haired boy looked up at her with dewy brown eyes, soaked; "Yeah, I'm okay."

She couldn't stop herself, she wasn't really thinking when her hand flew from her side, and smacked against his right cheek. How careless! This pokemon was in terrible condition and he was thinking of himself first!

"Not you! Look at what you've done to that poor little thing!" A second later, pure shock filled his eyes as he looked up at her—both terrified and confused. Obviously, he hadn't gotten himself into this situation intentionally. Her heart twisted behind her breast.

Misty's face softened slightly as she realized the error of her ways, "Is it alright?" She hummed weakly as he looked down at the mouse, heart broken. As if he needed her to make him feel worse—he was already beating himself up.

He choked on his words for a split second, "I..I...I think so."

A wash of anger struck her again, but this time she threw her arms to her side and reeled away from him.

"Well don't just sit there, it needs a doctor right away!" She explained urgently. "There's a medical center not too far from here, but you've got to get moving now!"

Seconds later, he was also to his feet, looking at her with alert, wide eyes."You mean a hospital?"

Misty threw her hands onto her hips and nodded, as if it was the most obvious thing ever. "Yes, for pokemon!"

"Can you tell me which way do I go?" he asked, desperation clearly in his voice.

Carelessly, she pointed and his eyes followed her finger toward the direction of Viridian City. "That way." she said unimpressed.

However, their time spent together was short lived as Misty heard the loud fluttering of wings in the distance... a flock of spearow flying over the horizon came into view and her mouth fell open.

"They're coming back!" Ash screamed, taking off up the hill and leaving her at the shore. "Run!"

Blinking several times in confusion, she followed him up the hill quickly. "Hey, what are you doing?!"

Without explanation, he climbed onto her bike, kicked off the stand after tucking pikachu into the basket and looked at her bravely. "I'm borrowing this." He shouted, but before she could get another word in edge wise, he was already gone.

"H-hey, that's my bike!" She shouts after him, flabbergasted by such behavior. Who did he think that he was!?

The boy in the red hat was already well down the path when he looked back at her over his shoulder, his blue jacket flying in the wind as he peddled faster.

"I'll give it back someday!" he shouted carelessly, though Misty could feel terror in her heart, thinking about the price of that bike—he had no intention of _ever r_ eturning that bike! Then just like that, he was gone; as fast as he had come into her life, he exited.

Frustrated, she almost screamed, almost threw her arms up, but instead, she swallowed hard and slammed her tiny fists against her waist in a pint of rage.

Overhead, she could see the rolling thunderstorm clouds which had only moments ago seemed miles off, now rolling directly over her head. Just her luck!

"Man, stupid kid!" She groaned, quickly throwing together all of her supplies. She didn't want to get caught up in the rain storm and she would have to catch up with him to get her bike back. _And she would_ get her bike back! Who did this _thief_ think he was, anyways!?

 **Xoxs**

Misty traveled for just under an hour by foot, staying under the tree line and cursing her new 'friend' for stealing her bike. Her feet ached in her red sneakers, and she could feel the humidity of the quickly fallen rain decorating her body in the summer heat. She was sweating, thanks to the lack of breeze and the short storm! If only she had her bike, she would at least have _some_ wind against her hair while she zoomed down the forest path.

"I'll kill him when I find him!" She hissed aloud, squeezing her fists shut. "Better yet, I'll report him to the police for stealing my bike!" for a long moment she inhaled, making herself feel better by imagining worlds where he would earn his 'just desserts".

She would make this kid suffer, and he will know not to mess with the fourth sensational sister of the Cerulean City gym! How dare he even think to steal from her, Misty Waterflower! She would kick his—up ahead, the smell of smoke drew her attention from her thoughts, and her stomp came to a slow crawl. The path was clearly scorched from that massive lightning strike from before. Luckily, there was no fire around, so she pressed forward, keeping her eyes open.

...then she saw him. At first, a boiling rage penetrated her heart.

"Hey, kid! Where's my-" beside him, discarded on the road as if he had fallen off of it, was the _remains_ of her bike—toasted. An ugly, copper red fried to near indistinguishable properties. Her eyes flashed back over to the boy, who she realized by his point, was nearly lifeless, laying on his stomach. She couldn't see his face, but in his arms, right beside his head, was the same pikachu, wheezing in pain.

Her knees trembled for only a moment before she pushed forward swallowing hard. "Hey!" She called to him, falling to her knees beside the body.

"...cha..." the mouse squeaked indescribably, though Misty did not understand what it was saying—she could see that his eyes were slightly open, barely conscious, she pressed her hand against his back and felt electricity surge through her finger tips, raising her arm hairs.

"Oh..oh—oh no." She hummed weakly with trembling fingers.

"Hello! Is there anyone here!?" She screamed into the forest, but the only reply was the sound of fleeing pigeys, scared spearows—at least those that were still _alive_ after the lightning.

 _What am I supposed to do_? She thought to herself, watching his eyes turn from that chestnut brown, to white. His eyelids fell closed, the last bit of consciousness fading fast—as well as pikachu, who also turned over, limp. For a moment, she thought to scream again—but that would only alert more pokemon, it wasn't safe.

"W-wait. Stay awake." Misty tried instead, but her voice did not carry, it was barely strong enough to form above a whisper. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, regretting every terrible thought she had about the boy; every inconsiderate motive. What if she caused this?

Trembling, she reached out her hands once more, counting to five.

 _One._ She grabbed his arms, reeling them in front of her as she hoisted his weight up onto her shoulders. _Two._ His head bobbed against the back of her neck, and she shuddered, trying to stand with his extra weight—for a boy, he was surprisingly light. _Three_. Once she had him over her shoulders, she let his arms lie limp, and then took the small mouse, who also emit small, electrical charges, and stuffed the pokemon into her red back pack before wrapping that over her shoulders so that the pokemon would be cradled at the front of her person, rather than being squished by _him_. _Four._ With one heave, like a great onix, she rose to her feet, keeping his arms latched around her person. She staggered once, twice, and then found her footing.

 _Five_. She started moving.

 **xoxs**

Misty couldn't say how long she was in the forest, but his labored breathing against her neck was enough to keep her going—maybe he had only passed out, and he would wake up shortly? But if he had been truly been electrocuted—jesus, he should have been dead!

When the Viridian City police center came into view, resting at the edge of town, Misty's voice barely carried.

"H-help!" She cried, her voice squeaking. She was covered in sweat from head to toe when the woman working at the stall looked at her—her hair was blue, and her eyes turned from dull, to panic in seconds.

"Oh my... What happened?!"

"I-" Misty gasped for air. "I don't know! I found him like this, with his pikachu!"

The officer threw up her arms and helped Misty maneuver the boy from her shoulders, and towards the police station. She checked for a pulse, and as he had done to Misty prior, the left over charge in his body made her hair stand on end.

"I'll call and ambulance, are you his sister?"

"N-no. I just found him on the path!" Misty cried. "Is he okay?" She asked, but the officer didn't reply.

Three days passed before she could see him again. Apparently, the electrical current that passed through his body didn't leave things unscathed—and while she didn't know all the details, she was still told they had to rush him into the intense care unit.

When she saw him next, he was in a white hospital gown, with a feeding tube cut into his throat, an oxygen tube running down his neck, and IV's in both arms. He was connected to a heart monitor, several different scans, and most importantly, he was marked with a green tag—he was unclaimed by his family—a John Doe.

They had tried his pokedex previously, but even the durable pokemon computer was fried to a crisp. Beyond repair, beyond use. and...yet, here he slept, alive. And with him, asleep on the bedside table, was his pikachu—who had also not woken up since the accident.

The first time Misty saw him, she was advised not to stay for too long. His skin was a weird yellow, a 'side effect' the nurses said, and he had random bruises all along his arms and face, and chest. He had an entrance point of the current at his abdomen, but clearly lacked an exit point. It was as if the electrical current penetrated the flesh, and then disappeared.

 **Xoxs**

Word got around about the accident rather quickly. By spreading the news to her sister, they alerted a trainer from the same town as him about the accident. Said trainer came to visit only once, before running out of the hospital and throwing up.

Misty thought he had a weak stomach, but she wasn't much better, only, she felt obligated not to throw up...

The next time she came to visit was the first time she met his mother; a tall, lively woman with auburn hair, who cried. _A lot_.

Her name was Delia Ketchum—the boy's name was Ash. A fitting name for a terrible situation—he should have been reduced to ashes at the voltage he was pushed into, but he wasn't. His mom took Misty to lunch several times, but the redhead could hardly remember them—they were spent with some older man with gray hair, and her rambling on and on about how 'precious' her son was, and how she couldn't believe this happened to him.

While Misty felt terrible, she _could_ believe it. Ash was reckless.

They had a sort of _weird_ bond at first. Misty returned to the hospital several times because she felt guilty—like some part of her conscious wouldn't let her believe that if she had been a little more aggressive, he wouldn't be laying in the hospital—a vegetable.

"Ahh, you're back again, I see?" Delia asked her when Misty walked in, holding her red bag.

"Yeah... I thought I would stop in while they worked on construction for the train." Misty muttered, stepping in and taking a seat beside Delia at the window. The mother knit to ease her mind.

"Well, I appreciate you coming here. He will like to know that his friends came to visit him when he wakes up."

Misty's face relaxed, _when_ the woman had said—but Misty doubted that _when_ would ever happen.

"...We're not friends." Misty admit weakly, crossing her feet under her chair. Delia laughed and shook her head, smiling even in such a situation amazed the redhead, but made her uncomfortable at the same time.

"You would be. He always liked the tough ones, you know." Delia mumbled. "He never really did have a lot of friends..." Delia muttered, stopping her knitting to look at the young boy.

"...so I'm sure regardless, he would appreciate the effort." She continued her stitch, shoulders quivering. Delia kept the tears down while Misty sat back, folding her arms gently in front of her chest, her yellow crop top exposing her stomach more as she kicked out her pale legs.

"So, when do you think he will wake up?" Misty asked hopefully, trying to cheer the woman up. It seemed to work because she sighed happily.

"Oh, knowing Ash when I least expect it—you know, he has a way of always finding trouble."

Misty smiled widely at that. "I don't doubt that."

 **xoxs**

Sometimes when Misty came to visit, Delia wasn't around.

"I can't believe this!" She hissed looking at the storm outside. "All of that work and the gym leader isn't even here! Who does he..." Misty growled under her breath, taking a seat beside Ash. Nonchalantly, she brushed her hand against his, and took a hard look at his nails. Carefully, she started to tidy them.

"You know, you're lucky you aren't awake." She hissed. "They are making so many ridiculous rules for everything!" Misty hissed, having cut his nails just a little too short, she sighed and filed them down. She looked to the door, half expecting to see Delia walk through them—but after an hour, Misty leaned forward once more, talking to the vegetable.

"You're lucky, you know." Misty repeated, brushing a strand of his grown hair from his face—how long had it been now? Two, three years?

"Your mom cares so much about you." Misty muttered, rising to her feet to brush his hair. She grabbed scissors left on the bedside table, and recalling that Delia had given her permission since the woman 'r _efused to cut her son's hair until he woke up'_ Misty would do it for her.

"My parents don't care about us." Misty grunted angrily. "They left my sisters because _life_ was too hard at the gym! So they put a freakin' ten year old in charge, can you believe that?" Misty rambled, sniffing once the strands of his dark hair were cut short.

Her face scrunched up. "It would be nice if you woke up. Your mom really misses you, Ash." She leaned over him, looking his face with sullen eyes.

"...what are you even doing in there?" She asked, leaning closer when a nurse walked in and cleared her throat.

"Ms. Waterflower, visiting hours are over."

"Oh, sorry." Misty said quickly while gathering her things. She briefly glanced over her shoulder before following the nurse out. "See you later Ash." She said openly, getting an odd, sympathetic look from the nurse as she led Misty from the nurses station and to the elevator.

 **Xoxs**

She remembered the moment clearly, the day Delia walked out of her sons room, crying. She looked a bit paler today—though her face was glowing. Her stomach had grown a little, and if Misty had looked closely, she would have seen that the single mother had been adoring a golden band on her left hand for some time—but they hadn't talked often.

"Hi Delia." Misty greeted the mother as she almost walked right past her.

Delia's eyes widened, seeing Misty for the first time.

"My, how you've grown!" Delia exclaimed. "You're almost all grown up now." She whined, pulling Misty into a very warm hug that brought a blush to the redheads face.

She would never admit it, but she loved Delia's hugs. They were always so warm and thoughtful; so full of life and devotion. Motherly. Misty didn't know what it was like to have a mother.

"Yeah, I'm fourteen now."

"So I've heard. I saw you compete at the league." She paused, wiping her eye. "well, watched you compete..." That was when Misty noticed from behind Delia, they were rolling Ash from his room. Misty pointed, in her hand, she held a blue vase, and white flowers.

"Where are they taking him?"

Then Delia cracked again. "Exploratory surgery." she wiped an eye. "The doctors can't understand why he won't wake up. He doesn't have any negative results, his brain seems to be functioning normally he just won't..." Then she sniffled again, and Misty pat her on the back.

"It's okay. He'll be fine." Misty muttered, smiling at the woman with full confidence. "He just needs to heal on his own time, right?" She said, reminding the woman of what she had said.

"...oh dear." Delia hummed, grabbing Misty once more into a tight hug. "You are so sweet."

Misty hummed happily at that. "Not everyone would say the same."

From the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a familiar face in the room beside her—a dark man with squinting eyes looking at her, wearing a green vest and brown pants. He sat beside a man who looked to be in the same situation as Ash, but misty didn't think much of it—how could she when a crying mother was rambling. She glanced at him for only a moment, but then returned her attention to the yammering Delia as the mother led Misty down the hall, and to Ash's room, where Misty set the blue vase, and white flowers on the table beside his bed.

 **Xoxs**

When she was seventeen, she was different, colder. Her hair was down, her face was turned at a permanent scowl, and she hadn't been to the Viridian City hospital in well over a year. She stopped visiting frequently after her time in Sinnoh, and after taking over at the Cerulean City gym when she was sixteen, she had little time for anything outside of fixing the gym.

For _years_ her sisters told _her_ she was the one unprepared to control the gym, but in reality, it had been her sisters that were ill prepared! Water shows, badge hand outs, the loss of very well _every_ battle they had—her _sisters_ were the ones that needed help. Not Misty.

Unfortunately, it took her too long to realize this. The league officials were tempted to shut the gym down in lie of recent events with coordinators, as well as a few outstanding issues she had with one of the most prominent coordinators of this time—Dawn Matthews. Regardless, Misty still made time—once a year, every year.

She had white flowers in her hands, the same as usual when she walked into his small room with blue curtains, an endless supply of pictures, and goodies. It had been a little under three years since Misty last spoke with the boy's mother, but she missed her. _A little bit_.

"Hey there Ash." Misty started, walking to the blue vase which hadn't been moved. She removed some old flowers within the container, and replaced them with new ones before taking a seat beside him. She stared at him for a time in silence, and then brushed his long hair from his face.

"I swear, we should shave you bald." She grunted before standing up and clipping his bangs and parts of his hair. Thankfully, as technology progressed, they moved away from the nasty insert on his throat, and were able to apply a food pump directly to his stomach so he didn't look like some type of Frankenstein. His breathing had normalized to a point he was away from the oxygen tube, the mask, and was now only using the tubes at his nose.

"I remember when you had to wear the mask." She mumbled, straightening the tubes on his face, to make sure they wouldn't be uncomfortable. She looked at his arms, pale from lack of sunlight, but still full of life—even after so many years in a coma.

"When are you going to wake up?" She asked, resting her elbows on his bed. She sat back, looking at the television in the corner of his room which played re-runs of old news regarding the most recent Team Rocket attacks, and then shut the television off. "Sorry I don't visit more often." She said weirdly, crossing one leg over the other. "It's busy at the gym... I finally managed to tame a gyarados, if you can imagine that. To think I used to be terrified of them..." She stammered, having lost her thought. Never before had she been unable to rant to Ash. Being in a coma, he was a wonderful listener.

...but now, she couldn't bring herself to speak with out harrowing tension. She rose, and glanced down at him once more before sighing.

"...Happy birthday, Ash."

"Thanks." His rasp voice suddenly replied, sending her spiraling backwards and landing back into her visiting chair. She almost screamed, but realized it wasn't sleeping Ash that was speaking to her—it was adult Ash, standing at the foot of his bed.

"Who—who..." She stammered, and then her brain clicked. "I'm dreaming..." Misty muttered shaking her head.

"Yeah you are." Ash explained, tilting his head down. "See, this moment here... I was traveling with Dawn. I was fifteen." Ash muttered weakly, pursing his lips as he took a seat at the foot of the hospital bed. His eyes didn't leave the boy sleeping until he looked directly at Misty, and extended his hand to her.

"I can show you, if you want." he explained, smiling.

"...show me?"

"My dreams."

She scoffed, her appearance changing from that of her seventeen year old self, to who she was the day Ash woke up. The same short hair, curled under her ears, to the same skeptically, unhappy look in her eye.

"Why would you show them to me?" Misty muttered, hands on her hips in much of the same fashion as the had been when she first stumbled upon the boy in the forest. He grinned at her, narrowing his brown eyes and approaching her. He stood only a few inches taller than her, but it was painfully noticeable when he placed the palm of his hand against her right cheek.

"Because I l-"

Misty woke with a start when her phone started to ring, the morning sunlight had already penetrated the sheer curtains of her dorm room, and she wiped the drool from her face with little ease. She fell asleep. _Again_.

But what was that about..? She rubbed her head, checking her phone for the call she missed. Daisy's name reflected back at her, and Misty set the phone back down, stretching out and feeling her back crack.

She hadn't dreamed of those days in years. So why now, all of a sudden? She licked her dry lips, thinking of the last moment—that was the day she told Ash she wouldn't visit him regularly anymore; it was the day she decided to stop feeling _guilty_. She was seventeen, that was just over five years ago now. Misty thought about it, carefully reiterating the dream in her mind. Did she feel guilty about...leaving him?

No, that wasn't it. Regardless of if she had visited everyday or not, he wouldn't have woken up.

...but he might have.

"Ugh!" Misty shouted, throwing her hands up. She couldn't take this right now! Standing up quickly, she threw out her chair and inhaled while grabbing her bags. She was heading back to Cerulean City today, after spending several months training for her position as an Elite Four member, she would finally be going home...

...still, she wondered why she would dream of Ash now, all of a sudden. Behind her chest, racking against her ribcage, her heart thundered and she shook her mind clear.

 _Don't_ _be crazy Misty_. She told herself before taking the last of her items, and leaving for Cerulean City once more. Ash was awake now—safe. What happened before didn't matter.

* * *

Brock used to visit the Viridian City hospital everyday, he remembered now how often he would see Ash's mother, Delia, and how frequently Misty would visit, even when she was busy.

He remembered the first time she lost a huge battle at the league, she had gone to the hospital in a huff expressing her anger—loudly- in the room beside his father's. How Brock hadn't connected the dots before, he would never guess... But who Misty was now, compared to who she used to be was like night and day. While much of the temper had stayed, she grew up. Like they all had.

He cleared his throat while checking his green vest, and then looked over at his cellphone where he clicked a few buttons, and then scrolled down to find her name.

As he suspected, it went straight to voice mail.

"Hey! I was just checking up on you since we haven't talked in awhile. You should be finishing up your training today, right? The league party is in a few days, so I thought I would let you know that I will meet you there instead of Viridian City." Brock scratched his neck. "Did you ever get a hold of Ash? Agatha called about him the other day. Thanks."

When he hung up the phone, he pressed it back down pessimistically while rolling away from his desk, and walking off into the gym.

This week would start the beginning of their attempt to fix the league—open back up the enjoyment training pokemon used to bring. Misty would be obtaining her title at the end of the week, and if fortune would have them—they would begin phase two of their plan: removing all laws created after Giovanni was sent to prison two years ago, and sustaining a following of coordinators and trainers, with the help of Dawn, in order to create a flowing democracy of equality and fairness amongst all trainers. No more pokemon center fees, pokemon compounds, jail for having a pokemon without a license, and no more missing trainers or fear of Team Rocket. They were few, and small—but they were ready.

Not only that, they would take the opportunity of having someone at the top to root out Team Rocket lurking behind the scenes, and show the world who has been truly running them for the last nine years. Brock smiled while adjusting his shirt, and sat back happily.

* * *

Around the time Ash first woke up... Cole didn't remember a lot, he _tried_ , but as a child, he found that remembering only caused more pain. He remembered the day his mother was given the news about his father's passing, he remembered how Gary hugged Delia as she wept, and most importantly, he remembered the man in dark clothes who had come to deliver the message.

The young boy remembered how often his mother cried after that; her smiles were devoid of happiness, and she spent hours crying. She stopped leaving the house, she stopped knitting extra clothes, and since his dad died, she stopped smiling honestly.

It had only been a few months after pikachu stopped sleeping. Originally, the chubby mouse slept every day, for hours on end, but for about a week—the pokemon didn't seem to sleep at all anymore; on top of that, he had _more_ absurd stories than ever.

A man named "Ash Ketchum", grand adventures of epic proportions, fighting crime and bad guys—pikachu told him everything. The wonderful world of pokemon, the amazing, beautiful landscapes; and a hero. Ash, while quite possibly only a figment of pikachu's imagination, became Cole's hero after his father died. Became a beacon of light when his mother become depressed.

Some nights, he could hear them down stairs. Pikachu and his mother; hear her wheeze into the old pokemon's ear. "I don't know what I'm going to do." She would hiccup. "I tried... I tried."

However, Cole would never forget _that_ day, most of all. A few months before Cole finally met Ash; only a few weeks after pikachu stopped sleeping so much.

After a rather static message of left on her voice mail, she had become overjoyed with excitement, nearly screaming across the house for Cole to hurry down stairs and to grab his jacket—they were going to visit the hospital. Cole had done as his mother commanded, pulled on his shoes and coat, but when he reached the top of the stairs; she had already changed her mind.

"Never mind Cole." She called to him, voice trembling. The young boy couldn't see more than a figure in the door way, sunlight gleaming in. The man wore all black, with a tie; and tiny glasses that made his black goatee all the more menacing.

"Nothing has changed my dear..." He said in a voice so thick of fake remorse that Cole felt sick. "I'm sure you weren't having...any thoughts, were you?" He asked, touching his mother's cheek as if they were friends. Delia took a firm step backwards, rejecting his advances completely.

"No." she hissed, though Cole could hear the familiar sting in her voice that made his stomach churn.

The man smiled, and tipped his head to her. "Good." He spoke in a threatening tone before turning away, and shutting the door behind him.

From the top of the stairs, Cole could see his mother's hands trembling, shaking beyond any level of tears he had ever seen before—she was angry. Unbelievably so.

"Why!?" She screamed, her voice shaking the house as she grabbed the phone receiver on the table by the kitchen entry door, and ripped the corded machine from the wall with a furious yell.

Terrified, Cole turned and ran back up into his room, slamming the door shut as he and his pikachu's followed him beneath his covers. He cuddled the pichus while the mother rubbed his head.

"...Pika..." The chubby pikachu muttered, patting Cole.

"Do you think he will ever come back?" Cole whimpered into the blankets, tears batting his eyes. "Ash? Do you think he'll help us?"

A long pause followed when Pikachu let out a soft sigh, sleeping beside the young boy; agreeing with him.

* * *

Morning was just over the horizon when Ash pulled himself out of bed that next day. His eyes were puffy, and somewhere along the way, pikachu, chimchar, and togepi had found their way to his bed. He rolled each one off of his person, careful not to wake a single one before he kicked off onto his feet, yawning.

Thoughtfully, he checked over his pokedex, and then tucked it away into his backpack before grabbing a set of clean clothes. From there, he showered quickly, and then tossed the rest of his belongings into his bag. Ash put on his cleanest, _neatest_ clothes before beginning to wake chimchar, pikachu and togepi up.

"C'mon guys. We have to make the morning train." He told the pokemon who grumbled in response. Leaving them to ready themselves, Ash stepped out of the guest bedroom looking like a new person. He found his way to the kitchen, where Gary and Leaf were sitting at the table, enjoying their morning coffee, and the news paper.

Ash's eyebrows raised. "Do you two ever sleep?"

"Better question; do you ever wake?" Gary added hotly, eyebrows twitched. "Your train leaves in ten minutes."

Ash's mouth fell open with a gasp. "What?!" he looked to the clock, and then shouted for his pokemon. "I over slept! Why didn't you wake me?" He grumbled, and Gary could on shrug his shoulders before rolling his eyes.

"I'm not your keeper." Leaf smiled at Gary's remark. Ash stared at the both of them—they were both _evil_!

"I'll remember that!" Ash barked, shouldering his pack and rushing out of the back door to grab the rest of his pokemon team while a distraught pikachu and chimchar tried rolling togepi out of the lab so that it would move faster.

"Pika pika!" The mouse shouted with support from chimchar that caused Ash to pause with a loud grunt, and scoop up the egg. He grumbled something about 'keeping up' with everyone, but the egg would have none of it as it tossed a dark shade at Ash, who apologized while racing out past the field.

"He's so peculiar." Leaf observed, rapping her fingers on the coffee mug she held.

"You have no idea." Gary uttered, setting his news paper down. "At least he had the smarts enough not to leave in his pajamas."

"oh, give him a break." Leaf's eyes rolled. "He's nervous."

"What's there to be nervous about?" Gary barked in a snippy tone of voice.

Leaf pursed her lips, a mischievous look crossing her eyes. "He's going to see his _girlfriend_ today. You would be nervous, too."  
Gary snorted. "Oh please. I've never been nervous around a girl my entire life!" He said while throwing his arms up.

Leaf raised her eyebrows, accepting the challenge. "Really?" She asked, leaning back so far in her chair that Gary felt his toes curl in panic. He looked at her with an abrasive, squinted look, and could feel sweat run down his neck.

"...No, dear." He said with his mouth twitching—though before the conversation could continue, the door bell rang, and Gary groaned.

"What did he forget this time? His ass?" Leaf grumbled from the table, eyes narrowed to slits while Gary laughed and found himself to the front door.

"Ash-" Gary started, stopping the moment two sets of blue eyes stared at him. "Not Ash." Gary corrected. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

The older one, the female with brunette hair tied into a red bandana pointed to the teenage boy beside her. "This is Max Maple, the one you talked to on the phone about that interview." She then pointed to herself. "And I'm his sister, May."

Gary's face flushed embarrassingly as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He had completely forgotten about this.

"I'm sorry. I forgot."

"You what?" Max gasped and Gary shrugged his shoulders. "We flew here all the way from Hoenn!" Max grumbled, but Gary put up his hands for mercy.

"Yes, yes, I know." he muttered, clearing his throat and straightening his shirt. "You can come in, it's fine." He assured them, stepping aside so the siblings could walk in. Each had only a single back pack, but they looked well-traveled and prepared. May's face scrunched up.

"Did you mention Ash?" May asked skeptically, and Gary nodded.

"You actually just missed him."

She pouted slightly, though it was mostly playful banter. "Oh, shucks."

Behind Max, a large green pokemon entered, and Gary's face paled. _Another_ one? He forced his best smile at the large sceptile, and then looked down at Max.

"Your pokemon?"

Max looked behind him. "Yeah, actually." He paused for a moment. "But he knows Ash, as well."

"Why am I not surprised." Gary mused, throwing his arms up. "Come, join my wife and I for breakfast." Gary ushered the three of them inside, shutting the door behind him.

"Breakfast! Oh man!" May gasped, clapping her hands. "Thanks so much!"

"Not a problem..." Gary grumbled watching the duo walk carelessly into the kitchen where he could _feel_ his wife's displeasure more than he could see it. His face twitched, as if he would be upset at first, but it was quickly replaced by a smile—followed by a bellyful of laughter.

Gary touched his face, listening to the sound of Leaf and May talking, while Max made harmless jokes about his sister and found himself laughing twice as hard as he leaned his palms against his knees.

Never, in a hundred years, did he see himself accepting _strangers_ into his house before meeting Ash again. Especially not strangers from the H _oenn_ region! That was miles away.

Gary shook his head and exhaled, releasing a breath of air from his chest as he looked over at a picture on the wall that was over fifteen years old now: a picture of the late professor standing beside Delia Ketchum, and the two five year old brats—Ash Ketchum, and Gary Oak. A lot might have changed since Ash left temporarily, but more than that, time stood still. Now, after ten years, it seemed to move forward at advancing speed and Gary, while exhaling, couldn't imagine it any other way.

Piece by piece, he was watching the world fall back into place.

 **Author's Note** :

Had requests for: Ash spending time with his pokemon, more information about the other characters, Misty's time at the hospital, more of Cole, some of Delia, and more pokeshipping (so I threw in a hint -shot-)

So; to make a long story short...I couldn't decide on any one, single suggestion. -shot- so I just did a weird combination of them all (since really, we don't get to see a lot outside of Ash's POV since this -is- technically his story)

Was going to post these one after another like the last update, but because I'm not quite done with the next chapter (and I've decided to change some things), I figured I would just update this quickly so you guys would have something to read while I'm fixing the next installment. :D Hopefully, the next chapter will be up soon!

As always, and I think I say this a lot; but thank you guys, so, so, so much for all the feedback! I try my best to keep the pacing and story as progressive as possible (While not just spelling out every plot point) and without going 'too' slow. Thus far, this has been a great experience for me, since I've learned so much from the reviewers via PM's and discussions!

I know not everyone who has stuck around is going to enjoy everything that happens in this story, and I know from some of your requests there are simply things I will not be able to deliver before the end of the story, (because there is such a thing as 'too much' in one story, and this one _already_ has a lot going on).

When this story -does- finish, if you -still- have outstanding requests tied to this story universe (A side arc or something that you want to see, that I never get into), shoot them my way, and I will get back to them when I can as possible end-of-story omakes. Just putting that out here _now_ so you know that is an option. However. As far as changing and adding stuff in, the rough drafts and outlines are already pretty set in stone, and to change them would be...

Painful.

That doesn't mean I don't agree with the reviewers and change things that don't make sense, but for the most part; I'm sorry if I don't deliver what you expect (especially if you've read -this- many chapters).

I'm a little torn, because I want to tell you guys now that the start of chapter three pretty well marks the end of most of the "What's going on!?" as -narrators voice- our heroes find their next adventure. You've spent this long going "What is happening?" and well, in about 5 chapters, we're going to know exactly what is happening, why it's happening, and what they need to do to fix it.

I guess what I'm really trying to say is..

Hello halfway point? (which means there is most likely only about 25-30 chapters left, roughly. (arguably, that still seems like a lot to me, but some people have been saying that it isn't lol))

Thank you guys for all the support, and I hope you enjoyed this tribute(fill in the blank) chapter. I hope that you will all enjoy the last half of the story(the final three parts), and, that you'll stick around until the end!

But, if not, as I said in a previous chapter, go ahead and tell me where/why I lost your interest so I can hopefully improve on that next time.

NINT


	32. Chapter 32: Part III: Revelations

**Locked Away, Chapter 32**

Ash was good to his word, he spent time with his pokemon at Gary's laboratory. It was strange, that Gary had taken on such a mantle, when less than a year ago, Ash was convinced that Gary was a pokemon researcher, a professor in training; someone like him: a trainer trying to find his place in the world. In reality, Gary had spent the last six years training to be the professor, and had the title given to him early because of his grandfather's death. Ash's face scrunched up bitterly, thinking about the older gentleman who had taken Ash under his wing as a child: Professor Oak.

Gary was a great professor, he _might_ have even been better than the late professor, but it wasn't the same. Out of all the differences in the world, Professor Oak's absence stung about as coldly as Delia's. Both parental figures down, with no proper explanation.

Sitting on the fast train to Cerulean City, Ash leaned on his palm, staring at the flickering lights of Viridian City as he passed through the large city center—regardless of the route he took, all trains led through the growing city.

Viridian City was home to good and bad memories alike; his reunion with Misty and pikachu—the meeting of his younger brother Cole, spending time with a former Elite Four member, Agatha; were among the best memories... but on top of that, the city was littered with _the rest_.

Ash argued with himself for hours about going to visit his mother. He was _going to_. Pikachu had convinced him that they could go together, meet Delia once more with a fresh, accepting mind, but it was too complicated. To start, she would be terrified to discover that her youngest son was calling the son she disowned in secret, and the girl, _Misty_ , who saved Ash years ago, was the one who slipped Cole the message. It wasn't exactly the best situation, and Ash wasn't prepared to explain himself—or get the cops called on him again.

Unfortunately, Ash wouldn't visit his mother. _He wanted to_. More than anything in the world, but he couldn't. Ash wasn't even sure that Cole had put the pieces together that they were _related_ , let alone that Delia had all but disowned Ash. He didn't want Cole to suffer, he didn't want his mother to suffer—and if the woman was happier without him around then...

Ash would just have to accept that.

Ash thumbed the pokeballs on his belt with each bump of the train, and then wrapped his arms protectively around togepi once more—the egg had grown slightly since its hatch, its shell seemed almost too small—but the clear indications of travel were hard to miss. The crack it received during the first match with Brock had never _completely_ healed, and a few chips were on its shell where it had fallen during their travels. Pikachu, who was sleeping beside Ash on the seat, had changed plenty as well—starting their journey as a pudgy, sarcastic, glutton; he was now a sleek, calm, companion. The few battles Ash had been able to use pikachu in where over quickly when the pokemon zapped the opposite pokemon—save for ground types.

Pikachu's electrical attacks seemed just as lethal in this world as they were in others. Ash could understand why his body shut down when he was electrocuted before. Pikachu was insanely powerful for a first evolved form.

Ash kicked his feet up onto the seat across from him, lost in thought as he peeled his gaze from the city, to his feet. He brushed his hand against pikachu's back gently, and sighed happily.

His pokemon team right now consisted of these two, chimchar, snorlax, and greninja. Charizard had been very persuasive about joining him once more—but Ash was determined to allow charizard as much rest as he needed to heal. The last thing Ash wanted on his conscious was knowing that the fire and flying pokemon would _never_ fly again. Battling would _never_ be allowed again. Charizard would hate that, so Ash left him there. Over time, charizard would heal, Ash just needed to give him time.

On top of allowing the pokemon to heal, Ash was aware that he had been a little too dependent on the pokemon as of late—if a situation wasn't going exactly the way Ash had planned, he always had charizard there to bail him out, and Ash thought that if _maybe_ the option was no longer there, he would feel less inclined to preform so many dangerous mistakes.

Ash wished he could stay longer. Visit with each of his pokemon as much as possible—but the reality was that it was still _strange_ that Ash could speak to them; that he shared such a close bond. Not only was his communication with the pokemon unusual, but his _bonds_ were abnormal by normal standards. Trainers didn't gush over their pokemon in this world—the fact that Ash had _two_ pokemon out of their balls at all times boggled most people's mind, and drew, possibly, quite a bit of unwanted attention his way—but he didn't mind.

Ash loved his pokemon, he had nothing to be ashamed of. He spent months looking for them, years building his trust between them; he would be damned if he ever had someone else try to control that.

...which was exactly why he needed to go to Cerulean City.

Outside of his _abnormal_ feelings, he had other goals in mind. To start, he was tired of watching the people and pokemon suffer around him and if he wanted to change the world, he would need to do it by the books, by the law. If Ash learned nothing at all on his journey, it was that anarchy only made matters worse. Back home, Ash already had several people wanting to fix developing issues, and while this was not the world he remembered—he couldn't help but think that _someday_ it could be. Only now, Ash _knew_ that Misty wanted to change the world most of all. If Ash wanted to find a way to help, his _best_ place to start was with the redhead. Then again, maybe he was just making up reasons so the butterfree in his stomach would calm down.

 **XOXS**

It was a quarter after three when Ash arrived at the Cerulean City gym. Right away, he noticed that nothing was as he remembered it—namely because of the large, white, box truck parted at the entrance.

Stumbling over his own feet, he, pikachu and togepi danced around the large vehicle, keeping their eyes posted on the words written in large, red print down the side "Your Move Today!" glared back at him, and with wide eyes, he rounded the corner to see the front door of the gym pried open with bricks, and a tall, womanly figure standing with her blonde hair tied back into a pony tail.

Ash blinked once or twice recognizing her immediately as he approached from behind until he was at her side, pointing at the gym.

"...Uh, Daisy. What's going on?" He asked awkwardly, blinking up at the woman.

"Can't you see we're busy! The gym is closed! Come back in a few weeks!" She hissed in response, loading another brown box into the back of the moving truck. Ash blinked a few times, taken aback by such hostility and then cleared his throat.

"...Err...what?" he asked while pikachu climbed up the back of his leg, and onto his shoulder. This would be the first time the electric pokemon would be meeting the older sister in this world, so he was enthusiastic with his greeting.

Daisy paused her movements and spun around with the grace of a dancer, she inhaled upon seeing the tanned boy's face while a look of absolute wonder danced through her eyes. Ash's eyes were still the same twinkling brown, his hair, while much longer than it had been when he left the gym, was still a spiky mess over his head, cut at several different lengths and tied back into a low ponytail. He still wore a blue, short sleeved jacket over a black t-shirt, and simple blue-gray pants. His face was scuffed a little where he had most likely fallen, his hands were rough and unmanageable, and his head was matted down by a red and white Kanto league hat that made her lips curl melodramatically.

"Oh my gosh, Ash! I almost didn't recognize you!" Daisy whined, pulling the younger boy into a tight hug. Her blazing perfume slapped him instantly once his face was pried into her shoulder, pulling him, and his pikachu into a trademark strong-hug he was growing familiar with in the Waterflower family.

"What are you doing here?" She asked skeptically, separating to get a better look at him.

Ash was easily her height now, his shoulders were long past the scrawny slouch they had been when he first exited the hospital, and were now muscular and broad. His chest had widened, his arms where lean and muscular, and for the first time since she saw him; he looked _manly_. Grown up, even.

"I came to see everyone." Ash explained rather bashfully, admiring the older woman as she draped an arm around his shoulders and then quickly scooped togepi up, taking the trainer with her.

"It's been soooo long, and we all missed you sooo much!" She gushed, emphasizing her vowels while rubbing her face against togepi's soft shell, who giggled and squealed in delight. In Ash's ear pikachu whispered something along the lines of 'lucky' and Ash snickered while wiping his nose.

Without missing a beat, she yanked on his collar, guiding him into the empty gymnasium. Even the pools had been drained.

"Whoa.." he started, blinking several times. "What in the world are you guys doing?"

"Moving, duh!" She said matter of fact, setting togepi down for a moment, half expecting it to cry, and then when it didn't she dusted off her hands. Apparently, even togepi had grown.

"Didn't you hear?" The eldest Waterflower asked.

Ash's face fell. "Hear what?" He inquired worriedly, his mind racing to the worst case scenario first. Had Misty lost her job as Cerulean City gym leader because of something that _he_ did? Ash was fairly certain that nothing irresponsible could have been tied back to Misty...

Seeing his questioning gaze, Daisy let out a bemused gasp and then giggled. "So you _really_ don't know. Oh my."

As if her gushing were second nature to the young boy, his shoulders drooped tiredly and Daisy waved her hand to no one in particular while shouting up to the living quarters.

" _MISTY_!" Daisy shouted at the top of her lungs, startling Ash. "You have a guest!" She added with enthusiasm that made Ash swallow hard against the lump forming in his throat. Daisy was so nonchalant, so care-free; acting as if he _hadn't_ been gone for eight months! Maybe if Ash was lucky, Misty would also share in her sisters excitement over other emotions; like distaste, anger, and disappointment.

"Can it wait?!" He heard Misty call back, sounding frustrated as a loud thump erupted from up stairs, followed by the cursing voices of Lily and Violet. Misty's incoherent swearing babble followed suit and Ash found himself relaxing just a little while covering his chuckle.

"No, it's pretty important!" Daisy shouted back look at Ash with a glimmer of excitement and sharing in his brief humor while stomping echoed from the top floor through the empty gym.

"It damn well better be!" Misty cursed under her breath while sucking on the finger she had likely smashed, resulting in her swearing.

Both Daisy and Ash watched her as she descended the stairs thoughtlessly, though, Ash's had arguably stopped breathing, Daisy was still snickering at her baby sister. Misty hadn't spared a single glance in their direction while her black sneakers thud against the metallic steps. Ash heart stilled in his chest, and for a moment, he struggled to breath had it not been for pikachu pawing at the back of his hat, he might have forgotten and passed out. Had it really been so long, that she changed _so much_ again? Her hair, which had been a long, blazing, fiery red the last time he saw her, was now cut up above her shoulders once more, colored by her natural hue of red-orange. To normal fashion, she wore the same cascade earrings as the day she arrived at the hospital, and the same matching water-droplet necklace that she wore everywhere, toppled with a red tank top under a yellow vest, and blue shorts. Compared to the feminine Misty he had come to know, this one looked like his dream-world Misty, only older, with _longer_ legs.

Ash swallowed.

Still grumbling, Misty shook her hand out to reduce the pain from her fingers before stumbling back over to stare directly at Ash, and then look right past him. His stomach dropped.

"What?" Misty said apathetically, unimpressed. Her sea-green eyes gazed over Daisy as her fingers curled into a fist before her eyes returned to the man before her. "Couldn't this have-" she stooped, realizing her error with a faint blush while Daisy responded with a rather abrupt folding of her arms and cock of her eyebrow.

"Jeeze, Mist. Way to make him feel welcomed." Daisy scolded playfully, watching Ash's face turn a deep hue of red.

Misty's mouth hung open while sizing Ash up the same way Daisy had previously, noticing the most glaring changes—but none as bright as the look in his eyes. When he left, he used to look at her with dopey, childish eyes, but what stared back at her now were hardened eyes of determination—maybe a bit of confusion, and a lot of discomfort as his face scrunched up uncomfortably under her gaze. His tanned face turned several shades of red before Misty realized she had been leaning in to get a better look at him.

"Are you taller than me?!" She gasped, raising her hand to briefly touch the bill of his cap and then moved the flat of her palm to her own head.

Like a glass window, the tension shattered, and Ash let out an unmistakable laugh, that was inherently, and always his.

"I've been gone for eight months and _that's_ your first thoughts?" He gasped jokingly before his statement was followed by a sharp, stinging pain his left shoulder. She hit him!

"That's for not calling me, you jerk!" She hissed following her statement with another playful punch—albeit a bit softer than before. "And that's for making me worry!" She shouted, stepping back to have a better look at him before her eyes lit up like fireworks.

"...oww..." Ash muttered, rubbing his sore arm while at his feet, a bashful togepi had all but tried to hide behind Ash's pant leg when Misty scooped the pokemon into her hands and brought it into a tight embrace.

"Oh togepi, I missed you!" Misty sung happily, getting a look of annoyance from both pikachu and Ash, the latter who was still rubbing his abused arm. Togepi let out a shrill, grateful squeal in reply, nuzzling into her chest.

"Pikapi." The mouse complained to Misty from Ash's shoulder, and with a quick glance, she stuck out her lip at him and then without warning snatched both Ash and pikachu into an embrace quite a bit tighter than Daisy's. Ash's chin rested against her collar and pikachu nuzzled into the nook of her neck while his arms timidly twisted to her sides, but were fearful to actually touch. She exhaled into his neck, and her smile pressed against his skin.

"I missed you guys, too!" She grumbled happily while she rubbing Ash's cap with her hand, messing his hair up more, and nearly knocking his hat off. Slowly, another set of arms danced around the duo, linking them together at an uncomfortable closeness. Ash's arms had wrapped around her small frame, togepi was squished between their chests and Misty's joy drained from her face as she looked at Daisy, who had invaded the moment.

"Aww, we're a family again."

"Let go of me." Misty hissed instantly, but the eldest sister did not comply as she forced the duo into a group hug.

For a moment, Ash and Misty grumbled at the awkward strain until his eyes flashed across her red cheeks, and a grin tugged at his lips. Ash laughed, unable to contain his personal glee—which won out any awkward feelings he had developed as the scent of Misty's wildflower perfumes meshed with the harrowing scent of Daisy's lavender coated his senses. Hearing him laugh, Misty rolled her eyes before accepting her sister's grasp with a sigh. She slipped her arm back around Ash's shoulders and shook her head apathetically while togepi and pikachu joined in on the laughter.

Reunited once again, she would enjoy what time they did have to embrace and ignore the thundering in her ribcage.

 **XOXs**

Since Ash returned early enough, Misty put him to work straight away carrying boxes down the stairs. They had little time to converse, or even chat as Misty explained to him the situation. She needed to be packed and out of the gym by 6:00am tomorrow morning. When he asked why she hadn't _started earlier,_ she could only reply that she was 'out of town'.

Between spells of labor, they discussed parts of Ash's journey, the _legal_ stories, he made sure. He talked about some of his training, the pokemon he caught, the ones that he didn't. In the end, he had gone off about himself, rambling stories to her about his time away, mainly to fill the void of silence and awkwardness that ushered between them when they would break for air.

When he wasn't talking about his adventures, he was _staring_ , though probably not on purpose. Misty caught him a few times, but said nothing about it save for her own glances at the boy. Whatever he saw, it had evolved far from the innocent gaze she recalled a few months ago, and so they kept their minds occupied by talking of his journey.

Misty didn't mind, she wasn't a big talker when she was hard at work, since most of her conversation was directional, authoritative commands, she much rather enjoyed _listening_ far more than she enjoyed talking. Besides, what she _did_ want to talk about was information that didn't involve her sisters, and she wouldn't drag the sensational women into her mess of a life.

No, she thought she would talk about Delia, Brock, Agatha, and the Elite Four position much later.

By nightfall, all but a few items in Misty's bedroom had been stashed away into brown boxes, most of the heavy furniture had been carried and maneuvered down the stairs by Ash and Misty, and the rest was taken back and forth by the combined efforts of a trolly, and pure labor. Misty had been pleasantly surprised that Ash was keeping up with her, unlike before.

However, it shouldn't have been _too_ surprising, considering he spent eight months on the road. What _was_ surprising, was her initial _lack_ of anger with the young man—only a few days prior, she wanted to throttle him for making her worry, maybe call him every insult for avoiding her—but the moment she actually _saw_ him, she forgave him instantly. Again, when his puppy-brown eyes stared down at her, she couldn't find it in her soul to stay mad at him. Besides, Ash couldn't have picked a better time to come back. With his help, the sisters would hopefully be loading up the last of the boxes _before_ some unearthly hour. Misty had almost forgotten how much she missed having his help around the gym.

"So," She huffed, dropping a box onto the back of the moving truck and looking over at him. He stalled in his tracks, looking down his shoulder at her. Since they began working, Ash had removed his jacket and while setting a box down beside the one she just placed, he wiped his brow.

"You haven't asked why we're moving?" Misty exclaimed with a slight glare, taking a short break to lean against the back of the moving truck and dust off her sore palms. Awestruck, Ash snapped his fingers.

"I guess it slipped my mind." He acknowledged shyly, earning an unimpressed look from the redhead. He shrugged before continuing. "I assume you got your position as an Elite Four member?" He deduced quickly, earning a grin in response.

"You bet." She clapped in excitement, jumping in place. For a brief moment, she reminded Ash of her sisters, and he snorted appropriately.

"What? I'm allowed to be excited." She defended while walking ahead. "And you already decided on that, and I still haven't gotten a congratulations?"

"I knew you could do it." He muttered with a sincere smile, draping a lazy arm over her shoulders as he closed the distance between them. He grinned down at her from ear to ear and her heart skipped.

Carefully, she removed his arm from her shoulder with a flick of her wrist and stuck her tongue out at him.

"That doesn't mean you shouldn't say it!" She scolded playfully, rushing back up the stairs in a hurry—almost _fleeing_. Ash snickered in spite of himself, and followed up after her, only sparing a glance to togepi and pikachu who played happily with some of Misty's pokemon who were still around the pool area.

"Congratulations then! I knew you could do it!" Ash called after her.

"Oh, c'mon. That wasn't even sincere!" she shouted back, hearing him laugh in return.

 **XOXS**

One by one, Misty's sisters flaked out as they grew tired and the night drew longer. By 10:00pm, Lily bowed out, expressing that she needed her 'beauty sleep' for tomorrows play at the theater downtown. By midnight, Violet had genuinely bailed on her sisters because she worked the following morning, while Daisy was the last to leave at 1:30am, after the last of the office and books had been packed into the moving truck. Like Violet, she had duties to attend to _outside_ of the gym the next morning, and so she apologized, and said her goodbyes.

By 2:00am, Ash and Misty remained, carrying a seemingly endless amount of boxes down the stairs and into the loading truck. After the joy of walking up and down stairs for the last twelve hours had left them, the rest of the evening was masked in unadulterated, grumpy silence. Misty had no clue how her mind, or body was still functioning at this hour—but Ash, while he yawned occasionally, seemed perfectly optimal. _Or, he was just really good at faking it_.

"Good to know traveling brought your stamina back." She huffed, slapping him on the back as they made the slow crawl back up the stadium stairs for the umpteenth time. Before, they had practically ran leaps and bounds up the stairs, but now their feet dragged. Ash chuckled, looking over at the tired redhead.

"You don't know the half of it." He muttered, recalling the day he worked in the stadium for the ryhorn races. Snorting, he nudged her in the side. "What, are you tired?" he joked in much of the same way she used to do to him. His knees were sore, his feet were tired, and his calves burned—but he couldn't help himself.

Rolling her eyes, she clucked her tongue as she stepped into the empty living room. Seconds later, she fell to her knees, startling Ash for a second before she exhaled, and sprawled out, exhausted. She looked up at the ceiling while lacing her fingers together on her stomach and sighed.

"I spent three months in a dorm room, going to pokemon related classes at some prestigious school chosen by the league." Misty explained tiredly, raising her hand for emphasis. "I haven't swam laps in at _least_ four months, and the most exercise I had was the walk between classes." She grumbled to herself, pinching the bridge of her nose.

Carefully, Ash took a seat beside her and leaned back on the palms of his hands while crossing his legs. "That's not a good excuse." He complained, looking at the bare walls.

Tired himself, he fell backwards, folding his arms behind his head for support as Misty glared at him from the corner of her eye, crinkling her nose at him.

"We couldn't all disappear on a pokemon journey for however long we wanted." She mocked, earning a look of skepticism directed at the ceiling.

"Technically you could have... you just didn't.." he challenged, earning a very weak punch in his arm. The lingering warmth of her cushion fist left a tingling sensation under his skin, and he looked at her with narrowed eyes. Her eyes were shut, and from there, he could see the black around them, matched with the flushed look of her face due to exhaustion.  
"Don't remind me." She mumbled. "There were _sooo_ many other things I would have wanted to do other than learn every _rule_ integrated by the pokemon league for the last ten years, or every water pokemon known to man right now-" She looked at him weakly, as she exaggerated her pain. "..Do you know they made me take a test on the 268 known pokemon, and I had to pass with a one-hundred percent?" She grunted forcing herself to sit up so she wouldn't fall asleep.

Ash gasped mockingly, following her. "Oh no, job requirements."

"I would have much rather spent my time with weirdo gym leader Brock and retired Agatha at the nursing home." She grunted, climbing to her aching feet. Ash followed while she pointed towards her room.

"Or, you know, visiting France." She paused for a moment, glaring at him to convey her anger that he had gone. She had waited patiently, too; there was no way he brought her a souvenir, either.

"Sorry." he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

"That reminds me." She mumbled, kicking her feet against the ground. She directed him to her room with the flat of her hand. "C'mere." She mumbled while his face turned scarlet under her gaze.

"...what?" He swallowed, standing up to follow her into her room. Once in there, he saw that the entire room was bare, like the rest of the gym, and his nerves calmed, if only a little, while she walked over to a box labeled "Ash", and flopped down beside it.

"These are your things." she said, scooting the box to him. Sitting at the top of the box, however, was the very obvious, unwrapped, undamaged gift he received almost a year ago.

"Hey, Agatha's gift." he hummed, sitting beside her to scoop up the small package in his hands. "I hope it wasn't something like food..." He grumbled, peeking through the tissue paper.

"Mmmh.." She muttered, letting her shoulders hit the wall coolly.

"I can't believe I forgot about this." He added nonchalant.

"I can't either. That thing has been a thorn in my side for almost an entire year." Misty grumbled, narrowing her eyes at the present, but Ash didn't move to open it. She waited for a time, but then when he tucked the gift to his side without checking inside, her face lost its humor.

"Aren't you going to open it?" She hissed, but Ash felt a sweat run down his neck as he fought the urge to grin at her.

"...ah, no actually. Agatha told me not to open it when you're around." He explained nervously, chuckling weakly while trying to sort through the rest of his lost items. Inside the box were a few photo albums he picked up in Pallet Town, the light blue vase from the hospital, and a few miscellaneous items. After sitting frozen for a moment, Misty shook her head rapidly.

"Like hell! She has been bothering me about that damn gift for the last six months so I wouldn't forget to give it to you!" She hissed, pumping her fist up. "Open it!" She added coarsely, but Ash pursed his lips.

"No." He mumbled, scooting the gift away from the redheads grabby-hands.

"Why not!?" She yelped, sounding much like a child—but that might have just been the exhaustion.

" _Because_ , she said not when you're around."

"I'll cover my eyes." Misty grumbled relentlessly. "Then you can tell me after wards."

Ash laughed. "Not happening." he said flatly, finding her shrewd look amusing. Her eyebrows twitched.

"Ash..." She growled. "I kept it here for you, patiently waiting. I didn't even peek. I _deserve_ to see what's so damn important!"

"No!" Ash yelped, as she made a grab for it, lunging herself over his lap to grab the small packaged gift. Ash dangled it over her head, and then held it as far left of him as he possibly could. Initially, his brain had been trained on keeping the gift away from Misty, but when her chest pressed into his side, and her waist bounced against his, his stomach lurched, and he all but jumped out of his skin to get away from her.

She landed hard onto the ground where he had been sitting, a tangled mess of her own limbs when she blinked up at the embarrassed man.

"What the hell?" She grunted, rubbing her forehead which had slammed hard against the ground. With wide eyes, he took a few steps back and tucked the gift behind him.

"I..I." he stammered, shaking his head to clear his mind; t _o stop looking at her that way_. "I said no." he muttered, unconvinced. She saw the lack of confidence, and for a single, brief moment, their eyes connected before Ash took a step back and retreated. She was on her feet seconds later, chasing him down.

"Just a peek, Ash!" She whined while he bolted down the stairs in a laughing mess. For only a moment, they acted just as they had before Ash left eight months ago. Like two kids playing, not adults about to embark on an attempt to change the world. For a few moments, it was nice to relax, and remember that, despite all the bad in the world, their friendships still conquered. For awhile it was nice to remember that outside of all the confusion, they were still two kids trying to survive in an otherwise bleak world—laughing when they could.

 **XOXS**

Much like how they used to when Ash housed at the gym prior to his journey, the duo sat in the middle of the living room floor with pikachu and togepi nestled into Ash's backpack, asleep. Between Ash and Misty who sat cross-legged, two opened boxes of pizza were places strategically between the two of them, setting a barrier while the duo played cards. Misty had given up her attempt at stealing the gift about half an hour ago, and they settled for some left-over pizza, and card games. Pikachu and togepi had joined them for a short while, but a quarter after three and unable to drink the same caffeine infused drinks as their trainers, they passed out.

"That's cheating." Ash grunted, flipping his cards into the discard pile.

"It's not cheating just because I won." Misty mumbled, smiling confidently. "So, that would be the third time I've won—can I see what Agatha gave you _now_?" She pestered, though mostly jokingly.

"No." Ash grunted, taking her cards from her hand and shuffling them into his discard. "Why do you care so much, anyways?"

"I don't." She admit while laying back, resting her tired head against the plush, tan carpet for what would be most likely the last time. "But, that doesn't mean I wont tease you about it."

Ash scoffed, "Thanks." he muttered while exhaling.

As brief pause followed when Ash glanced around the barren walls of the once very-lively living area of the Cerulean City gym, and his face fell a little.

"I missed this." He uttered quietly, listening to Misty breath her agreement.

Silently, she sat up to stare at his disgruntled face as he skillfully shuffled the cards, eyes cast downward.

"You act like it was forever ago." She mocked, cocking an eyebrow. "It hasn't even been a year." She reassured him, but he sighed tiredly. What was eight months to her, felt like years to him. His body was so exhausted from his travels, his mind just as much.

"It feels like it's been forever _to me_." he added relentlessly, glaring up at her melodramatically.

"Well, for someone who slept for ten years, I don't doubt that." She uttered, taking the cards from his grasp to tuck them into the box they had came in. Stubbornly, he smiled at her.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Misty scoffed, "Don't worry about it." She dismissed quickly, thumbing the cards before throwing them beside his bag. By this point, the last few brown moving boxes would only take a few moments to carry away, and then after, they would only need to double check everything.

Then they would _leave_. The gym would forever be known under a new leader, and for a split second, he wondered what exactly Misty was thinking. She wasn't looking at him while she sipped the terribly unhealthy energy drinks her sisters left out for them, but he could see the contrasting emotions on her face. Somewhere, deep down, under layers of flesh. She hadn't mentioned her feelings at all—hadn't gloated about her new position as an Elite Four member, and whenever it _was_ brought up, she was dodgy at best. While Ash carried his emotions on his sleeve—really, he couldn't help it, he had the emotional control of fifteen year old—Misty was more complex. Rather than admitting what was going through her head, it almost seemed like she would have an inner conflict with herself where either anger, or blatant sarcasm would win out on most occasions.

Ash might not have noticed it before, but her trained insouciant expressions were exactly that—trained, and controlled. In that regard, she hadn't changed much at all—real reactions were far and in between.

"If you keep staring it makes people uncomfortable, you know." She called him out, staring back at his lingering, thoughtful eyes and causing Ash to choke on his own spit. Embarrassed and chuckling clumsily, he covered his face with the palms of his hands. However, she was still always so crass. Ash didn't press the issue, instead, he leaned on his palm, and pressed his elbow into his knee.

"I can't believe it's already almost been a year..." He muttered, changing the subject as Misty pursed her lips and slapped him on the shoulder to lighten him up.

"I know!" She gasped with a forced glee, adding quickly: "Your birthday is coming up. You're going to turn twenty one; how's that feel?"

"Like I missed eleven years of my life?" Ash laughed awkwardly while knitting his eyebrows.

"Oh, please... You didn't miss eleven years of your life." she folded the pizza boxes closed while speaking, adding nonchalantly; "You missed ten... and a few days."

Perhaps it was the inherent lack of sleep producing such a reaction, but Ash found a strange sense of humor behind her words—and bellowed out a contagious laugh while wiping wetness from his eyes."Thanks, Mist, that helps." he chided while he fell backwards, shutting his eyes. "I feel like I spent an entire year chasing after everything I missed." he muttered. "I haven't moved on at all."

Silence crept forth when Misty folded her arms and slapped his knee.

"That's not true. You've made a lot of progress." She assured him quickly. "I mean, you've found a _lot of_ your pokemon—you've worked with some of them, you've trained and entered a few minor battles. You've healed and, heck, you've even helped Brock and I discover dastardly evil in the world." her voice was laced with sarcasm toward the end, but the message was there as she added with tenacity and tenderness. "I think you've done more than most people do their entire life, Ash. That's not something to be depressed about."

For once, he was grateful not to be looking at her, because her words of encouragement brought a blush to his face. Even after disappearing for so long, she was so kind. In a scary way.

"Why aren't you mad at me?" He asked suddenly, opening his eyes and staring up at the ceiling.

Misty looked at the profile of his face and hunched over, rapping her fingers on the floor, somewhat bashful.

"Oh, boy... If you had asked me that a few days ago, I might not have been so calm." She started, recalling her dream from the night prior with a stony expression. "But, you're here, and you're safe. So, really, I don't have a lot to be mad about." She clarified honestly.

Ash swallowed, thankful once more that he was laying down and could not see her face while she spoke. She was so mature at times, childish and fun when necessary, but understanding when she had to be. However, it was good that he wasn't looking at her, because his face would have given away every secret from his journey. Whether she knew it or not, she _had_ reason to be upset with him. Ash had almost gotten himself killed, _and_ intentionally stopped speaking with her because... well, he didn't _have_ a good reason; at least not one he could explain. For that reason alone she had every right to be disgruntled.

"Misty, I..." he started, stumbling and stammering over his own thoughts. Ready to speak the truth of his visit, his mouth grew increasingly dry, and his chest tightened, racing for the correct words to express himself; but they never came as Misty cut him off.

"Besides, if you hadn't showed up, I would have been stuck here with my sisters and you saw how _great_ they were about helping." She scoffed, stammering. Ash blinked up at her to see that her face had turned a deep hue of red, and her fingers would clench and unclench the carpets.

She continued while Ash sat up to look directly at her, "I mean, they mean well, but sometimes they can be such a hassle—you know they were supposed to have had most of this done by the time I got here? We spent the majority of the morning before you arrived packing boxes, and even then only _half_ of the work was done..." She rambled on for a bit, while Ash's face tilted in comparison.

It might have took him a minute, maybe two, but as he watched her face while she gestured and complained; stammering out her complaints in regard to her sisters; a huge smirk tugged at his lips. She was _nervous_. He thought sinfully, _Misty_ _Waterflower_ was nervous, for whatever reason.

He had been about to mention it, raising his finger pointedly, when she looked at him with a flash of determination.

"So, did you stay in contact with Cole?" Misty asked, changing the subject. Ash deflated rapidly, sitting back. It was as if she read his mind—or he stalled for too long.

"He called a lot." he replied honestly. Then for emphasis, he added: "Like, a lot."

Misty snickered, the nerves were gone. Ash grumbled to himself—the opportunity missed

"He acts a lot like you." Misty hummed gently, earning a raised eyebrow. "Must be in your genes." She added, and watched as Ash's lips formed into a small frown. He inhaled sharply while looking away.

"Well, we do have the same mother." he grunted, half depressed. Misty inhaled once, and then exhaled.

A long pause followed before they both opened their mouths to speak at the same time.

"Misty, there's something I've been meaning to ask-"

"I needed to talk to you about her, actually." She said strangely, watching as his eyes.

They stammered back and forth for an awkward moment, tossing up a few 'no you go firsts' before Ash could feel his face heat up. He was eager to move past the fogginess in his own mind, but if she had something to say about his mother—that _might_ have been a little more important. Ash forced his feelings down once more, and smiled earnestly at Misty.

"What about her?" he asked weakly disliking the subject of his mother. Misty saw his shoulders coil slowly, closing himself off when she started.

"I saw Delia a few times while you were gone... You know, to drop of letters." She paused biting her lower lip. "She also invited me over a few times..."

"Did she know who you were?"

"Oh yeah." Misty replied automatically. "The girl who saved her oldest son."

Ash's shoulders fell, a long lost look in his eyes. "...Did she mention me?"

"No, not directly, anyways. And not when Cole was around." Misty stuttered, still in disbelief herself. "I mean, she was _nothing_ like you described, Ash. She was really nice, and friendly and almost..."

 _Crack._ Ash felt his neck bend and his heart snap.

"Can we not?" He mumbled, interrupting Misty while rubbing his neck as he smiled weakly, his shoulders dropping to a point. "Talk about this I mean." he explained.

Gently, Misty reached across and grabbed his shoulder firmly, a small, reassuring gesture that drew his attention back to her fully—then down to her well-manicured fingers pressed against his black shirt. A kind, thoughtful gesture.

"I know it upsets you to hear about her but..." Misty offered, thinking that she had actually hurt him. "We think someone is threatening her, Ash." She finished, watching his entire expression change in a fraction of second.

Tidal waves of emotion ranged on his face, from the pale color of his flesh in direct contrast to his normal tan. "D...Do you know who?" He asked worriedly. Anger flashed through his eyes, and then regret, and then some form of gratitude—relief? Misty swallowed.

"No, we don't know." She admitted, removing her hand from his shoulder. Suddenly, he took her hand shortly after, tracing his fingers around hers to calm himself as his eyes searched hers for answers. Misty gripped his fingers comfortingly.

"Brock, Agatha and I have been trying to piece things together while you were away. Brock is convinced that it's Team Rocket, and if they have some control over the league...it's possible that they might have had control over the professors and since your mom was..." she trailed off while he drew to conclusions himself. He threw up his arms.

"So you're saying professor Oak might have been involved?"

"I.. We don't know... there isn't any outstanding proof outside of the fact that most of the other professors in the last ten years have gone missing—Elm, Ivy, Birch, Bill.." Misty listed them with a shrug of her shoulders that brought Ash spiraling back to the floor, squatting in front of her thoughtfully.

"Misty you're joining the Elite Four." Ash gasped, the full realization of what that meant crushing his lungs. Her evasiveness made _some_ sense now, but she could only shrug."You're going right in the middle of all of this."

"I know, but I figured that joining would still be easiest way to find any real, coherent answers and if there are none, then that means the system is only corrupt, and I still made the right choice."

"By being bait?" Ash asked flabbergasted and standing up in disbelief. "And you said that _I_ was the reckless one!" He half shouted, startling pikachu long enough to stir the pokemon awake temporarily, only for it to roll over and fall asleep when shushed him.

" _I'm_ not the one burning buildings down." She fired off, crossing her arms.

"You just told me that they might have had something to do with Oak. I'm not sure if you've noticed Misty, but he's dead. Not only that, the same someone, who may or may not be associated with the league, is most likely _threatening_ my mother. That's a little more serious than burning buildings down."

"You were happy for me a few hours ago!"

"That's before you told me this!" he shouted back, standing his ground, firmly against this 'new' position.

"We don't even know if it's the league!" Misty snapped, and Ash reeled backwards. Besides, what did he expect? It wasn't _news_ that they thought Team Rocket might have been involved with the league—where did he get off worrying now—it wasn't like he cared for _eight_ months. Heated, she took a step back at her own thoughts and reeled away from him, folding her arms.

A bit calmer, she said: "Brock thinks the league _might_ be involved, but I'm not as convinced as you two. Just because _some_ situations are bad, doesn't mean that a greater, evil power is controlling everything! Sometimes people are just screwed up, and I don't think that's any different for the league. There is not point in hiding, if there is nothing to hide from." She turned at him, eyes narrowed. "We don't _know_ anything yet." She added for emphasis, destroying Ash's argument.

Ash's mouth fell open, and his look softened. "I guess so."

"Exactly." Misty hummed, wagging her finger at him, though she appreciated his worry. "We don't know what's going on, so until then, I'm not going to change my plans because Team Rocket _might_ be pulling strings in the background." She paused, glaring into his eyes. "Would you?"

"No."

"Then don't expect me to." She said quickly with a smirk that made him shake his head. He didn't reply, but she hadn't really given him time to.

"Anyways, the league throws a huge party every year to celebrate new rules, new positions, top trainers—that's in the next two weeks..." She exhaled, roping together her emotions into a spitefully calm expression. "Brock and I are going, and since you're here...Well, you might as well come, too."

"Me?" he rubbed the back of his head quizzically, trying to wrap his head around all of this new information. "What would I have to offer?"

"Well, if you're interesting in getting back into battling; there are going to be many prosperous trainers of our time. People from all over the world visit during the Indigo Plateau conference since we reign over three territories. It'll be a central hub to asking an assortment of different questions—you might be able to get some information Brock and I might otherwise be suspicious for asking."

She grinned, that cute half smile of hers— _did he just call her cute_?-while crinkling her eyes at him. "Besides, I need a date since I'm the newest Elite Four member—I can't go stag."

Ash's mouth fell open as she turned away from him, gathering the pizza boxes off the floor. She could see the sun rising in the distance and sighed to herself. Another all-nighter.

Behind her, Ash gaped like a magikarp. "A-a date?" He asked. "Well that's a way to ask!" he added sarcastically afterward, but Misty waved her hand at him.

"You'll make things awkward." She repeated the line that he had told her a few months ago and his mouth shut and his jaw locked.

Ash watched her leave, standing in amazement. In a spell of exhaustion, his eyelids closed, remembering the tiredness of his mind and body. He looked back at her, and then smiled temporarily taking in the news.

His mom _might_ have had a reason to treat him horribly after all; while he wasn't _glad_ that such a thing existed, it eased the pain of rejection just a little. Now, Brock, Misty and Agatha had started some rebellion group, and he found himself grinning, in spite of his situation.

"What else did I miss?" he called after her, stepping over the sleeping pokemon while she cracked her back.

"We'll discuss it while we finish packing up the rest of this junk!" She yelled, knowing all too well that her sisters wouldn't be returning to help.

 **XOXs**

With the tension between them cut, and Ash caught to speed—they sat in the cabin of the moving truck, drinking the last of their beverage. Now that the girls' entire life was packed into the back of a moving truck, he and Misty were under direct orders to drive to her new residence. He was in charge of keeping her awake, and she was in charge of driving them there—and arriving in one piece. _Safely_.

It was thirty minutes before 6:00am and Ash had neatly stored Agatha's gift in the protection of his back pack while nestled into the passenger seat of the moving truck. Misty who sat beside him plopped the beverage he had been nursing from his fingers, and threw back the cold liquid with a shudder. In his arms, togepi was still sawing logs, but pikachu had taken some form of consciousness while he curled in Ash's lap. Seeing her brief hesitation as her fingers curled around the steering wheel, Ash inhaled and plopped a rough palm on her shoulder in support.

"Are you ready for this?"

"No." she said honestly. "But if I spend my whole life waiting to be ready—am I ever really going to be?"

Ash looked her over once, and then looked ahead. He could see the sun brightening the city scape, as well as the small forest around the gym and inhaled swiftly. Looking into the side view mirrors, back at the gym he called home for a little over a month, he felt a wash of nostalgia—he couldn't imagine how Misty felt; this was her home for twenty-two years.

"Why didn't your sisters take over?" he asked suddenly, and he could have sworn he saw tears in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall as she exhaled.

"Doesn't work like that." She said flatly. "The league decides on a new gym leader when an old one resigns." Misty answered quickly, starting the engine up. The low rumble of the vehicle jarred Ash's heart and he pat her.

"Don't worry Misty, I'm homeless, too." He assured her but ended up getting something along the lines of a death glare and slowly moved closer to the safety of the door. His efforts succeeded though, because she shifted into drive, and against every tired sensation in her body, she pulled away from the gym, leaving it behind for the last time.

Leaving was bittersweet, and Misty hated goodbyes. A part of her knew that the reason her sisters bailed yesterday was because they all shared in this aspect, but she had to move on. She _was_ ready. Misty had learned a lot working at the gym and she loved it because some of the best times of her life were spent there—she glanced at Ash and gave a sort of smile—with her family and friends. But, if she ever wanted to change the world, she needed to take the next step forward.

 **XOXs**

Over twenty-four hours awake, they were both exhausted when they pulled into the drive way of Misty's new house. As opposed to the gym, it was on the outskirts of Cerulean City, more towards Pewter City... and it was an _actual_ house.

A part of Ash expected a place with many swimming pools, or a huge yard—maybe even a house far away from the city in a farm—not in a suburb of Cerulean City. Misty backed the moving truck into the drive way skillfully, and then pulled the parking break, and engine break on before shutting down the vehicle.

The drive from the gym to the house took nearly thirty minutes, so when the subtle vibrations of the vehicle stopped gyrating beneath the two of them, they both exhaled simultaneously and leaned forward.

"I am so tired." Misty grumbled, earning a look of complete appreciation from Ash.

"I second that."

"I nominate that my sisters to move the boxes inside." Misty grunted before kicking open the door and slipping to the concrete; Ash followed suite, leaving his pack on the seat, but taking the sleeping togepi with him. Pikachu, who had rested for most of the night while his trainers worked, perched himself on Ash's cap.

"Chaaa." the mouse squeaked in appreciation for the large town house. Misty came around the bend, twirling the keys in her hand when she pressed for the door.

"Wanna see inside?" She asked Ash from his place of puzzlement.

"Sure." Ash agreed, following her through the front door.

A mixture of apple cinnamon and new house smell warped his nose, and he shuddered. He hadn't expected it at first, but the entire place was littered with more boxes, and his mouth fell open once more.

"...Why are there already boxes here?" Ash panicked, recalling the thousands of boxes they moved yesterday.

Misty snorted. "You don't think all of my sisters crap fit into _one_ moving truck, did you?" She asked skeptically with a mock tone. Ash looked around, seeing the towers of boxes in the kitchen, living room, and hallway before looking at his friend.

"I assumed wrong." he acknowledges with a laugh.

"We've lived at the gym longer than I've been alive..." Misty mumbled, looking into the contents of one box. "We accumulated a lot of... _stuff_."

"Misty, I can't see the floor!" he shouted worriedly, keeping togepi and pikachu away from any larger stacks in fear the abyss of boxed goods would eat his pokemon and never return them. Misty laughed loudly while staring into the living room which was to the right of the entrance door.

"I'll show you up stairs." She gestured for him to follow her as he backed up the start of the stairs, both terrified and amused by all of their things.

"It's a three bedroom house." Misty mumbled, stretching. "Two bathrooms." She added while walking to the end of the hall.

Ash watched her skeptically. "There are four of you, though. Who is going to bite the bullet and share a room?"

Misty cocked her eyebrow at the suggestion. "None of us," She reached upward, grabbing the attic's pull string stairs with her hands before lowering the steps. "Since I won't be home often, we decided I would sleep in the attic."

Ash's face froze, stifling his laughter. "...where the bugs live?" He grinned, watching her face drop. She glared at him for a time, and then hit him in the shoulder gently—her emotions and manners were shot from lack of sleep. She walked up each step, Ash noticing right away that dust didn't rise as it did in scary movies, and when he peeked into the bizarre world of storage, he saw colorful decorations, a solid floor, and a neat window that over looked the street.

"This isn't an attic." he mused while placing togepi on the sleeping mat she had on the floor and looking around. He could see that all of her things were already laced around the room—her dresser was in the corner, her vanity was placed beside the window, and a make-shift closet had been put together with curtains at the corner of the room. A few boxes were scattered around, but all in all, it was colorful and _homey_.

"I moved all of my things up here about a week before leaving the school." she explained. "My sisters were supposed to have moved things over a little at a time _as well_. But, obviously, that didn't happen." Misty snorted while leaning against her dresser.

"Did you do all of this?" gesturing to the neatly wallpapered walls, the clean floor and over all room appearance, an awestruck Ash's attention fell on the girl who had already kicked off her shoes.

"No, the previous owners did. They had a huge family." Misty muttered, while gripping the short strands of her hair and pulling them back out of her eyes and into a high pony tail. Ash watched her calmly until she sat down on her sleeping mat beside togepi.

"Sit." She pat the spot beside her on the mat, and Ash hesitated for a minute before taking a seat beside her, carefully placing pikachu between them; for safety precautions. The mouse didn't seem as impressed, however, when it glared up to Ash with eyes that screamed 'coward'.

Misty didn't speak right away, she had been entranced with stroking togepi's egg shell while her head bobbed up and down repeatedly. She dozed while Ash watched her, the way her hair flicked in her eyes, and how her eyelids drooped every so often.

He pushed her over gently with his right arm, but she sprang to life once more, glaring at him.

"I'm glad that you and Brock are friends now." Ash muttered, glancing at her vanity mirror where he saw a stack of the letters he sent to her neatly arranged. "And I'm sorry that I didn't call to talk more... I just..."

She waved her hand at him. "I get it, it's fine. You were busy." She dismissed, letting her back fall against the wall. Ash looked at her with lowered eyebrows.

"I wasn't..." he mumbled, seeing her eyes close. Trying to bring up the _other_ reason he came back to Cerulean City, he looked away from her, down at his fingers while shrugging his shoulders. "...I was just..." he started, sighing. "I wasn't sure about _us_." He admit, looking over at her only to nearly fall over in surprise

Her head was drooped, lolling back and forth; the poor sleep deprived female had passed out! So quickly, too!

"M-misty." Ash tried, shaking her, but she pushed against his face, and fell over, cuddling togepi in her arms, and face planting against her pillow while kicking her legs out over top of his.

"Hey!" he yelped with a scarlet blush, watching as she buried her head into her pillow, leaving Ash to sit with pikachu at his side laughing.

Ash glared at the pokemon for a moment, sleep-deprived himself, but sleep never came as easy for Ash as it did for Misty.

"pika, cha-chu." he mocked with raised eyebrows. Ash puffed out his cheeks, resting his hands on top of Misty's knees and throwing his head back against the wall behind him. Below, he could hear the distant sound of Misty's sisters rolling in, one by one venting about how 'tired' they were, and Ash felt every muscle in his body go limp of frustration.

"I'll try again in the morning..." Ash grunted, closing his eyes, determined not to disturb Misty, but also firmly against the idea of falling over. "...or in a few hours from now." he decided, slowly drifting off into a deep sleep.

 **Author's Note** :

Since this one and the tribute chapter were not submitted as one item, I decided to submit 32 and 33 as an item instead. Mostly because I felt like this chapter was more about 'catching' up and re-introductions and less about actual plot, and originally 32 and 33 (and 34 OTL) were the -same- chapter, but I broke them up for length issues, and because they didn't share the same theme.

For all you starved pokeshippers, enjoy the awkward, bumbling dorks. XD I felt like it was really important to demonstrate that their interactions were different after being separated for so long; but that comes up again in the next chapter as well. I felt like I should elaborate on some of the more relaxed feelings and moments between Ash and Misty—let him really enjoy himself for a short time and demonstrate that even when things are supposed to be chaotic, things can _still_ be moderately simple.

...before I kick him again. -laughs evilly-

Welcome to Part III! So many fun things are going to happen, and I'm super stoked to get into them. As always, thanks for all the reviews, favs, and follows. (almost 200 favs, I am so excited. ewe)

NINT


	33. Chapter 33: Cliches

**Locked Away Chapter 33:**

Ash was oddly comfortable, mashed between the cold, hard wall, and the soft, warm body wrapped in his arms. Traces of short, red hair filled his vision as puffs of breath eased down his neck that _didn't belong to him_. Without panicking, save himself from making the situation _more_ awkward, he peeled his eyes open one at a time. In front of him, Misty had turned around and was facing him with her arms tucked in front of her chest where Ash had strategically pulled her in tightly. Her arms rested flat against his breast, and while his right arm had gone slightly numb—arguably the reason he woke up to begin with—his left hand was perched over her waist, with his palm nestled at the center of her back, keeping her close.

 _...Ahh,_ how did he find himself in these situations? He was _sure_ that he fell asleep sitting up, he was even _more_ sure that she fell asleep holding togepi and facing the other direction—so however _this_ happened, he was at a loss of words.

Lifting his head slowly, he glanced around the room, looking for the two pokemon in question and found that neither were around. Swallowing against his dry throat, he craned his neck to see the radio clock on top of her dresser, where the numbers "12:54" flashed back at him angrily. Setting his head back down tiredly, he shifted a little. They had somehow managed to sleep the entire morning away.

When his eyes settled back on her face, the racing in his chest returned, taking in her gentle, sleeping expression, and he realized the gravity of his situation.

A part of him felt like if he moved, he would wake the redhead, and another part of him felt that if he _didn't_ move, he was at risk of being called a pervert, and would either be thrown out of her house, or at the mercy of her taunting, belittling remarks for the rest of the day.

All were bad situations, so he remained frozen, staring as she breathed onto his neck. Once more, he wondered how he found himself in these situations, and curled the fingers off his right arm. Since he had stolen the pillow at some point, she had propped her cheek onto the padding of his shoulder bringing her surprisingly too close for comfort and he felt like he was being strangled in her scent and warmth and, _oh man_ this was _not_ comfortable at all; what was he thinking?!

Nervously, he retracted his arm from around her back, where she shifted from the sudden cold, and then gently wiggled the pillow from underneath his head, to below his shoulder, where he _somehow_ managed to maneuver it beneath her head without disturbing her.

Under normal circumstances, he might have just woken her up, told her that she was 'being weird' and made a huge joke about their predicament; laughed about it... however, due to the fact she, _they_ had been up for well over twenty-four hours prior, he would have felt guilty for waking her up—especially when she was so _peaceful_.

Her legs were another matter entirely. She had parked her right leg between his, which had issues he was physically uncomfortable with, but he managed to untangle her limbs rather easily—a little _too_ easily; but if she was as tired as he thought that she was, not even the light sleeper would wake up from his disheveled movements.

After escaping, he looked over at her sleeping figure, unmoved and curled up. Her legs were exposed to the weather, and the house wasn't _exactly_ warm, so he flipped the blankets that had been stuffed to the edge of the bed over her body, and gently tucked the sides over her. He grabbed his hat from the corner of the bed, and tugged it back on complacently as he watched her subtle breaths.

Slowly, he lowered himself to her face once more, and without thinking much about it, he kissed her cheek—more to test his own bravery, less because he _thought it was a good idea_. Though seconds after, his trance had all but dissolved and he stumbled away with the speed and grace of a houndour, all while muttering incoherently and covering his face and judging his own actions.

Had he stayed for even a second longer, he would have seen her face light up like a christmas tree, and her nose scrunch up. Her hand raced to her right cheek, where he had planted a damp, endearing _kiss_ onto her cheek. Not a peck—a lingering, thoughtful, _maybe experimental_ kiss that gave her gooseflesh faster than the cold ever could.

She had been playing possum since he _tried_ to drop her head onto the pillow. Face beet red, she covered it with her palms and curled into a ball beneath the blankets. What was she supposed to do? Wake up while he was trying so carefully _not_ to wake her? He was twice as awkward as her, he might have _actually_ imploded.

" _How did you sleep?"_ she would have to ask so innocently, because _that_ would have gone wonderfully for the both of them! It wasn't like he had manhandled her in his sleep and pulled her close earlier, the change in positions had been unconsciously mutual for the duo, and that was only _more_ odd.

Misty swallowed, turning over to look at the stairs Ash had descended moments ago. Face hot, she curled her lips and tucked the blanket over her head, mortified. She decided that moment, she would sleep for the rest of the day, or _forever_.

 **XOXS**

While he thought Misty was still sleeping, he stumbled down the thin attic stairs, listening for togepi and pikachu below. He could hear Misty's sisters unpacking boxes in the kitchen, and the faint shrills and squeaks of togepi and pikachu, and so he relaxed. Rubbing his face, he found his way to the washroom.

Unable to force herself back into a slumber, Misty decided that _now_ was better than never, and it was best that she _did not_ stew over the current events. She had a lot to prepare for, and she didn't have time to think about what was going on between _them_. Whatever it was, it would have to wait until after she accepted her mantra as Elite Four.

Quietly, Misty compiled her thoughts, threw off yesterdays red tank-top and shorts in favor of a simple black tee-shirt, and short blue jeans before stumbling down the stairs.

Ash took care of his business, and washed his face. He was in need of a shower, but knew that despite his need, there was no logical way. The shower was crowded with brown boxes, the sink counter was littered with bottles of goo and other feminine products, so he had to maneuver his way around the frills. Hesitantly, he looked at himself in the mirror. His hair was matted down by his hat, long enough that when it was pulled from its ponytail it hung over his shoulder. His eyes still had traces of black rings around them due to lack of sleep-even after his short nap.

Staring back at him was the complacent image of _older_ Ash. _Adult Ash_. Who he was _now._ Long gone were his childish, puffy cheeks and wide eyes—replaced instead with smooth cheek bones and narrowed, sultry eyes. He ran his fingers down his jaw bone; even after years of sleeping, not an inch of facial hair emerged. He knew that wasn't uncommon—he had been told by the physical therapist that along with his height, some other things would take awhile to catch up with his maturing body. He figured facial hair was one of those things.

Outside of her appearance, Misty hadn't _really_ changed that much at all, she was still her same determined, sarcastic self; even though everything else around her was changing, it didn't change the same comfortable feeling he had when ever she was around her. Home was much less of where he was, and more of who he was around. Maybe he should have been a little more sad than he was to see the gym go—it had been the first welcoming place he went to since he woke up, but in reality... Ash pulled open the washroom door just in time to see Misty's sea-green eyes staring up at him and something twisted and pulled in Ash's chest to the point that he laughed at his former predicament under his breath and grinned at her.

"...Could..." She started, a little flustered. "...Stop being so..." She muttered half under her breath, Ash could barely hear her.

"..What?" he asked, blinking several times before she threw her fists down and stomped her foot.

"Stop being so weird!" She yelped with her heart racing and then stormed past him and into the washroom, nearly knocking Ash over.

Strangely, her reaction seemed forced, maybe a little hostile. _Expected_. Nervously, Ash rubbed the back of his neck and then awkwardly started down the next set of stairs to the kitchen. Misty hadn't had her morning coffee yet, which would explain the mood swing.

As he made the trek into the kitchen, he watched the three sisters argue about lunch—Lily was diligently trying to cut a french loaf while Daisy grumbled about soup, and Violet unpacked the plates and cutlery. Ash wasn't disappointed, because it wasn't the _gym_ he was attached to. Looking at the sisters he made himself known by taking a seat at their makeshift table of boxes, and rested his elbows on top.

"Oh, looks like the lovebirds finally woke up." Lily uttered with wiggling eyebrows.

With a blush, Ash's face fell to the boxes a second later as Misty emerged tensely around the corner just in time to hear the remark.

"What was that Lily? You left us alone to finish packing up _your things_?" Misty bellowed with a venomous tone. "We should leave you girls alone to unpack the truck? How kind of you." Misty sneered sarcastically while resting her hand on her sisters back. _A warning_. Lily shuddered in response and then glanced at her youngest sister.

"And I thought you two had to work?" Misty called out mercilessly while Daisy and Violet's backs straightened. "Or was that a petty excuse so you could run back to your hotel room and get a decent night of sleep while _we_ worked until ungodly hours of the night?" She hissed and Ash sat up as pikachu crawled into his lap.

"Brutal." he muttered under his breath, watching as Misty skillfully tore down her sisters iridescent acts of superiority.

"Sorry Misty... you know how we get when we're tired..." Daisy tried but the violent twitch of Misty's right eyebrow shushed her, as she hurried out of the kitchen, masking some excuse.

"Anyone else feel like putting in their two cents?" Misty challenged, turning to the counter to start her meal prep so they could begin the day.

Ash's mouth opened before his brain could advise him not to. "You are a lot nicer when you're asleep."

She spun on her heels at him, and for a singular moment, he was positive he saw hell behind her eyes. She raised the knife she had started cutting her bread with for comedic effect.

"Don't start with me, Ketchum." She hissed and Ash coiled down in his seat while she returned to _slamming_ sandwiches together, much less _placing them_.

While Ash was fearfully sitting at the edge of his seat, prepared to run, Daisy looked on from the doorway with a carefully narrowed eye. Misty's reaction was so _peculiar_ compared to usual. It wasn't like this was the _first_ time they teased their baby sister about Ash. Daisy felt her lips curl in happiness as she turned to start unpacking boxes in the living room. Her sister could be so stubborn sometimes.

 **XOXs**

Misty's awkwardness hadn't faltered for the remainder of the day, and it was becoming glaringly obvious to Ash who had tried to speak with her on several occasions that afternoon, but she always seemed to escape. It was almost like she was _intentionally_ avoiding him! But why would she do that? They were perfectly normal last night, why was it such a big deal to talk to him now? He deduced that what ever issue that she was having, it revolved around him—because if it had been about her sisters, she would have vented at him, not avoided him at every corner.

They worked endlessly until midnight, Daisy, Lily, and Violet focused mostly on their bedrooms. Misty demanded that Ash stay in the living room—or more accurately—stay away from her, while she spent her time unpacking the bathrooms.

Given Misty's job, she was the first to shower. In order to spare Ash the hours of waiting for the three sisters, Ash showered next—but he used the washroom down stairs. Since Misty was clearly against speaking with him, to the point that when she did finally call it quits for the day, she sulked into her bedroom without a single word to him. Thus, leaving Daisy to prepare the couch for Ash.

The eldest did so happily, but Ash seemed to be a bit of a grouch while tucking pikachu into his jacket and taking a seat. Surrounded by boxes, it was nothing compared to Misty's bedroom, but he couldn't complain, he had a roof over his head. However, she even took togepi, but didn't _say anything_ to him after this morning. What had he done to cause such a horrible reaction? Did she wait to get mad at him until now? She stalled until he finished helping her move so that she could release all of her pint up frustration _today_?

Catching onto his mood, Daisy took a seat beside him on the emerald green sofa after fluffing the spare pillow she was letting him use.

"What's wrong?" She asked in a tone so sweet Ash felt his skin crawl.

"Ahh, nothing." he tried, but pikachu was his tell. The mouse looked at Daisy, and tried to explain Ash and Misty's oddity, but Daisy, who didn't understand pokemon at all, waved piakchu into her lap where she scratched behind his ears.

"Don't take it to heart, Ash." Daisy offered quietly. "Misty's a temperamental person sometimes. She always has been since we were kids... little things set her off. Topple that with the overload of stress she's been thrown into because of her new position and she's a little moody."

"She was fine yesterday." Ash grumbled, crossing his arms.

Daisy chuckled while covering her mouth. "You did not see her yesterday morning. When she saw that we didn't have everything packed, she went into crazy, obsessive compulsive, 'gym leader Misty' mode and turned into a slave driver. _It was a nightmare, if you can imagine_." Daisy whispered the last part, as if she was worried that Misty, up in her room, could hear her complain.

Ash grinned at Daisy's description while shaking his head.

"She lightened up a lot when you came back. Like, _a lot_." Daisy assured while she gestured with her hands and then nudged him. "She missed you."

"She has a funny way of showing it." Ash complained, knowing Daisy was a very reliable confidant. The blonde exhaled.

"Well, did you do something to incur such a reaction?"

"No!" Ash denied quickly, _too_ quickly. What could he have done to anger Misty? He had been nothing but polite.

"..." she raised her eyebrows. "Are you _sure_?" She asked in a low, knowing voice that pulled Ash's attention back to the kiss—but she had been a sleep...Unless she wasn't. Ash face palmed, and Daisy pat his shoulders appreciatively, knowing that he realized whatever his mistake was.

"Oh, you two are so adorable." Standing up she gave one more look at Ash and smiled. "Get some sleep, she'll be fine in the morning."

Yet Ash didn't feel like she would be. He felt so embarrassed—should he apologize? He hadn't been thinking when he did it—in fact, he had all but forgotten about his brief moment of complete insanity. Holding his face, Daisy shut the light out as she ascended the stairs, leaving Ash alone with his thoughts.

This was supposed to be resolved; Misty, _and_ her sisters were the closet things that Ash had to a family right now; they were home. They were familiar, they were frustratingly carefree, and they were _home_. This was home; not the gym, not Cerulean City, but _them_. And realizing that was supposed to stop these weird feelings in his stomach. But he didn't get that way with her sisters, he didn't worry if Daisy wouldn't talk to him, he didn't care if Lily avoided him, and he wasn't against Violet ignoring him. The moment that _Misty_ did any of those things however, it was like getting punched in the gut several times. People _did_ like to assume and make obvious jabs at their curious friendship—if it wasn't _motherly, then it was..._

So...maybe he _did_ like Misty...what was he supposed to do about it? She was his best friend, quite possibly his only friend, but why did it feel like such a twisted, barbed feeling embedded deep into his chest? He felt like he was drowning and flying at the same time. Like his mind would explode but his nerves would freeze; his entire body was confused and it was _her_ fault. He wasn't in complete control of his actions this morning. With a loud groan, he smothered his face with his pillow. So he _kissed_ her. On the cheek. It wasn't like he kissed her on the lips or—His face flushed for even thinking of the incident and he groaned again in embarrassment. People in France did it all the time! He tried arguing with himself. It was normal to greet people like that, so... _so._.. his entire body felt hot while he curled into the couch. If it was so _weird_ maybe _she_ should have said something to him! Not ignore him after he was gone for so long.

...well, maybe he deserved it; he _did_ intentionally avoid her for eight months with a few fleeting phone calls and random letters— _maybe_ this was karma's sweet justice. He would have the ability to _finally_ understand his situation, and he would in the same breath _ruin it_. That would be his luck.

"Agghh, this is hopeless." He muttered breathlessly, feeling strangled.

"Pikapika, pikachu." The pokemon murmured against Ash's chest, telling his trainer to go to sleep—but sleep was far from Ash's mind.

 **XOXs**

Around 2:00am, Ash gave up, it would be a very long night, and really, who needed sleep anyways? Ash slept for ten years, he would be _fine_. Or at least that's what he told himself.

His feelings were unmanageable, uncommon, and frankly, a little weird. He couldn't sleep, at least not in the same house or vicinity as the redhead.

"Chaaa." The mouse whined, calling his trainer immature while rubbing his paw against his eye, but Ash glared at pikachu. They were seated together on the deck in the backyard, over looking the forest behind the girls' house. They had a simple wooden fence, two large peach trees, a small area for a garden beside the south fence line, and a yard full of grass. It was plain, unlike the cerulean gym.

"Well, what would you do pikachu?" Ash hummed, kicking his feet.

"Pikaa, pika chu." He explained, telling Ash to talk whatever he was _feeling_ over with Misty.

Ash frowned. "I've been trying all day, and yesterday but... We've been busy, and she's..."

"Pika." Ash picked up the mouse to stare directly into his brown eyes, and then set the pokemon beside him on the deck before crossing his arms. _Coward_ was what pikachu had said—but there was nothing cowardly about being _scared_ of ruining the one _actual_ friendship he had. Then again, Misty was a mature woman; even if she _did_ flatten him with complete, and utter rejection she would most likely still...

Ash threw his hands up and jumped up to his feet at the same time; he wasn't thinking straight. He was obviously going out of his mind; when he was hit by that harpoon and stranded in the middle of the ocean what ever realization he _thought_ that he had was because of the fever and chill; nothing less, nothing more.

Yet, here he was, convinced. He turned his gaze upward to the back window of her 'bedroom' in the attic and huffed, feeling his entire body tingle at the thoughts in his mind. All the while, pikachu stared at him with a mocking, superior gaze.

"Cha..." it grunted, and Ash pointed at pikachu.

"You know what? We should train."

"...Pika..." The mouse whined as Ash picked him up by the ribs and placed him on the ground. "We will practice some techniques like we did in France." Ash muttered optimistically while summoning chimchar.

The small monkey waved at Ash while wiping his tired eyes, then looked questioningly at pikachu.

"Pika." The mouse confirmed, concluding that Ash had finally lost his mind.

Ash wasn't listening to the talk while he inhaled sharply and then exhaled. "Alright you two, let's take it from the top!" Ash cheered a little too enthusiastically for 2:00am in the morning and his pokemon shared a look of deep concern and mild frustration. The things they did for their trainer...

 **XOXs**

Misty hadn't been sleeping, at least not really. She felt cold everywhere, even after she managed to set her bed and mattress up. Something was off, and the worst feeling was that she _knew_ exactly what was missing and it killed her. It had only happened _maybe_ a handful of times and she was already so _damn_ dependent. That wasn't like her.

 _This_ whole day wasn't like her at all! She hadn't had such a tantrum since she was eleven and then Ash shows up and...

 _Zap._

Her eyes took a moment to focus as she peered into the darkness at the window across from her bed, overlooking the back yard. An assortment of lights came to her attention while she peeled off her sheets to see what was happening. A power outage? As she neared the window, the faint sounds of Ash's voice made her head click against the wall—if she could hear him from up here, she could only imagine her sisters.

"Damn it, Ash." Misty grunted, knowing well that he had an act for waking up in the middle of the night for strange tasks when they were living at the gym, but doing so _in a small town_ like this _outside_ where their neighbors could see the lights and hear everything _probably_ wasn't his smartest move of the day—not that he had _technically_ done anything wrong.. She just wanted to-

 _Whoa there Misty, don't get ahead of yourself._ She chanted to herself in her thoughts while pulling on her red sneakers. _Stay focused._ She added, thinking of her position as Elite Four and the duties that would ultimately come from accepting the title—as well as the possible risks.

She wound herself down the stairs skillfully, dodged through her sisters bedrooms to make sure none of the sensational women had woken up, and then quickly foot her way through the back door, taking a stand on the deck where she saw Ash moving with chimchar to demonstrate a technique the pokemon hadn't learned—not exactly _the best_ way to teach a pokemon, but it was effective. Seconds later, chimchar let out _another_ bright flame getting cheers and applause from Ash.

Seconds later, Misty threw up her hands to hiss a loud "shh" and Ash all but tripped over himself.

"M-misty, what are you doing up?" He stammered, ruffling his hatless hair—this was just his luck.

"Kind of hard to sleep with the noise and fancy light show." She gestured to chimchar and pikachu who both blushed bashfully, matching Ash's expression as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"...I hadn't thought."

"Have you gone to sleep yet?" She asked, tapping her wrist gently.

His gaze drifted, eyes darted away. The black rings under his eyes had grown and Misty let out a sharp hiss of a sigh.

"You shouldn't stay up so late. You'll make yourself ill."

"I'll be fine." He muttered, feeling a bit more defensive than he should have.

She matched his tone with an unimpressed look. "You need to take care of yourself."

"I have been." he added, shuffling his pokemon to the far end of the yard with no intention of going to sleep. Misty watched him while she stepped down the last of the stairs, and crossed her arms. Summer nights were always warm, so the fear of cold meant nothing as she nodded her head at him. She could, and she would take mercy on him tonight—reminding herself once again that he had not _actually_ done anything wrong; even if it was weird.

"What are you trying to teach them?" She asked, looking at the two pokemon in question. Ash hummed happily in response.

"Chimchar has been working on mach punch, and pikachu has been working on iron tail and electro ball." he said proudly, squatting down to the small pokemons level to rub their scalps affectionately.

Misty traveled the distance between them, and squat beside him—much to _his_ discomfort. When their arms brushed, he almost crawled out of his skin.

"Those are pretty high level moves." Misty observed, resting her chin in her palm. "Did they know them in your dreams?"

Ash nodded. "Yes, but I'm finding that doesn't always mean they can learn them now. I think sometimes I influenced what they knew quite a bit."

Misty watched them carefully. "Mach punch can't be learned by a chimchar—not usually." Misty said knowingly. "I've never heard of a _pikachu_ using iron tail before." she mused impressed, sending a strange sense of satisfaction into his bones, as well as pride for his pokemon who scratched his ears affectionately.

"I guess you might not have been a chimchar when we learned mach punch, buddy..." Ash mumbled while the ape threw up his arms knowingly, not ready to give up.

"If you're going to train you shouldn't do it so late." Misty said suddenly after staring at his face. Ash scoffed and glared at her.

"It's only..." He strayed off, thinking of the time.

"3:00am." she scolded, and Ash's head drooped low.

"It's already been that long?" Ash asked nervously and she gasped.

"How long have you been out here?"

"That's not important." Ash said weakly, looking away from her and scratching his chin innocently. Misty exhaled and rose to her feet, crossing her arms.

"Well, I guess it can't be helped then." She hummed. "I'll train with you."

Ash was at his feet seconds later, arms crossed protectively. "Misty I sad that I'm fin—oh." he interrupted himself, realizing her words. "Oh." He added, elated. "Really?"

"Why not? You weren't able to battle when you were at the gym before, and I need the practice since I haven't been battling on a regular basis after joining the academy." She paused for a long moment, scooping up pikachu as she walked to the back gate. "Besides, I'm _dying_ to see that greninja of yours." Misty uttered sinfully, though while chimchar found a perch on Ash's shoulder, he looked at her fading back with pathetic eyes.

Whereas Ash told her that he _had_ a greninja, he neglected to mention that it wasn't exactly speaking with him right now.

 **XOXS**

Misty led him through the forest easily enough; the moon was bright and the sky was clear, so most of the path had been illuminated by the glow of the rocks above. They finally stopped in an open fiend about a mile out from her house when Ash finally broke the silence.

"About greninja.." Ash began, fidgeting. Misty looked over her shoulder at him, blinking a few times.

"What about him?"

"Well.. he's not really.. he hasn't left his pokeball since I caught him." He murmured, covering his mouth with his fingers thoughtfully.

Misty exhaled and looked to him with sympathetic eyes. "Why?"

A shrug. "He won't say." Knowing there was more to it than that, Ash inhaled and slouched. "Well, actually. He was injured when I caught him, I think he might have been being chased by the police or something and uh...he seemed upset that I didn't go get him first."

Misty leaned back, looking Ash over once, and then pursed her lips. "Is there a reason he might have felt more important than your other pokemon?"  
"Well, none of my pokemon really _knew_ that I existed, but I think... no, I know greninja did. He followed me around France long before he approached me."

Misty sat thoughtfully on the stump of a tree that had been cut down, and crossed one leg over the other and leaned forward, jaw cocked. "Why would he know if none of the rest of your pokemon did?"

Ash's face flushed red while he shuffled his feet nervously. "Mega evolution..." He mumbled under his breath. Alarmed and a little taken aback, Misty scoffed.

"I'm sorry?" She questioned if she heard him right.

"Mega evolution." Ash reiterated, walking towards her. Pikachu crawled from her arms and onto the ground where chimchar watched the duo.

"There haven't been records of mega stones in decades—maybe even centuries, Ash." Misty said matter-of-fact and Ash rolled his eyes thoughtlessly. Even _he_ knew that.

"I know... but it wasn't really a mega evolution—I didn't have to use a stone. It was more like... a feeling? An aura or something that we shared for a short time..." He mumbled, and Misty tapped her foot on the ground.

"An aura?" She giggled, earning a scornful look from Ash. "Well, as much as it seems farfetched in this world, it might have been possible in your dream world—maybe greninja felt more connected to you _because_ you shared that bond?" She suggested with squinted eyes. Sluggishly, Ash limped beside her, knocking her over a little to take a seat beside her on the large stump and exhaled while looking up at the stars.

"I guess I hadn't thought about it like that..."

"Sometimes when you leave the ones who know and care about you, they get confused and worked up." Misty explained softly. "Maybe he thought you abandoned him, and he woke up in a strange and different world than he remembered without his trainer. It was probably devastating, then on top of that, he realized that instead of coming to find him _first_ , you made a few detours."

"Pika pikachu." The mouse hummed below while chimchar nodded in agreement with the observation.

Slowly, Ash looked down at his lap, and then reached around his person to reveal the pokeball which kept greninja sealed away, and he blinked once or twice, with the support of pikachu and chimchar at his feet.

"I didn't mean to." Ash muttered. "...I didn't even know myself." He corrected, gliding his thumb down the red sphere. Misty nodded beside him.

"Right, but he probably hasn't realized that yet." She reassured him, patting him on the shoulder. "Did you heal him?"

"Of course." Ash snapped defensively, though not on purpose. Misty didn't seem to take offense, and watched him with neutral eyes. "I mean, yes. But he still wont come when I summon him."

"Then maybe you need to make him?" She suggested while standing.

His eyebrows furrowed; "how?"

"Well, if I remember from what you said correctly..." She staggered off thinking of their time at the hospital when Ash was much more open about his dreams. "Greninja picked you, didn't he?"

"So?"

"Then maybe he's waiting for the _real_ you, and that might mean reminding him that the dream counterpart he knew is _truly_ the same one as the one standing here now."

At first he was going to be witty, ask where her philosophical views came from—but the woman had always had some degree of higher understanding than Ash did, so instead, he blinked at her. It made sense, _a little bit_ , the whole time he had been awake he had been drawing a fine line between who he was in his dreams and who he was now—viewing them as separate beings entirely; the world, and himself were different. However, they weren't really. He was the person in his dreams, and while the world was different, it wasn't _wrong_. Ash rose a second later and looked at Misty determined.

"We'll give it a try!" Ash mused, pumping his fist out. Misty clapped her hands gleefully, and closed her eyes.

"Great! Then we'll battle!"

His fist fell. "Right now?"

"Right now!" She sung, walking the distance to the far end of the field.

"Misty, it's late..." he tried, but she shrugged while revealing a pokeball and Ash felt his stomach sink a little—he had never battled Misty, only watched, and he would be lying if he said he wasn't _a little_ nervous.

"Are you planning on going to sleep right away?" She asked skeptically, eyebrows raised.

He gawked at her, "Well, no, but!"

"Just battle me, Ash." She muttered while crossing her arms. "..or are you _chicken_?"

Her words echoed in his mind and he inhaled sharply. "I am not! You're going down!" he challenged her, spinning greninja's ball on his finger tip.

"It'll be a one versus one match; we'll use official league rules, which means that you'll need your pokedex." She revealed hers from her back pocket, and Ash fished his out of his own and held it out.

"How does that work?"

Misty clicked a few buttons on hers which connected to his pokedex via air waves, and he raised his eyebrows. She tapped her toes on the ground, "The rules are simple; in an official league match you are only allowed to use the four techniques registered to your pokemon in your pokedex." She hummed, cracking her neck and stretching every which way. "This doesn't account for strategy oriented commands, and the occasional simple physical attack such as tackle."

"Usually, when you step onto a platform in a gym, your pokedex with automatically connect to the computer system in the gym that will show a screen of your pokemon's registered health and level. However, since we don't have that, our pokedexs will do the work for us. Basically, it will help prevent over exhaustion or death. When the pokemon's health meter runs out, the connection the pokemon has to the pokeball will automatically alert you that the pokemon is unable to battle and you will have to return the pokemon."

"I know that, Misty. This isn't the first time I've battled." He chided her with a narrowed eye. Misty shrugged.

"I figured as much, but I don't want you complaining that this wasn't a fair fight." She barked with a sinister grin. "As you know, all battles are connected via pokedex to account for wins and losses, that way credits are transferred automatically between licensed trainers."

"What happens if I use an attack that isn't registered to my pokemon?" Ash inquired with raised eyebrows.  
"Then technically that means you can be disqualified and fined; and I would be the automatic winner." Misty hummed. "However, I can't technically stop you—that's between you and your pokemon." Misty warned him, though that would not be necessary. Ash had no intention to cheat.

"Alright, then let's get started!"

"As the experienced trainer, I'll choose my pokemon first." Misty declared, swinging her arm back to extend the throw of the pokeball in her hand; the ball soared through the sky, then landed with a splash against the grass, and then erupted in a bright display of reds, where the pointed figure of starmie stood ready in front of Ash.

"Starmie!" Ash gasped, and Misty raised her eyebrows.

"That's my line!" She growled playfully, though Ash could see the determination and excitement in her eyes from across the way, and he returned the same determination as he inhaled. Misty was nothing if not a fierce battler.

"Alright greninja, if you're ready..." He squeezed the ball, hoping that greninja would hear him. "Then come on out!" He shouted and threw the ball.

For a moment, the ball landed with a thump and nothing happened. Ash felt his stomach twist uncomfortably, but Misty piped in.

"You can't turn down a challenge!" Misty shouted, and then as if on cue, the ball erupted in a faint red light, and standing across from starmie was a provoked, lanky blue and yellow frog pokemon. He knelt on the ground, glaring upward at Misty who could only cross her arms in response.

"Greninja!" Ash gasped, elated. "You actually-"

He didn't have time to speak before the ninja pokemon shot forward without command, lunging itself at starmie.

"Starmie dodge left and use rapid spin!" Misty called automatically before greninja even had a full foot from the ground; the star pokemon spun sideways, picking up speed before using greninja's failed attempt to land a pound attack as an opening to thrust into the pokemon. Greninja staggered backwards, holding its side from the twisted tackle and then shook its head to clear its mind.

"Greninja wait don't-" Ash tried, but the pokemon twisted forward carelessly, only to be knocked back once more with another quick rapid spin. The attack would hit twice, and unless greninja moved, the momentum driven tackle would land again.

Luckily, the frog saw this and jumped up, avoiding starmie's third lunge, but Misty had already folded her hands over her chest when starmie landed about a foot away from the hovering pokemon.

"Knock it out of the air with hydro pump!" She called, watching the panic surface in greninja's eyes as it realized it wasn't going to have time to move out of the way from the attack. When the torrent of water struck, greninja flew upward violently, before landing solidly on the ground with a loud thud, leaving Ash and Misty staring profusely.

"Piiikaa!" pikachu whined at Misty, calling her attacked cruel—but they weren't. Greninja did attack first—and without being told you.

Had the trainer in control of the pokemon been anyone other than Ash, she might have scolded him for a blatant disregard of respect or the rules, but Ash seemed to be beating himself up enough.

"Greninja you have to listen to me!" He shouted, throwing his fists down as the pokemon was slow to rise—already, Misty could have finished the pokemon, but she waited. This battle wasn't about winning. Ash's words fell on deaf ears as greninja pressed forward once more, this time using another water pulse. Misty raised her hand.

"Hydro pump!" She called, watching as the two spurts of water clashed. Ash was growling by this point, looking at Misty with tempered eyes—really though, he couldn't complain to her—she was defending whereas greninja was...

"If we don't work together you're going to lose!" Ash shouted in frustration at the frog. "I'm sorry you felt like I forgot about you, but if you would listen to me, to our friends, you would know that I didn't mean to! I didn't betray you, and I never went a day without thinking about you and everyone else but I wasn't able-" He shook his head catching a glimpse of greninja and his shoulders slumped.

"I did my best, and I should have tried harder to find you—I should have known you were real like you knew that I was but..." he paused, looking down pathetically, drained. "I can only promise to do better from now on! I'm here now!" he shouted, reaching out for the pokemon.

Kneeling, greninja looked at Ash with worried, pained eyes. Beside him, chimchar and pikachu rested, where pikachu shouted his support and validation, as well as chimchar. The monkey expressed his own issues to greninja, followed by pikachu's explanation, and on the pokemon's face a look of desolation appeared. Shame. He had been thinking only of himself, whereas Ash had many other friends that also looked at him for support.

It hurt knowing that Ash chose to search for everyone else before him, but with a steady mind, greninja rose to his feet and looked at Ash earnestly; at the trainer he chose. This Ash was different, he spoke differently and acted differently, but his eyes were the same— _they_ were the same. Still one as trainer and pokemon; regardless of the time spent alone, Ash still understood greninja's need to succeed and greninja knew Ash's desire to help.

Misty tried to keep her laughter down to a minimum, she couldn't believe her eyes. They stalled a battle to _talk_ to one another. Not to discipline and not return the pokemon—but to talk. She snickered in the back of her mind at Ash's antics. He would be the only trainer in the world to have such a calm disposition during the middle of a fight. However, she watched as greninja dipped his head low, as if asking for forgiveness for his actions, and she shuddered.

"Alright.." Ash hummed, getting the message. "Then let's work together."

"So round two then?" Misty grinned, hands on her hips.

"Round two!" Ash called, pumping his first forward as greninja mimicked the move. Misty's eyes narrowed slowly. "You ready buddy?"

The silent pokemon nodded, and then Ash inhaled. "Use double team!"

So he was going to be offense, huh? Maybe it was the sleep deprivation but Misty didn't call for starmie to attack right away, her mind stalled—or perhaps, maybe it was because greninja's speed was flawless, she had no idea which copy was the real one.

Her mouth opened a second too late when Ash pointed down at starmie.

"Now use pound!" Ash yelled, and moments later, the greninja to the left of starmie lunged, pressing a solid fist into the pokemon's jewel, slamming it into the ground. Dust rose from the field, cutting the grass with its sharpened edges as greninja bounced backwards, reeling joyfully in his eyes when he finally landed a hit—Ash shared the expression.

"Did I catch you off guard?" Ash asked mockingly and Misty all but growled.

"You wish." She grunted, taking a step back. "Starmie use rapid spin!" Again, the pokemon shot forward from the ground, thrown forward at an intense speed that Ash inhaled for and took a few steps back to be in the clear from the move.

"Greninja duck!" Ash called, "then when its over you use pound again!"

"That's dirty!" Misty called back exasperated as the frog shrunk low to the ground when starmie's rapid spin coiled above him. Once more, greninja landed another critical hit on the jewel, this time sending it flying directly above. Though, Misty didn't seem surprised by the notion as a grin tugged on her lips.

"Starmie!" She called before Ash could have a breath of relief. "Use thunder!"

Starmie was only a foot above greninja, its body stiffened, and came to life with an electrical charge that brought a roar of energy from each point of its body, and before Ash could get a word in edge wise, the attack was set lose like a canon.

"Greninja!" _side step and counter with water shuriken..._ Ash wanted to shout, but the intense blare of lightning striking the ground erupted a spell of wind that doused the trainers, leaving Misty all but smirking at her 'victory'.

However, when the glare ended, her mouth fell open.

"Chaa!" Pikachu squealed alerting Ash so when he lowered his arm he saw that greninja had managed to roll away in time, and counter with an attack of his own that sent starmie into a tree; leaving the jewel blinking back at them. Greninja's right foot was numb with electricity as it knelt, his movements all but stunted. Greninja pressed its fingers into the soil to stare down starmie.

Misty pursed her lips for a moment, as if she would call one last move—but instead, her hand slipped down as if thinking better of it, and she removed the pokeball from her belt to return the star. She stuck up her nose, relaxed her shoulders, and glared kindly at greninja and Ash who hadn't realized yet that they won.

Ash was slouched over, almost like the ape at his feet when he straightened, and then threw up his arms. He all but danced to greninja's side, and grabbed the pokemon in a tight hug.

"We did it!" he chirped happily and Misty grinned at the sight. A grown man hugging a pokemon that stood at least four foot, and in return, the pokemon returned the embrace lovingly; eyes closed and grateful. With the expression, Misty's heart eased. Ash was so easy to forgive and forget—he really loved his pokemon. For once, Misty had been glad she was right—he just needed a little push.

As the dust settled and starmie was neatly tucked back into his ball, Misty approached Ash with an earnest grin. "I wasn't expecting that."

"You let your guard down."

"I might have gotten a little cocky..." She muttered, sighing dramatically while rubbing her face. She looked directly at greninja next. "You did a great job yourself." She said with a curt smile. Awkwardly, the pokemon's face flushed as it bowed to her in gratitude and Ash rubbed the back of his neck.

"It was a great battle regardless, huh greninja?" Ash asked with a gleaming smile that the ninja returned with a nod of appreciation. With their connection reestablished, Ash placed a firm had on the pokemon's shoulder, and then returned him so that he could rest.

"You two were terrible at the start..." Misty warned Ash, one eyebrow raised. "But you brought it back in the second half after that corny speech."

Ash blushed immensely and glared at her. "It wasn't corny!"

"It was corny. I thought I walked into a drama." she sneered sarcastically with a wave of her hand.

"Misty!" Ash gasped, his face darkening. "You're just a sore loser!"

She grinned at him, and rubbed his scalp playfully, her teeth grit together tightly. "I am a little bit! I lost to a novice and I'm supposed to be an Elite Four member!"

Ash swat her hand away gently and peered at her. "Just goes to show you can always learn more."

Misty inhaled. "I know..." She heaved a sigh and looked up at the rising sun with narrowed eyes. A second later, she removed the water droplet necklace from over her head, and then without warning dropped it over Ash's. He shook his head clear of the disruption and glared seemingly at her.

"What's this?" He murmured, looking down at the necklace briefly.

"The cascade badge."

"Misty, this is-"

"Don't argue with me." She growled. "Just say thank you."

Stammering, he looked at her with a great sense of devotion, his mouth opening and closing several times before he reeled backwards, looking up at her with a questioning gaze.

"Misty." He fumbled, taking her hand which had been pressed against his shoulder and bringing it down into his to squeeze. Her face turned red, and she felt the urge to retract her hand and run, but he held her firm.

"I need to talk to you." he gasped, she swallowed the lump in her throat, and kept herself still.

"About what?" She stammered quietly, her voice barely audible.

"I have... I think..." He paused, trying to collect the right words—since they were still technically scrambled in his own mind, saying them was like getting kicked in the shin several times. "...I think I like..." his eyes made their way to hers, the same sea-green eyes that peered in through the cracked door when he laid tiredly in a hospital bed. The eyes that watched over him while he healed, glared at him when he did wrong. Stared _at_ him, not around him or through him.

"You like what?" Misty questioned, eyebrows raised.

Misty, who for the last year constantly put _Ash_ first to help him, house him, and then travel with him. Who stayed up late with him when he couldn't sleep, laughed with him when he was sad, and stood beside him when his family turned the other direction. His best friend, whether he asked her to or not. Now he was going to be selfish a little more, and instead of letting her focus on herself, on her new job and on the adventure they would be embarking on to stop Team Rocket, if they really did exist...he was going to ruin all of that by taking another full step in front of her. How could he do that to her, what if she rejected him—what if she _didn't_? He recalled what Daisy had told him before and wondered how this would reflect on her stress level if something...

He lost his nerve and his stomach turned in knots. His entire body shook and his palms felt sweaty. If _he_ was stressed out, how would Misty react?

"I like y...our hair." he weaseled out.

Suddenly, Misty took a step back, snatching her hand away from his with a bemused expression. "What?" She snapped, maybe a little disappointed in his confession.

Ash stammered while beside him both chimchar and pikachu slapped their foreheads. "I mean, I like..." he tried once more, but the words wouldn't come. "It's just that it's so orange now."

"My hair is not orange!" She shouted, turning away from him, the blush over her cheeks receding. She touched her hair with her hands and Ash panicked.

"Orange isn't a bad thing!"

"I can't believe it's so noticeable, I haven't had time to dye it!" She paused her exclamation to glare at him hurtfully. "You know I hate my hair color, Ash!" She hissed, sounding more like a girl than she had all night. Ash laughed nervously and followed after her as she stomped back to her house.

"It's not a bad thing! It looks nice!"

Chimchar rubbed his face, having only witnessed this once. Pikachu had folded his paws over one another and nodded to his monkey companion. This was far from abnormal, and if anything, was a common theme in the duos relationship.

 **Author's Note:**

I'm such a sucker for cliché moments (referring to the typical she fell asleep, he fell asleep, somehow they were asleep with each other.) That's twice in one story. Do I hear a third? -shot-

I felt like I needed to give Ash _some_ moments of 'happiness' where he is genuinely accepted and having a _normal_ life. I wanted to bring in the issue with greninja (partially resolve it, but we get more into that next chapter) and by popular request, I threw in a bit about mega evolution. (no, I don't think it would work in this world. More on that later though)

Like pikachu, I felt like Greninja had a really, reaaally close bond with Ash (to be able to mega evolution, c'mon) so the pokemon (who knew Ash was real from the start) felt a bit betrayed that Ash wouldn't come to him first. However, he realizes he was stupid for thinking this way, and they defeat Misty.

LITTLE EASY ON THE POKESHIPPING THERE NINT. (my hand slipped)

Little baby Ash knows he has feelings for Misty now (what's he gonna think about now?) ;w; but he chose not to say anything until after the party because she's been so stressed (and really, they have more important things to thing about -shot-); he's such a pal! (and I'm an evil, evil author, don't hate me) I hope that didn't seem too forced. I almost felt like it was a little too dragged out -cuts fingers off- (in the distance) I regret nooooothinggggg!

Anyways, this entire section was only supposed to have been one chapter originally, so expect the next chapter soonish.

NINT


	34. Chapter 34: Road to the Indigo League

**Locked Away, Chapter 34**

Ash spent the morning after they returned home from their battle, comatose on the couch with togepi, chimchar and pikachu nuzzled into his chest. He barely made it through the door before he collapsed from exhaustion onto the green sofa. Misty tried her best to wrap a blanket around him, but he was restless even in his sleep, and kicked it off, rolled onto his stomach, and the sound of chainsaw-snores erupted continuously from the living room.

Daisy, Lily, and Violet were still nestled into their own sleeping arrangements, which left Misty alone to rummage through the house and slowly unpack more.

It was still strange to leave the gym, to wake up early, _super early_ , in today's case, and have no responsibilities—even though she spent the last four months at a training academy for her position of Elite Four, she hadn't gotten used to the simple life yet. Her mind and body were still used to the grind of being up before sunrise, cleaning the filters, and feeding her pokemon.

Now, she had the local pokemon bank watching her pokemon where they sat in stasis until she needed them for a battle, or wanted to have them for short vacations. Their time would be spent inside of a small, metallic ball, instead of swimming freely at the gym. Her pokemon's initial lack of freedom was inherently the greatest problem Misty faced when accepting her new position; while she felt a great deal of accomplishment, she also felt a great deal of stress.

Slipping into the kitchen, she leaned over the counter to fetch the coffee container. The heavenly scent of brown, crushed beans made her mouth water and her brain jump gleefully as she walked to the machine, and flicked a few spoonfuls into the filter area. She took and filled the pot with water, and poured the water into the back before releasing a loud sigh, and hearing the beginning brew. A simple, daily ritual she had forgone for four months, was now the simplest pleasure of mundane normalcy. Oddly enough, unlike her time at the gym, she had no immediate duty to jump to, not school work to complete no exams to study. For once, the Waterflower's plate was empty.

Uncomfortable, she fidgeted through the kitchen stopping at a set of boxes which contained Daisy's prestigious variation of wine glasses, and stacked them onto the counter carefully before tossing the box aside.

Shortly after, she took a seat at the table and rested her fingers over the top anxiously. Her foot rattled under the table and her brows furrowed.

What was she supposed to be doing now? The league party wasn't for another two weeks, unpacking would only take a couple of days, and then after that... _what?_

Awkwardly, her mind traced back to the sound of chainsaws in her living room where the young man slept, and her entire body shuddered. It was strange, and familiar to have him around again. After an eight month hiatus, she believed they wouldn't fit anymore; like most people in Misty's life, they out grew her. Ash, however, still perpetrated that same dorky smile and insane tryst of loyalty as he had the very fist day they met. She was _supposed_ to be mad that he, _for lack of better words_ , neglected their friendship, like greninja had been, but the moment she saw him—she was glad he was alive more than anything else. Where her fingers pressed against her cheek still burned at the contact of his lips against her flesh. He was so reckless—and sometimes really oblivious, but also very thoughtful, and kind and _loving_.

She sat forward grabbing her head between her hands and groaning loudly.

" _Oh no_." She breathed frustratedly. The realization slamming directly into her back like a ten pound weight. Her head hit the table with a loud thump, distorting the consistent sound of chainsaws in the distances for a short moment.

 **XOXS**

They were both stubborn, this much Daisy knew for sure; the duo made a habit of playing the 'who can be the least awkward today' game, only, it was like watching two toddlers sitting in a pit of mud. When Misty would imply, Ash would deny and fall down; when Ash would imply, Misty would deny and get angry.

It had become a constant stress of teenage hormones in the small house that had been void of their lies for the last five years, considering that Misty was the youngest, and didn't seem interested in dating before _this_. Even _now_ , it was like throwing needles at a brick wall.

Lily and Violet were no help, either. With their constant, jubilee and jabs at Misty and Ash's precarious friendship, they were bordering every single nerve Misty had—she was going to snap one of these days. It hadn't even been a full week when Misty and Ash made a habit of waking up early to train. They had no sooner unloaded the last box from the moving truck when they started practicing. Misty showed Ash the proper ways to be the most effective in battle, introduced him to the trainer database, how to register moves and change them; while Ash showed her better ways to train her pokemon—more _intimate_ ways, one could argue.

He was more about matching the physical movements of the pokemon, such traits he practiced with greninja, while Misty was more into showing her pokemon with the pokedex, and repetition.

Ash would argue that a pokemon is only as strong as the trainer, and shouldn't be expected to make moves the trainer isn't willing to try. And of course, Misty had sarcastically asked him if he was going to start shooting thunderbolts, which resulted in a spew of anger—and round two.

Misty battled Ash with her seadra versus his chimchar, and the results were brutal on the edge of Misty. Before the end of the week, they had both visited the pokemon center twice for several different pokemon, and gotten into two unofficial matches, and three official.

Daisy deduced that it was either some childish way to mute their intimate frustrations, or they were both _truly_ that competitive. When she watched them run laps around the back yard with their weaker pokemon—she wasn't sure anymore. She hadn't seen Misty so riled up about anything since she was a child, and while it made Daisy happy to see her that way—it also reminded her that Misty was growing up far too fast.

The goods news was that none of their fights escalated past the point of training pokemon, and they returned to their mundane ritual of pranking the three sisters, attempting to cook—ultimately being banned from the kitchen _again—_ hosting a marathon of news reports and movies to catch Ash up with pop culture and the world, and finally a few hours a day when they would sit up in Misty's room and _talk_.

About what? Daisy didn't have the slightest clue, when she tried to butt in, the trainers would shuffle their papers around, tuck them behind their person, and Misty would yell at Daisy to knock. The eldest Waterflower almost wished her sister was _more_ promiscuous so she wouldn't have to worry that Misty and Ash were _actually_ getting into something that might be dangerous. Ash had a way of bringing trouble with him where ever he went, and whether he realized it or not, he had opened that door for Misty as well. It was terrifying.

Sometime at the start of the second week, Ash started sleeping on a cot in Misty's room so the girls would have their living room back—the ability to stay up long nights without fear of disturbing the boy, or vice versa.

Daisy, who had the bedroom closest to Misty's attic bedroom stairs, could hear the two stay up until the dead of the night talking about conspiracy theories with some other trainer on the phone. What time they didn't spend talking about whatever plan they were hatching, they talked about Ash's journeys, and Misty's time at the academy. Those were the ones that Daisy would sit on the last step of the stairs leading to Misty's room and listen to the most; in eight months, Ash saw far more than most people do in their entire lives—he found new pokemon, new techniques and places, and still somehow wound up back here. In crappy Kanto.

While Daisy spent the majority of her time looking for a job applicable to her recently obtained degree, she still watched over her sisters, and her 'adopted' little brother as a mother hen would. Gracefully motherly when she was supposed to be, and insidious the rest of the time. She made sure Lily was still pursing her goals, she watched over Violet in her new job as a bartender, but the two she could never peg down, were leaving in the morning.

The night before their departure, after their travel bags were packed, after their last horrible crafted _family_ dinner, after watching one more practice round between Ash and Misty, and after one more cheesy movie, they were leaving. _Again_.

Misty was an Elite Four member now, that gave her unprecedented reign over Kanto, and Johto, she was no longer the 'tomboyish mermaid' that she was now an actual public, and political figure that would help shape the regions into a better, or worse place. She was also walking into a strange world full of people Daisy didn't know, and couldn't protect her sister from when things got tough.

Coma-patient Ash was another story entirely, she hadn't known him more than a handful of months, and yet she looked at him like the little brother none of them ever had—the friend Misty missed out on as a child. He was odd, possibly _crazy_ , but he was friendly, and helpful and full of insight that Daisy thought was long lost over the dark years that followed the end of Team Rocket.

He was almost like a story book character, someone who has been given all the right reasons to give up, and sit down; yet, he beat all odds and tribulations, and still managed to keep some semblance of humanity, and happiness. It was a contagious optimism that brought their straying family closer together, but more than that, it brought _other_ people together as well.

When Daisy would hear the stories of Ash and his pokemon, as well as the people he talked to over the course of his few months away, it was _like_ listening to a comic book hero.

...Though, Daisy wasn't exactly opposed to that.

His birthday was coming up very soon at the end of July, and considering the hell he had gone through, the sisters wanted to give him something nice for his twenty-first birthday, something _special_. Alas, they had nothing to give that would mean more than what he already had; least that was what Misty said.

Daisy thought differently, so on the night before their departure, she walked up the staircase loudly, her way of indicating that she was on her way up without knocking, and poked her head around to see Misty packing a few items into her backpack, and Ash lying on his cot with togepi and pikachu coiled on his back while he flipped through the world news.

"Hey, you two."  
"Hey, Daisy." Misty tossed naturally, waving slightly at her sister while returning to her business. Ash didn't speak, but he looked up to acknowledge her appearance.

"So," Daisy started, twisting her fingers together. "Any plans before you go?"

"We're going to stop in Viridian City to visit Cole, annnnd then after that I think it's straight to the league." Misty mused, dusting her hands to indicate that she was finished with her task. The moment she had, her eyes finally locked onto the object between Daisy's intertwined fingers, two neatly wrapped boxes, no larger than a credit card, no thicker than inch.

"What are those?" She asked modestly, maybe a little worried. Daisy chuckled in response.

"Gifts." She said flatly, and gestured for Ash to come to her. He wasn't sure what to do, so he shifted carefully so that togepi and pikachu would fall onto the cot gently, though both clearly still in distress that their sleep had been disturbed and walked to Daisy.

"What for?" Ash asked, blinking innocently.

"Well, the first is from Lily, Violet and I for your promotion, Misty." she handed Misty the red wrapped gift, and then looked at Ash. "And since we know you probably won't be back once Misty leaves for regular attendance of the league...we got you your birthday gift a week early."

Misty snorted, "Better make sure he opens it now, or he might forget." Misty jested while twisted the package in her hands. Daisy pursed her lips, matching Ash's same unimpressed look—he hadn't opened the gift because Misty was nosy and would likely try to rummage through his things to find it, though Agatha clearly told him not to open it around the redhead.

"Har har." Ash mocked, and then returned his smile to Daisy while taking the gift. "Thank you, Daisy, I'm not sure what to say. It's been so long since I've celebrated my birthday, I almost forgot that it existed." he said with a laugh while scratching the side of his face.

"Just say thank you." She frowned deeply. "I can't believe I won't be able to see you guys off tomorrow morning."

"It's not our fault you're leaving tonight, you could have rescheduled for tomorrow morning yourself." Misty chided while quirking an eyebrow.  
"Oh Misty, don't talk like that. You know I can't wake up before eight." Daisy said coyly, looking absurdly at Misty while she nodded sarcastically and shook her head. Ash scoffed but stifled his laugh in favor of thumbing the thin parchment.

"Well, open them." Daisy she gestured, pushing the packages closer to each person.

Misty looked sideways at Ash, a look her returned innocently, and then they both tore through the packaging a second later. Misty cracked her box open first, followed secondly by Ash, and they both looked at the contents with a vague expression of surprise.

"I saw that you gave your necklace to Ash, so I figured it would be okay if I got you a new one..." Misty removed the silver pendant from the box, blinking to the closeable object that reflected back at her. Meanwhile, Ash removed a small, square photo in a frame about the side of a card, and blinked at it. Inside the pendant, and the frame was the matching picture of the four of them standing at one of the tournaments Misty attended during Ash's first stay with them, and Ash chuckled at his appearance.

Misty smacked her lips. "Aww, Daisy." She mused, and then grabbed her sister in a fitful embrace that she returned with a great deal of fervor.

"I'm going to miss you both _so_ much." Daisy whimpered into her sisters neck, echoing down the younger woman's.

"You act like we're going to die or something." Misty commented, and patted Daisy on the back dutifully. Ash snorted, fighting the enormous grin on his lips. Daisy pursed her lips and separated from Misty a moment later.

"You better not die." She warned, then looked at Ash with that same terrifying scowl Misty had—by now, he had deduced that it was most definitely a genetic trait. "That goes for the _both_ of you." she added, recalling the stories she overheard.

"We'll be fine. And thank you." Ash said confidently, taking another glance at the frame. Pikachu squealed beside him so Ash squat down to share the picture with the rodent. "This was right before I found you." he noted, pointing to togepi who was being carried by Misty in the photo.

"Chaaa~" The pokemon cooed, taking the note from his trainer and rushing back to place it in a safe place in his back-pack, otherwise, Ash would likely break it. Ash felt his mouth twitch at the insinuation.

"I have to ask what made you so nice all of a sudden." Misty chided, eyes narrowed. Daisy puffed her cheeks.

"Well, like, Lily and Violet wanted to buy you two condoms, but I thought we needed a little more class than that." Daisy motioned, waving her hand while Misty's face turned a bright scarlet, she tossed the box at Daisy's hair, and shouted.

"Get out of my room!" Misty screamed, all the while Ash fell to his knees and held his face in embarrassment.

Daisy grabbed Misty's flailing arms and squeezed her. "Don't fight it baby sister, just let it happen!" Daisy groaned as Misty all but dead-lifted the woman down the stairs to dispose of her.

Leaving Ash alone to chuckle, his mouth twitched worriedly as he heard inconsistent scowls and grumbles from all of Misty's sisters as they teased and moaned that she was leaving on a 'great' 'adult' adventure without them.

Sometimes, Ash was grateful he didn't have any well-known siblings. He heard the sound something glass shatter before the muddled sounds of their screaming hit his ears and he fell onto the foot of Misty's bed and crossed one leg over the other, and cupped his jaw. _Other times_ he wondered what kind of crazy siblings he might have had if he wasn't comatose for ten years—would Cole still be as enamored with him as they were, or would they fight like cats and dogs like Misty and her sisters.

He grinned, knowing well that they only fought so much because that was their way of showing affection. It was weird, and sometimes a little dangerous, but he wouldn't have them any other way.

" _Ash_!" Misty hollered after hi from down stairs and his face paled while he toyed with the idea of escaping through the open window. He could survive a three story drop, right?

... _other times_ , he was scared for his life.

 **XOXs**

Morning came too quickly. While Ash managed to sneak away two hours before Misty, the redhead spent the majority of the night crashed on the couch between her three sisters who were catching up through photo albums and favorite romance movies. He wondered why the separation was such a huge deal—but then remembered that Misty's new position wouldn't leave a lot of room for anything else. She did mention that she wouldn't be around much anymore when she first showed Ash the house—he just didn't think she meant it.

He completed his morning routine long before Misty even flinched. She slept through two alarms, and by the time the third went off, she had thrown the alarm clock across the room, nearly hitting Ash on his way back up the stairs to fetch her. Togepi was with pikachu downstairs, sorting out their 'rations' of pokemon food.

"Misty, if you don't get up, we're going to miss the train." He muttered, walking over to her and shaking the bed she was sleeping in. She growled, not unlike a demon, and sat up. Her short hair was a mess, knotted in several different directions with a few strands stuck to her mouth. Her eyes were still blurry, full of sleep when she rubbed them to clear her vision.

"What time is it?"

Ash thought for a moment for the perfect response while shouldering her pack, and lifting her suitcase. Since she would likely have to spend a few weeks at the indigo pleatue, she packed for the occasion, but her clothes for the day were on top of her long dresser.

"...mmm." he narrowed his eyes. "Too damn early?" He offered finally with a mocking grin. Misty pointed to her stairs.

"Get out." She groaned, flopping down and covering her face with her blankets.

Ash's brow furrowed, and twitched.

"Misty! Get up!" He shouted like a child, and then yanked on her covers, though immediately wished that he hadn't. She wasn't wearing pants and he saw more than he wanted, and she reacted accordingly.

One carefully aimed pillow to the face later, he jolted out of her room while she yelled at him.

"Ash, you pervert!" When she was gone she rubbed her head, it ached from the lack of sleep she had over the last couple of days and she pulled herself out of her covers. This would be the last time she tried to sleep _comfortably_ with someone else in her room—the nerve of that man sometimes!

Breakfast was eaten in silence, coffee was thrown into thermos'; they didn't talk about the incident, that was probably safer for the both of them, and they went on their way. Misty locked up the house on her way out, all three of the sensational sisters were out for the morning. Because of her negligence, they were in a rush to the other side of town to reach the train station, so Ash called a taxi cab to come pick them up, rather than walking to the meadow and grabbing one there.

When their bags were thrown into the back, pikachu and togepi were loaded and Ash and Misty scoot inside of the back seat, the taxi driver looked to them and raised his eyebrows. They were huffing from rushing around, and his mouth pursed.

"Where are you lovers off to so early?"

"We're not—you know what-" Misty hissed, and Ash scoot slowly away from her, taking togepi and pikachu into his arms protectively. He could almost hear the steam brewing from her ears as her anger levels rose. "Cerulean City Train station, please." She forced a grin out, though it looked more menacing than pleasant.

 **XOXS**

They barely reached the train station in time, the train was already moving when Misty slugged her suitcase onto the train, then practically threw Ash on after moments later. Her strength still terrified him in some aspects. It seemed so beastly compared to the rest of her figure—though, he did see Misty as more of the athletic type.

She hopped on after him, squishing pikachu, togepi and him up against the far wall as she huffed loudly. The train was already moving when they jumped on, and her mouth was dry from thirst.

"Wooo." She chimed sarcastically. "Who says nothing exciting never happens with me?" She laughed, nudging him in the stomach before walking on wobbly legs to their assigned box.

Ash laughed behind her and followed. Pulling open the thin, wooden door, she tossed her suitcase into the overhead compartment as well as her back pack, and then slunk down into the seat beside the window. Ash mirrored her movements, and then took the seat beside the window opposite of her. They faced one another, and Ash crossed his arms while she exhaled.

Pikachu nestled into her lap shortly after for sweet head rubs, while togepi hopped onto the seat beside Ash.

"See, you shouldn't have fallen back to sleep."

"I didn't mean to." She argued back clicking the call button for services. Apparently, one thermos wasn't enough to get her started.

"Why don't you sleep on the way to Viridian instead of pumping yourself full of coffee and a premature crash later." He paused, looking at the black rings below her eyes. "When did you get to sleep, anyways?"

"Mm?" She asked, blinking heavy eyelids. "Four? Five, maybe?"

Ash's mouth twitched. "So not even an hour before we were supposed to be up."

"'ey, I'm not going to see my sisters for awhile." She slouched, rubbing her temples. "Besides, Lily and Violet were insistent—and I did sleep on the couch for awhile, but it was really just all broken up."

Ash smiled at her and shook his head. "And you get onto me." He mocked slyly and Misty felt herself sigh. She turned away from him, kicked her feet up onto the length of the seat and coiled her arms around pikachu and dipped her chin low.

"Yeah, yeah, Mr. Pokemon Master. We know you're _sooo_ perfect." she said dozing off in her seat.

While they spent the majority of the week training early mornings, talking about the first things Misty wants to change when she enters into the Elite Four, as well as her suspicions of Dr. Abby, and her group meetings with Agatha and Brock; she told him about hours spent at the academy, and he told her about his friends.

"So, are you ever going to tell me what happened between you and Dawn?" Ash asked suddenly, before her head could dip the last time. She looked up to him with bloodshot eyes and inhaled.

"No." She said flatly.

"But she's helping us now? Shouldn't we know?" He asked, and Misty shook her head and leaned against the soft back of the train seat.

"Exactly, she's helping now; so the rest is old news."

Ash bounced in his seat, his fingers curled onto the plush fabric and he inhaled briefly. "And what about my brother?"

"Cole isn't going to be much help. He's seven." She groaned, wanting to go to sleep, but Ash was bursting with energy, knowing he would get to see the child again.

"No, I mean do you think we'll actually get to see him."

Misty all but hissed as she looked over at Ash once more, as if the clear, blood shot eyes, and sleep deprivation wasn't enough, he need her to _tell_ him she didn't want to talk.

"You just told me to take a nap on the way over to Viridian City." she said smoothly, though her voice cracked in confusion. "Do you want to talk, or do you want me to be _somewhat_ of a functional human being today?"

Ash opened, and then closed his mouth before tucking his hands onto his lap. "I'm sorry. I'm just pumped up."

"Mhmm."

Only a few minutes of silence inched between them, where her breathing had slowed into a hum. He watched her while straightening the bill of his hat; it had been washed and cleaned since he returned home, but it still held the tea at the edges. Hats in the real world didn't have an infinite life span, he supposed... much like a lot of other things.

"Misty..."

"What?!" She snapped, this time glaring fully at him, without holding anything back.

He swallowed hard and kneaded his fingers against his knees. "Do you think... that we'll be able to see my mom?" When her eyes met his, they softened right away, and she thumped her head on the train wall.

With a loud sigh she squeezed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose, gathering her thoughts. "No." She said suddenly. "If there _really is_ someone threatening her, then she's probably disowned you for a reason. It might be safer for her, _and you_ if we don't bother her for now." Misty said smoothly, and Ash nodded slowly before looking out the window at the passing trees. The train had been built straight through the forest, but allowed for the quickest route to Viridian City.

...Now that he knew all of these things about his mother though, he wasn't sure how he was supposed to stay calm. Would it have been too much to tell Cole to run? Ash her straight forward if something was going on—or was she constantly being watched? It made him sick to think that he had somehow gotten his mother tied up with all of this.

As if reading the thoughts on his face, Misty extended her left hand, and slapped him tightly on the knee, and gripped.

"It'll be fine, Ash." She assured him, making sure to make eye contact to deliver the message thoughtfully. "Don't over think it; what's the worst that could happen?" She asked, allowing her hand to slip away.

"Now, I'm going to sleep. Please stop waking me up every two seconds." Misty laughed pathetically, turning away from him and forcing her eyes closed. Where her hand had laid seconds ago burned, and Ash smiled meekly at her.

"Thanks, Mist."

"Shh!" She snapped causing his back to straighten in reaction, but then added with an honest, playful smile. "You're welcome."

 **XOXs**

It was too quiet without Misty. Pikachu took the chance to nap as well, and it was only during days like this did he realize that the energetic pokemon was indeed moving upward in age. He would never tell Ash, but he liked his naps, and his muscles ached in the morning, but Ash would only stroke his head—it's why the raven-haired man was leery of really letting pikachu battle. He wasn't sure he could see the pokemon fatally injured, even if pikachu was him trump card.

Togepi on the other hand, was a ball of energy, much like Ash, who spent its spare time trying to perfect it's coordination and balance, like Ash had trained it to early on. It practiced by jumping up and down from the seat of the train cart, as well as mastering the ability to move quickly, though its body all but prevented it from doing so. Ash spent the majority of the morning listening to Misty sleep quietly beside him, and watching togepi practice.

"You think you're going to be able to battle officially soon, togepi?" Ash joked, but the matter was no laughing matter to togepi, who poked his little arms side to side and chirped loudly. Ash grinned.

"That's the spirit." he said, returning the small bump of their limbs before he settled back once more.

If Misty was going to be at the league where would that leave him? Daisy already assumed he wouldn't be coming back to their house... Ash fished for the pendant Misty gave him, the cascade badge on the end of a necklace. She wore it almost every time he saw her, it was almost a trophy representing her title as the Cerulean City Gym leader... Maybe now that she rejected the title, it was too much of a burden to wear the necklace. Ash tucked it back into his shirt and exhaled silently. Silently, he watched the pokemon continue before rose to dig through his pack until he found the slightly torn and damaged package of the gift Agatha gave him months prior. He laughed at himself for putting it off so long, but felt at some core in his heart, there was a reason.

Everything happened for a reason—those were the words his mother used to tell him when he was young. While he removed the package, he flopped back down into his seat, and double checked to see that Misty was sleeping, and then slowly moved to fumble with the tissue paper inside. Once the initial package was opened, inside was a small, square box, and his eyebrows knit together.

Gnawing the tape off, he thumbed the lid from the small box to reveal the small variation of a purple pokeball, with two red circles over the purple.

"...what?" Ash asked, removing the ball to get a better look at it. There was no mistaking it. This was a master ball—but what on earth would Agatha think to give him a master ball for? He turned it over, examined all sides for some message, as well as the contents of the package, and then stared at the pokeball, recalling Agatha's words.

 _Don't open it in front of the girl_. She had said, but why? What was so important about a master ball? Misty had seen a million of them before—but only in shop windows. They were too expensive otherwise.

Curiously, he clicked the small button at the front, and the button grew white for a moment, and then returned to the normal, grayish tone it was originally. His mouth fell open, and he shook the pokeball, and then clicked the button again—it wouldn't even return to normal size!

"Bbbrrii?" The egg asked beside him, placing his nub arms onto Ash's pants, the trainer pointed the pokeball at togepi, who stared in awe for a short time, and then blinked its mutual confusion.

His next maneuver? Ash did what any person would do, he tried to bite it; only to hurt his tooth and start swearing. His muttered, hushed voices caused the former gym leaders ears to twitch and her eyes fluttered open slowly.

"Mmm, what's going on?" Misty gasped, turning over to see Ash quickly stuff the pokeball behind him, placing it among his other balls on his belt.

"Nothing." He snapped guiltily, and Misty saw the open packaging strewn about the train cart and her mouth gaped.

"Ash, you opened it!"

Ash scoot the packing onto the floor and blinked innocently at her. "Opened what?" He smiled and Misty all but growled while throwing her legs back over the seat to rip into him, but a tired, adorable yawn from pikachu reminded her that it was none of her business. Instead, she hit the service button again.

"I need coffee if I'm going to deal with you today." she rolled her eyes playfully.  
Ash frowned and folded his arms. "Gee, thanks."

 **XOXS**

They arrived in Viridian City a quarter after ten, much to Ash's glee. They still had almost two hours to adventure, and since Ash wasn't as sickly as he was his first time through, or driven by a strange sense of devotion to his pokemon, he took in the wonderful scents of the city, and exhaled.

"You have too much energy." Misty groaned beside him, flipping on her sun glasses. In much of the same fashion she always did when she exited the train, her hair was cut shorter than it had been when he first met her, and she wore a red, long sleeved shirt and yellow vest, matched with blue, jean shorts and a pair of sneakers. In just under a year, she looked so different. Ash on the other hand, hadn't changed much at all. He was still wearing his same gray-blue jeans and black tee-shirts, as well as blue light jackets. Unlike before, however, he thought they matched better.

Thoughts straying, he turned back at her with togepi and pikachu on his shoulders as they went to get their tickets stamped.

"You don't have enough energy. You're about to become an Elite Four member, show some more excitement."

No sooner than the words left Ash's mouth, did a basin of dirty looks ranging from the old and the young spring to life in their vicinity, and Misty hissed for him to be quiet as she pushed him to the exit of the station. They walked for a short time before Misty spoke to him again, she was stewing and upset that he would blab like that... then again, she supposed it wasn't _really_ a secret.

"Don't just say stuff like that." Misty sighed.

Ash frowned. "Why?"

"Because, people still don't like them, remember?" She said and Ash nodded slowly.

"I guess it slipped my mind."

"Anyways, since we're here, we should stop in to visit with Agatha before we see Cole." Misty suggested, noticing that with Ash at her side, and possibly the change of clothes, people looked at her much less than they had before. Requiring less bursts of anger. Ash fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Actually, that's a good idea."

 **XOXS**

Taxi fares were expensive in the city, and so they rode the bus to the route leading into the assisted living home. From there, they marched on, with Misty thanking heaven she spent the last two weeks building up her stamina once more, because Ash was walking her to death. The entire trail, he, pikachu, _and_ togepi stayed a moderate three to four steps a head of her, mirroring their first time walking from Viridian City to Pallet Town so many months ago.

"You must have an Olympian's legs or something at this point, Ash." Misty said breathlessly, earning a blush from Ash who shrugged off his anxiety and rolled his shoulders to the woman.

"What's wrong, Mist? Can't keep up." He grinned and her face darkened as she increased her pace. Ash did too, and what was once supposed to be a relaxing trip through the forest turned into a laughing, pointless rivalry.

When they arrived at the assisted living home, they were both sweaty from the summers heat, thirsty from their jog, and tired. Ash wheezed with his hands pressed against his knees, hunched over. Misty placed her hand on his back to keep herself standing, and pressed the other against her left knee. She could feel the sweat settle beneath her long sleeve shirt, and she was suddenly rethinking the sleeves. Her hair matted her neck and she stood up, putting her hands on her hips victoriously.

"See, no problem!" She breathed, and Ash raised his eyebrows at her quizzically.

"So we're walking back, right?" He nudged her on the side and she threw up her arms.

"Hell no, I am paying for a taxi!" She laughed, and stormed inside of the nice, cool facility. Ash and his pokemon followed after her, though both pokemon respectfully kept their space so he could cool down without the added body heat.

Misty waved to the administration offices at the front of the entrance, poked her head inside to earn a smile from the male administrator and they were both sent on their way.

"What happened to the blonde lady?" Ash asked, gesturing to his hair. Misty shrugged.

"They change administrators all the time. He's the one that's been here since I started visiting with Brock." Misty explained while turning the corner to the activities wing; steering clear of Dr. Abby's office, though Ash had other ideas.

"What about Dr. Abby?"

"Let's not worry about her today, okay?" Misty asked smoothly while approaching the nurses station. "Hey, I was wondering if Agatha was in today?" She asked the pudgy woman sitting at the desk. Her eyes turned from her paper work to the red head, and a light hit them.

"Oh, Misty! You're back again!" She practically reached over the counter to hug Misty, but the gym leader wasn't having it as she reeled backwards, complaining that it was 'too hot'.

"And who is this hunk? You always do bring the cute ones with you. I thought you were dating that... Brock fellow, was it?" The nurse cooed smacking her lips in a trollish way. Ash and Misty both raised their eyes, looked at each other and then looked back at the expectant nurse.

"Dorothy, this is Ash."

When the nurse looked back at the man, she adjusted her glasses once more in disbelief, her red lips parted in complete surprise and Ash rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"No way!" She then sunk to her desk and cursed to herself. "I just hit on one of my old patients...oh how the might have fallen." The woman cursed dramatically, and both Ash and Misty laughed in return.

"Man, what do you do to them? When he left he was just as scrawny as that old woman over there." The nurse hissed the last part quietly as to not get in trouble, and Ash's face fell into a scowl as he looked from the nurse to the woman she gestured to, and then to Misty who was chuckling. Misty tried to stifle her laugh with the backside of her hand, but Ash huffed in response.

"I didn't do anything, he went on some elaborate adventure for eight months." Misty pointed at him and leaned on the nurses station high counter. "Though, I can't see what everyone is saying. He still looks like a kid to me."

She eyed him unprofessionally, causing immediate discomfort from Ash who felt his stomach flop. He could hear it in her voice, she was teasing him with that impish snarl, but he crumbled under her gaze and snapped back to the nurse.

"Is Agatha here?"

The nurse's shared humor with Misty immediately fell and she clucked her tongue while flipping through a few of the most recent reports.

"No, she's out at bingo today. But I can take a message for you?" She asked with raised eyebrows. Ash sighed, and then glared at Misty.

"I'm just going to go, then. It was nice seeing you again Dorothy, thanks." Ash grumbled and turned and walked away from the duo, his face still bright red.

Misty snorted; "I think I hurt his feelings." She joked, and then turned back to the nurse. "Thanks anyways. It was nice seeing you." She offered before catching up to Ash. When they walked away, Dorothy licked her lips and looked down at her notes sullenly, seeing clearly that Agatha's check out form indicated that she was, indeed, at the facility.

For the sake of looking, they poked their heads around the corner to see that Dr. Abby was also checked out of her office and Misty hummed quietly, lost in her own thoughts as they returned to the road.

 **XOXs**

Their rendezvous with Cole was supposed to happen at the ice cream parlor across from his school. Neither felt comfortable asking to see Cole over the phone via Delia, and they didn't want Cole to get caught sneaking out—and _neither_ wanted the cops called on Ash again; so they went this route instead. The only downside was that pikachu could not see his family, because Cole wasn't allowed to bring his pokemon to school with him.

On the hot day, with the sun beading down on their backs, the trip sat happily at a small, yellow wicker table, and listened to the children play on the school grounds across from them. Cole didn't mind that he missed one lunch recess, he wouldn't see Ash very much; this was the best treat ever. Seeing his super hero.

His eyes lit up the very moment Ash arrived at the outside of the school. Misty went in to sign Cole out for lunch with a forged signature from Delia—so no questions would be asked, and then watched the two reunite for the first time. Even though Cole had no idea Ash was his brother, _not really_ , their connection was glaringly real.

"Wow, you really battled _two_ gyarados? Is this true, Misty? Did he?" Cole asked staring awestruck at Ash from across the table where his bowl of ice cream melted onto the table. They only had him for lunch, and then he was back to school.

Misty quirked her eyebrows at Ash and hummed while smacking her lips. "I dunno. 'tis the first time I'm hearing about it, too, kid." She grunted while glaring daggers at Ash.

Ash, pikachu, and togepi all laughed nervously, the later perched happily in Misty's lap while Cole looked at her angry face.

"...You... you're kind of scary sometimes, you know that?" Cole muttered in defense of Ash, and the older boy gestured to Cole with pleading eyes. Misty sat back.

"Scary? How am _I_ scary?" She gasped, insulted.

"You just have this look sometimes. It's the same one my mom has when she catches me sneaking into the fridge past midnight." Cole explained worriedly, and Ash nodded viciously and then smiled at Cole.

"You too? I used to do that when I was a kid." Ash laughed, and Cole grinned and put his thumbs up happily.

"We could be like brothers!"

A stoic silence enveloped the trio as they sat, but it was Misty who cleared her throat.

"So have you been able to practice anything that I showed you?" Misty asked as she dusted Cole's private school blazer off with her thumbs in a motherly fashion. Ash's eyes lingered on the gentle touch before Cole's excitement recaptured him.

"A whole bunch! Mama pikachu can use thunder now, and she's started teaching it to her pichus!" He looked specifically at Ash's pikachu from that point, and rubbed his ears. "She really does miss papa pikachu though. You've been gone for so long..." Cole hummed sadly.

Misty looked hopeful. "Well, maybe when this is all over you'll be able to visit more often."

"When what is all over?" Cole asked innocently, and Misty realized her error a moment to late. Ash leaned forward.

"Misty's going to be the new Elite Four member if Kanto and Johto regions. So if somethings going wrong, she's going to fix it."

Cole gasped, "Like zubat man?"

Ash snorted and alongside pikachu held his mouth to contain his laughter while Misty stomped his foot under the table with an enticing grin. Ash spent a majority of their time talking about battles, letting Cole use pikachu in battle at the small field beside the ice cream parlor, until the thirty minutes they had grew to a close at the ring of the final bell.

Cole, who had been smiling the entire time the duo visited, looked on sadly at his school, and then back to them. "Do you have to leave already?"

"Unfortunately." Misty murmured, though Ash found it difficult to speak.

"Why don't you guys come over later for supper? Mom can't be mad at Ash if you're with him, Misty." He grabbed her shorts, his lip quivering as he looped up at her with brown, doe-y eyes. Her lip quivered in response, and she squat to see him at eye level.

"Things are a little more complicated than that right now, Cole. I'm sorry." Misty hugged him, pat his auburn hair while he rubbed his eyes, trying his best no to tear up. Ash squat beside them both, hands on his knees.

"Cole, cheer up, we will see you again." He tried, but Cole burst away from Misty and shook his head. The bell rang once more.

"But not soon enough!" He hiccuped. "...why can't Ash come with you? You're married aren't you? Mom can't hate him if you're married."

"Married?!" Ash squealed, standing up and backing away from Misty, who laughed, though her face had turned equally as red as Ash's. "Misty, what the heck?"

"It's a long story." Misty waved Ash off and then turned Cole around, not falling for his cutesy tricks of crying. "Your mom told me Gary used to try to cry his way into getting what he wanted, too." She called his bluff, and Ash watched as Cole's tears and lip disappeared in a second, replaced by a cute scowl.

"Go back to school. We'll visit you again soon."

"Promise?" He smiled weakly, glancing at Ash and pikachu and togepi.

Ash nodded. "We promise."

Though, Ash pulled on his collar to try to clear his head from the nonsense he had just been graced with. Both togepi and pikachu rolled on the dirt, laughing while Misty stood and directed Cole back to the school yard. She stayed at the end of the street until he crossed the road safely, and re-entered the building. Only then, did she have the courage to look at Ash.

"Care to explain?"

"Oh, c'mon, we're a little married." Misty said uncouth as she pointed down the street to start their stroll back to the train station. "He made really valid points, and was completely convinced—I wasn't going to be the one to explain to him the difference between friends and couples. That is _not_ my jurisdiction, so I just went along with it."

"So what are you going to do when he tells that to my mother?"

"...scream?" Misty answered with a scrunch of her face. "I hadn't actually thought that far."

Then without a moments notice, she jogged ahead of him while scooping up togepi and whistling. Flabbergasted, he watched her for a time, and then shook his head; his brain finally clicking with her words.

"What do you mean _were_ a little married?!" He gasped, his face turning scarlet once more while she laughed loudly at his confusion.

Behind them, a cloaked figure pressed a quiet a microphone to their lips and hissed incoherently as they watched the duo race to the train station.

 **XOXs**

They arrived at the indigo plateau just in time to get checked into their hotel room, and dressed for the party. Misty was met with a fleet of media cameras when she entered the vicinity of the industrial stadiums and buildings, and was a little surprised to hear that Brock was not going to be meeting her until the party started. Ash was amazed at how different the plateau was compared to his dream; it was nearly void of all trees, with a large, stadium housed at the very center of what appeared to be huge city structures. Misty was lost when she entered, as it was her first time entering the city; so she was a little mad with Brock.

Leave it to Brock to change plans at the last minute.

When they arrived in their hotel room, Misty tossed her suitcase onto the bed and said that _she_ was going for a shower first. Ash took the liberty to claim the left bed from himself by drifting off to sleep for a few minutes before she walked back out in a blur of a white robe. Almost a year, and the rate at which she showered was strikingly nerve wrecking.

"Your turn. Be quick, the party starts at six." Ash looked to the alarm clock beside his bed, which read back to him 3:00pm, and he groaned.

"What's the rush?"

"Ash..." She started. " _Please._ " she said, instead of whatever angry threat she had muted, and he got up and obeyed.

Ash ran his hair under the water. It hadn't been cut since he returned, but he thought that if he tried to do it now, he might make it look worse, or unprofessional; both, as _Misty Waterflower's_ date, would have petrified to the woman. Instead, after he stepped out of the water, he combed it down so his spikes didn't poke in every direction. He caught a glimpse of the healing scar on the right side of his abdomen, and grimaced, praying that Misty never saw the injury. Before he could throw on his old clothes, Misty knocked on the door.

"Don't put on your old clothes." She directed in the nick of time. Ash grumbled, _that_ was his luck.

"Why not?"

"Well, are you decent?" She asked and Ash looked down at himself, and then covered with a towel before cracking the door. Steam hit Misty in the face and she shook her head before trying to pry the door open, but Ash caught it with his foot to keep it closed.

Misty stared at his brown eyes smacked her lips; "I thought you said you were decent."  
"That doesn't mean you can just walk in." He scowled while his face flushed. Flustered herself, she didn't see the problem as she held up a neatly wrapped package. Ash's mouth fell open realizing what he was looking at. It was a tailored, black suit, with a cerulean blue vest and tie.

"Then put this on." She muttered. "Do you know how?" She asked again, and he inhaled, reaching through the crack in the door to snatch the garment.

"I can figure it out." He said suddenly, glancing down at her to see that her face was no longer naked, she had on winged eyeliner, hints of deep eyeshadow that made her eyes pop, and cherry red lips. His heart screamed, and he _accidentally_ slammed the door in her face to separate her gaze from himself.

"Ow!" She snapped. "What the hell?!" She added while hobbling away to leave Ash to his devices. He shifted around the bathroom and hung the suit up on the hook behind the door while Misty shouted at him not to 'wrinkle it because it's a rental'. He grinned at that. _Of course_ it was.

 **XOXs**

Ash had never tied a tie before in his life, this only became glaringly obvious when he tried to knot the stupid blue one that Misty gave him. He managed to button the blouse, tuck the shirt, wrangle the vest, but the tie was killing him.

"Misty, I need help." He muttered pathetically with a furious pout while finagling with the long piece of clothing. He questioned what purpose they even served outside of being another obstacle in his life that he could not quite grasp.

Ash hadn't even looked at her when her heels clacked against the ground to indicate that she listening, as well as approaching. His eyes turned forward and his mouth fell open as she stuck out her thin fingers to begin the lassoing of his tie.

He _didn't_ mean to stare, it just sort of happened. She was gorgeous, but practical. Misty fancied herself the idea that all things pretty must also be rational, and her dress screamed that. It wasn't a tight squeeze like some party dress, or a fluffy, princess ball gown that Ash saw in the movies; but it was a simple cerulean blue short dress, cut right above her knees, with a sheer, flowing train curtained down her back to give the simple gown an elegant flow. It was adorned with decorative flowers at the seams where the bustle trailed at her waist, and she had a simple left strap on the heart shape top that brought the necklace Daisy gifted her alive. Against the heavy blues and red air, her eyes beamed bright and green and his chest tightened as if someone was reaching inside to strangle him. He stopped breathing for a beat.

He squawked, rather than making a real comment, because his brain hadn't quite caught up with his eyes, and he was staring at her pale skin while she flipped the last knot of his tie, and tucked it in close to his collar.

"There." she hummed, taking a step back so that Ash could see her clearly. While unintentional, it did nothing to shut his mouth until she folded her arms.  
"Pika, pikachuuuuu." The mouse commented while staring at his trainer, implying something that caught Ash by surprise. Gawking ended, he stormed over to the bed where pikachu was perched and rubbed the pokemon's scalp ferociously.

"What did he say?" Misty questioned while flipping around to finish her attire. She pulled on a sheer-white cardigan, and tucked her traditional silver cascade earrings in while looking back at Ash. When she twirled, he could see the black tights beneath her skirting; a faint reminder that while beautiful, she was still Misty.

"He was being cheeky." Ash mused, looking at her while she faced the mirror across the two beds to pull her hair into a carefully twisted french bun. "Mist... you look like a _girl._ " He mused, watching her face fall in her reflection.

"Ash Ketchum, that is _the second_ time you've told me that since we've known each other." She scolded, turning to face him with a bobby pin in her mouth. "Anymore and I'm going to start having identity issues."

He grinned at that and approached her once more, swiping at the strands of her red hair to brush out her work,causing her hair fell back into her face.

"If you include the time I said it in my dream, then that would technically already be three." He grinned, recalling the look from the faintest part of his memory where a scowling Misty looked at him with her short hair framing her face.

"Leave it down." he said nicely, and she quirked an eyebrow in response as her own eyes traveled to view his hair.

Once there, her face scrunched up cutely, realizing she had forgotten something important.

"I forgot to cut your hair." she leered and Ash felt a shiver run down his spine.

"That's okay."

"No, no." She breathed, and brushed against Ash to her bag. He didn't notice until she bumped him, but her hands were shaking. "I'll cut it before we go, so then I can _at least_ gel it, or something." she said while calmly reaching into her pack for a set of sheers.

Ash would have questioned why she was carrying them—but he assumed it was one of those girl things he would never understand.

She gestured for him to sit as she removed the sheets from the bed and wrapped them around him before beginning her cuts. Ash's face scrunched up, trying to see her in the reflection of the mirror.

"You're going to get hair on your dress." he said, realizing how sweaty his hands had become.

She scoffed, cutting the length of his ponytail off with one slice. "It's just a dress."

"Isn't it a rental, too?"

"No, actually." She breathed. "It's one of Lily's old ones."

"Wouldn't she be mad if you ruined it?" he laughed nervously, imagining the screaming match.

Misty smiled gently. "No, she gave it to me because she said blue was more of my color."

"I agree." The words escaped his mouth before he could stop them, and Misty grinned, though her face flushed.

"Do you?" She chuckled. "I always thought reds and yellows were a better match for me."

His mouth felt dry and his face heated up. "You look fine in whatever." he muttered, then realizing it sounded awkward, he quickly added; "I mean, _for you_."

"What's that supposed to mean?" She snapped with snarl undertone. Ash laughed nervously.

"N-nothing. Forget it." He said, watching pikachu face palm.

A pause.

"How are you so calm?" he blurted out suddenly, much to Misty's surprise. He fidgeted, thinking about all the weird questions that were thrown their way, the time they spent together, the _closeness_ , and how she remained so _natural—_ nonchalant. It was both rage, and craze invoking!

"Years of practice." she admitted, lost in thought as she wrapped herself into the nuisance nature of snipping his hair. "I mean, yeah, I feel stressed out; sometimes a little anxious and cranky, and I have good reason to be. I could very well be walking into a huge trap, infested by Team Rocket who may or may not be controlling everything—and even if they're not, I'm still accepting a huge political role that is life changing." She huffed and fumbled with a few strands of his hair.

Ash's lips pursed, hearing her confession made his skin crawl a little. "And on top of everything else, I have these weird..." She stopped, earning Ash's full attention as he turned around to face her. She looked stunned by her own thoughts before she placed the scissors on the night stand, and dusted her hands off.

"You're done." She said matter of face, smiling while removing the sheet from his person and balling it up before tossing it away to the hamper in the corner of the room. Ash stood up, dusting his white shirt, and vest off and blinked at her. Maybe _he_ wasn't the only one with weird feelings after all!

"Mis-" Feeling the intense nature of his voice, she raised her hand to interrupt him.

"I'm really glad you made it back when you did." Misty turned away from him as she spoke, missing his confidence deflate. "Life is really weird when you're not around. I've gotten so used to you being there." She laughed nervously, approaching him with his suit jacket and helping him into it while buttoning the front, and folding his collar in the right places.

"Sometimes I think that if you hadn't woken up, I wouldn't be standing here right now." her face scrunched up cutely, but her eyes couldn't reach his, so instead she focused in on his tie that she straightened for the second time, making sure he looked prim and proper. "So, thank you, for everything."

Ash's veins pulsed, threatening to rip right out of his flesh when her eyes met his. His mind raced briefly to the emotions he had felt prior to the last two weeks, and his throat tightened. Eyes moving from her eyes to her mouth, he went to speak, to move, but only a strangled sound emerged.

Breaking his thought, Misty jarred him forward and took his arm with a bright smile.

"Are you ready?" She asked chipper, her serious mood flipped.

"..." Ash stared at her, eyebrows knitting as he reminded himself of his duty to her that he would say and do nothing that might derail her thoughts and determination until _after_ the party, and then exhaled.

"No." He grinned while he dropped his hand into hers and squeezed. The movement elicited a blush that he barely noticed as he led her forward. "But if I wait until I'm ready, I never will be!" He repeated her words from when they were leaving the gym, and she grinned proudly.

 **Author's Note** :

This the last "pokeshipp-y" chapter for awhile. This will make some of my readers really happy, and my other readers a little depressed. XD; Sorry to both parties? It just sort of ended up that way, though it wasn't my intention at the start.

When I first started writing this, the whole ten days, ten months, thing after someones tenth birthday they start their journey (making Ash's birthday May 22) wasn't known (Or at least I didn't see it) So his birthday is still July 27th, just thought I would put that out there.

Sometimes I get a chapter that's just really hard to write, and this was one of them. -dies- Not everything I wanted was included, but -shrugs- it is what it is for now! I think it was just writing the mini time skip scenes to the party that was bogging me down.

They're _a little_ married, don't you think? (That's also a reference to a television show, anyone know it?) Bet you didn't think I was going to bring that back up. -shot-

Also, I imagine that 'pokemon' schools would be optional all year round. Just my thought. Haha.


	35. Chapter 35: It Begins

**Locked Away, Chapter 35**

Since pokemon outside of their pokeballs were not allowed to enter the party with their trainers, both togepi and pikachu opted to stay at the hotel, rather than being confined in their small metallic balls. Ash was sure when he and Misty returned, they would find a special kind of mayhem. Luckily, Misty came prepared and brought a few trainer magazines and videos for the pokemon to watch while they were away. Apparently, she knew before Ash did that the two would not be joining them. Another difference from his world and this one. Pokemon were displayed as cute creatures of great joy and affection, while in this world, they were treated almost like _weapons_. They should be used, not seen or heard.

When they arrived outside of the party, it was a quarter after six; Misty stated that they were _fashionably late_ after walking through the indigo plateau and introducing Ash to all of the changes. They were able to see the fountains, the grand tournament stadium, which made the stadium in his dreams look like a joke. To even step food on the indigo plateau was a big deal, and Ash felt like royalty when he saw young fans running around asking for autographs. Misty was still relatively unknown, but save for Bruno, Lorelei and Lance, there was no lack of fan girls.

The Elite Four were a group of political figures housed in the largest building on the plateau, where they shared the space with the Kanto Champion, who hadn't changed in the last sixteen years; an impressive feat for any trainer. Anyone that battled him failed, even if they defeated the Elite Four; however, over the last ten years, he had only made two public appearance, and otherwise, remained in the shadows.

Ash wondered how people could follow the example of a leader that never shows his face, but discovered quickly, that was the most likely problem to begin with. The Elite Four was a corrupt band of misfits, and the champion never showed his face.

Outside of feeling like a second class citizen, Ash was overwhelmed by the abundance of people dressed in nice clothing, high heels, and floral designs. He deduced that so many different fragrances would cause the next great pokemon war, or something. He tried to plug his nose without looking strange, but Misty swat his hand down.

"You'll be fine." She hissed, but Ash wasn't so sure. He spent months walking outside, taking in the scent of _fresh, clean_ air, now that his senses were being muted by the harrowing depth of perfume, he wanted to gag himself.

"Mist, have I ever told you how glad I am that you don't smell like a girl?"

The glare she gave him was unsuited for the party, but he felt no fault in his words when he looked at her with innocent brown eyes. Her fist found perch on his shoulder, but did not strike him.

"Just hold your breath until you pass out." She croaked bitterly, to which Ash laughed.

Walking into the gala where the _real_ event was being held was like stepping into a new world entirely. Colorful streamers danced across a pitched ceiling with large, white orbs floating in the sky took Ash's breath away. Traditional lights hung from every corner, streaming down pillars on each side of the party. On the far right side, a huge buffet was on display with servers dressed in traditional white suit shirts and black slacks; a little further back from that was the seating arrangement that covered the whole deck beyond the railing, but in the center of the room was a lowered floor with stairs, where trainers of all social class gathered to talk, or dance. Classical music placed in the distance, but Ash could not see from which direction. Directly ahead of them was a line of black curtains closed over a huge stage, where the announcements would be made later that night.

The lights were dimmed just enough to take away the professional, stuffy feeling of a typical gathering, but the area was just bright enough to _scream_ formal party—it looked like the formal dances that Ash had seen in movies, but without the blasting music and tacky hair.

"I thought this was going to be more like an office gathering." He admit cheekily, his arm still wrapped around hers and his mouth agape like a magikarp.

"I did say _party_ , Ash." She grinned.

Nudging him as she dragged him forward and down the steps, Ash whined under his breath, staring at the buffet tables line with an assortment of dishes. He knew that if pikachu was with him, that would be _their_ first stop. However, Misty didn't seem as determined to eat because she pulled him directly through the crowd of people. Her line of sight was set on a tall figure lumbering at the corner of the party with a drink in his hand, but Ash had barely noticed before he was engulfed in the wave of bodies.

After tossing a few 'excuse me' and 'sorry's out to the general people Misty accidentally caused Ash to bump into, they came to a reeling stop at the corner of the party, where Ash's eyes met with the squinted ones of a man who was once a long-lost friend.

"So _this_ is where you were? Weren't you supposed to meet us _at_ the train station?" Misty hissed without warning, releasing Ash from her intense grip. The man's playful eyes brightened at her accusation while he wiggled an eyebrow.

"You made it, Misty!" Brock exclaimed, moving forward to capture the redhead in a short embrace, Ash immediately wanted to place himself between the two, thinking for a moment Misty might have let go too quickly. Inwardly, he had to remind himself that it was _just_ Brock, as the older man veered his head to look at Ash.

"And you brought Ash." Brock backed away, staring at the couple, taking a mental note of their matching attires and then grinning. "I thought you said he was out of town?"

Misty scratched her neck, and flicked her hand through her hair anxiously, her earrings rattled against her neck while she sighed.

"He wasn't supposed to be, but he sort of just showed up."

"So you dragged him along?" His eyebrow wiggling once more, a grin flashed on his lips that filled Ash's chest with dread.

"Why wouldn't I?" Misty questioned Brock's motives with a raised eyebrow.

Graciously, Brock held up his hands and backed away, and Ash almost laughed, recalling the similarities to their lost friendship already.

"How have you been Brock?" Ash asked suddenly, jarring the conversation into another direction. The sound of people talking almost distorted Ash's hearing when Brock smiled to the young man.

"Well, I've been doing well—the same ol' same ol'. Just been trying to pick up women from a higher class. It's difficult...but you would know all about that wouldn't you?" Brock mumbled, placing his thumb and index finger against his chin while glancing over to the redhead. Ash followed his gaze and pursed his lips while Misty sighed loudly and rubbed her temple.

"You know, this is why we had to start having our meetings in the nursing home, so you would stop looking at every female that walked by!" Misty hissed quietly in a tone that made Ash laugh loudly.

"I'm glad that you two are getting along." Ash said earnestly, getting a strange look from the gym leaders. For a moment, they almost forgot that in Ash's mind, _they were always_ good friends. Misty smiled awkwardly at Brock, who returned the gesture with a scratch of his neck.

"Well, she didn't call me crazy after my theories, so I figured I could give the crazy coma-patient a chance." Brock said quickly while crossing his arms.

For a moment, he looked Ash up and down, taking in the differences from the boy that walked into his gym demanding a battle, to the man that stood before him now. "But I guess the real question is how have you been?"

"I've been good, but it's been a long last few months!" Ash laughed in response while Misty's gaze fell over to the three people watching her from the railing above the social floor.

Brock and Ash chattered beside her, engulfed in a conversation about traveling, and pokemon while she matched the glare from Lorelei, Bruno, and Lance. They stood at the top railing over looking the guests of the party, technically, where she was supposed to be standing. Their faces turned almost sour as they observed Misty associate with a _nobody_ and a gym leader. Since she would the newest reigning Elite Four member, replacing the temporary they had for the last few years, they didn't seem to have the highest opinion of her. In the end, the Elite Four was nothing more than a power-house clique. Misty snarled, and looked away with a definite eye roll at their behavior. She at least hoped they would be different in person than they were on television, but their pompous nature was no different. _What a surprise_.

Catching her drifting gaze, Ash turned to her.

"What's up?" He asked over the noise of crowd, Misty tore her icy gaze away from the floor, and offered a smile.

"The other Elite Four members were staring." She said modestly, causing both Brock and Ash to look in her former direction, where once the _nobodies_ looked at them, they turned away. For once, Misty understood the genuine complaints people, trainers, battlers, coordinators, had about the group. Only, she hoped _she_ wouldn't be roped along with them.

Ash raised his eyebrows at her questioning her words. Catching his confusion, she squeezed both of the trainers into a tight circle so others wouldn't eavesdrop.

"They're kind of snobby." Misty explained. "I've only had the chance to talk with them in person _a few times_ since obtaining the nomination and the few times I did they wouldn't give me the time of day. It's no wonder Agatha said she hated it here."

Brock nodded. "Remember how nice they used to seem on television? I wonder what happened to that. Now it's like they _want_ to be seen as assholes. They've been glowering through the party since I've been here. They won't even talk with gym leaders or top trainers."

As he spoke, he pointed forward, across the gathering floor to the elegantly dressed blue-haired girl who stood along side other top coordinators—one of them Ash noticed right away was Drew, and the other was the pink-haired vixen, Ursula. Ash's lips pursed uncomfortably as he watched the clique swing around the party, speaking with several different trainers and guests—at that moment, he recognized that Paul sat at a table a few feet away from Dawn, followed by a slew of guests he had come to recognize—Gary stood amongst older men, who Ash could only assume were other pokemon researchers, he recognized right away other gym leaders from across Kanto _and_ the Johto region talking amongst their own friend groups. If his mind wasn't playing tricks on him, he believed he saw Trip, and Barry, and possibly even Ritchie. His breath hitched.

"Where are there so many people here?" He gasped, leaning in to whisper in Misty's ear urgently, as if he didn't want Brock to hear him.

The latter pursed his lips and folded his arms. "Why? Are you seeing people you _know_?" Brock asked, a mocking grin touching his lips. Ash glared.

"Uhh, sort of." Ash fidgeted. "Like you, no one else remembers me, either. I just didn't think _so_ many would be here." he offered in reply, looking up at Lt. Surge who was coaching a girl who Ash could only assume was a high-ranked trainer.

"Everyone here is in the top-tier of whatever field they're in." Misty pointed back to Dawn discreetly, then to each group Ash spied. "The coordinators, the researchers, the gym leaders, the elite trainers, and then..." She gestured to the upper floor railing where a group of trainers were gathered amongst the Kanto Elite Four.

"The Elite Four and champions." she finished, looking back at Ash. "It's just a big ego fest here. People come to drink, gossip, and mostly-" She grinned at Brock, who had turned his attention to a girl spinning on the dance floor. "Have an excuse to dress up."

"...What about the announcements?"  
"That's the least important part of a league party, unfortunately. People come to these parties to see the competition; not to celebrate other peoples victories." Hearing Misty's explanation, Brock returned his attention to the group and nodded.

"That's why I tried to avoid them as long as possible." Brock elaborated but Misty scoffed.

"Please, you use them as an excuse to look at pretty women."

Brock opened his mouth, and then closed it; he couldn't deny it. He pointed past Misty and Ash, and smiled charmingly to a girl with long black hair who winked _at_ him, or so he thought.

"That's also partially, true; anyways, duty calls!" He flaunted, leaving Ash and Misty.

The latter looked horrified that her safety net bailed on her, and for the second time that day, she thanked the heavens that Ash actually arrived back in Cerulean City with time to prepare—otherwise, she would be standing alone, or _worse_ forced to sit with the _other_ Elite Four.

Ash's attention was drawn elsewhere, to the purple haired man sitting at the table near the buffet, where a small blonde man who Ash recognized as Barry rattled off a distant conversation into his ear.

"Why isn't Paul with the rest of the Elite Four?" Ash mumbled, eyebrows narrowing suspiciously.

"To be honest, I have no idea. Paul is an odd one." Ash pointed at her after her reasoning.

"And why aren't you?" Her face flushed, agitated by his question.

" _Clearly,_ I have a good reason not to be seen with _assholes_ like that." She tried to mask the venom, possibly the humiliation, but Ash snorted and waved his hand at her knowingly.

"But don't you know _anyone_ else here? What about the gym leaders? You ran through a whole bunch of people." He gestured to them. Misty shuddered and cocked her jaw to one side.

"I...know _of_ them." She offered, swearing at Brock. Ash's eyebrows rose.

"Misty, are you _shy?_ " He asked humorless, covering his mouth with his fingers to hide the mischievous smirk.

Her mouth opened, prepared to deny such a ludicrous accusation, but the way her eyes darted around, and her face blushed he knew he called her on her bluff easily.

"I'm not _shy_." She hissed quietly. "I just don't get out very often! I'm very busy." She offered, but a strange humor radiated in Ash's eyes.

"I thought it was a bit strange that no one recognized you when you walked in—but" he pointed to the door, where Sabrina entered and the few publishers and fans who were welcomed into the part bellowed in elation, unlike when Misty walked in. "It makes sense now."

"Well, thanks. Are you going to insult my popularity now?" Her eyebrow twitched and a cold chill ran down his spin. "You know," she hissed her defense, turning at him and wagging her finger. "I happen to _well known_ , just not in _this_ prestigious group of people!"

For a switch, he thought he would ask her if that's why it was so difficult to procure a seat in the Elite Four. She defended herself hotly in regards to her social class while he tilted his head at her. Her battling was considered top-notch, but her social ranking was below that of normal gym leaders—much like Brock. While she knew a _retired_ Elite Four member like Agatha—she didn't make a habit of speaking of her _other_ influential people. His face scrunched up at the thought. Maybe she _didn't_ have other friends?

Why would such an idea bother him now though? He knew that she never placed emphasis on socialization, but only now did it seem so.. _lonely_.

"So you really _are_ friends!" The sharp, elated voice cut through the party atmosphere, reaching Misty and Ash with a whip.

Dawn marched down the set of stairs, separated from her group. She wore a pink, frilly dress, and red heels. Her hair was pulled up into an elegant bun on top of her head, and her bangs were brushed neatly to one side; as opposed to Misty's flat hair. Dawn _looked_ like a princess, the bearer of a strong title, but Misty in comparison looked like _she_ felt; less than.

"I didn't want to believe it until I actually saw it—but Ms. Waterflower _truly_ brought Mr. no-name with her to one of the greatest parties of the year?" She mocked playfully, earning a look of complete hatred from the redhead, and an innocent blink from Ash.

"Mr. no-name?" He echoed, knowing well that he had given Dawn his name as Misty seethed and stomped the heel of her shoe into the tile.

"Good to know you're still as bourgeois as always, _Matthews_." Misty scoffed, trying not to grit her teeth. Dawn flashed her a knowing smile in return.

" _Oh_ , you flatter me." Dawn swooned, fanning herself playfully. "I thought as the newest Elite Four member you would surely be sitting with your companions on the upper-floor?"  
Watching the exchange was a bit like witnessing a lioness rip into a fawn, only this time, the fawn was Misty. It was a bit nerve wracking—and the exchange only lasted a brief second before Misty recuperated and inhaled calmly. Ash blinked, and she was normal again.

"It's good to see you, Dawn. I hope your flight went well." Misty murmured, though Ash could see the great amount of self-control such a phrase took the redhead to mutter. He stepped in and waved lightly to ease the tension.

"It's been awhile Dawn, how have you been?" his voice was friendly, but the coy Dawn only folded her arms beneath her halter top, and smacked her lips.

"Y _ou_ , Ketchum. You are in a world of trouble." She hissed in a low town, cocking one eyebrow. "What _were_ you doing at that pound? Because of _you_ regulations are three times as harsh!"

In a trained reply, Ash felt sweat pour down the back of his neck. "I have no idea what you mean." He stammered in a flat, yet nervous tone. Misty rolled her eyes beside him.

"Relax, she knows, Ash. So does the one with green hair; Drew, was it?" Misty gestured to Drew, who upon being mentioned seemed to look around, but then returned to his conversation. Ash followed Misty's hand, and then fell back onto Dawn's crystal blue eyes, she smiled at him.

"I...I uh, wasn't thinking." Ash explained, and Dawn silenced a huff.

" _Clearly_." She scolded, but then as a light switch, her mood turned bubbly once more. "Anyways, I'm glad to see you haven't let the title go to your head yet." Dawn clarified, offering a brief smile.

From across the room, Gary had spotted the trio and started his way through the crowd while Dawn put her fists on her hips. Ash caught a glimpse of the auburn haired pokemon professor, and inhaled, straightening his back and suit.

"Why would I? We had a deal after all." Misty elaborated. "I intend to keep it-"

"Misty, Ash, you both made it!" Gary spoke loudly, his face masking the pure boredom he was being pressed with in the former conversation between old men.

Ash noticed right away the look of discomfort in his eyes, but noticed from an agitated Misty that he couldn't have interrupted at a worse time. This would be the first time that he, Dawn, and Misty would be able to talk as a group—if they could find Brock—Ash skimmed the crowd, seeing him no where—they could finally all catch up on the plan they hatched.

"Yeah we did." Misty hummed happily, thankful for Gary's arrival. "Where's Leaf?"

"Wow Misty, you know the Kanto professor?" Dawn asked, eyebrows raised. Gary looked at Dawn, his eyebrows drawing to a tight knit in an attempt to recall who she was, but when the thought never came, he looked to Misty for support.

"This is Dawn Matthews, top coordinator and spokes person of the Sinnoh region pokemon league."

Dawn gasped. "That's so formal, thank you." She hissed dramatically and then grinned. "It's nice to meet you, Gary Oak, right?"

"That's right. It's nice to meet you, too" Gary responded, shaking her hand that she extended. He then looked to Misty and pursed his lips. "Leaf is back at the lab baby sitting two strangers that Ash sent to me from Hoenn."

Chills ran down Ash's back while his mouth twitched. All eyes were on him. "So you accepted Max then?"

"He's really bright, too—it's the girl that is hard to handle. Do you know how much she _eats_?"  
Ash laughed loudly, recalling the brunettes particular appetite. "Unfortunately. She rivals my appetite."

"Oh lord." Misty rolled her eyes with a huff. "Now, I know work is stressful, Gary, but to imagine someone with a bigger appetite than Ash, you must be going crazy." Misty muttered stubbornly, feeling her mouth twitch. Ash glared in response while Dawn and Gary chuckled.

"She's not imaginary—her name is May Maple, and she's driving Leaf crazy."

Dawn found herself radiant while watching the trios interactions.

"Didn't May Maple have a stint in contests at the Hoenn league some years ago? Her name sounded like a pun, that's why I could never forget." the blue haired female asked while pressing her fingers together happily

"No worse than Waterflower." Misty hummed playfully, earning some laughter.

"Contests or not—she's a ranger now, and a royal pain in my ass." Gary moaned, though in a mock tone.

Dawn gasped. "A ranger? I didn't know Hoenn was still allowing pokemon rangers."

Gary shrugged. "They're one of the few regions that still require them to prevent poaching."

"If you'd ask me rangers should be reinstated here in Kanto and Johto, too." Misty hummed leaning on one foot while Dawn smacked her on the shoulder.

"Then it's a good thing you're getting into politics, huh?" She wiggled her eyebrows at the redhead while Misty rubbed her arm where Dawn playfully pushed her.

"Hey, while I have the three of you-" She glanced over her shoulder at Brock, who had reappeared, rubbing his face where he had been prematurely slapped. "..the _four_ of you...Let me introduce you to some of my friends!"

Without warning, she jerked Misty and Ash forward, with Brock and Gary in tow—both avoiding their gym leader and researcher cliques, and followed after the social butterfly, Dawn, and into the vipers nest of social obligations.

 **XOXS**

Ash was never _the best_ with people. He prided himself on pokemon knowledge and adventures—but after talking with Gary, a well rounded pokemon researcher and professor; Brock, a self-proclaimed pokemon breeder with an insanely vast knowledge in pokemon medicines; Dawn, a top coordinator and self-proclaimed leader of coordinator safe haven, Sinnoh; and finally Misty, soon to be a Kanto Elite Four, noted as a ' _water pokemon master'_ and former Cerulean City gym leader with a great knowledge of politics and the ever-changing regulations of the league, Ash felt rather insignificant. Even after spending ten years in a coma, traveling across six regions and catching over forty different types of pokemon and meeting thousands of different people, Ash didn't even _touch_ on the subjects they were juggling with little ease.

Over the course of the night, he watched asocial Misty turn into a socialization queen along side Dawn and Gary. Brock was still only speaking when spoken too, but the _serious_ version of himself that he stumbled across at the start of the gym weighed in heavy during the conversation about politics, pokemon, and field research.

Meanwhile, Ash was lucky if he could find a word in edgewise. For the first time in _years_ , though he hadn't been awake for most of those—he felt painfully _normal_. Underclass.

Here were these four people before him, pressing for a new world _much_ longer than him, introducing themselves to many different people and trainers—some that Ash _knew_ , a few that Ash had battled himself, and even more than that—people that at _one point_ during Ash's dreams, admired _him_. Ash knew this would be the case after he met Brock, but he never expected it to make him feel so empty inside. For the first time since they arrived that night, Ash yearned to have pikachu and togepi at his side—for while they were pokemon, and they were small, they were still his companions that he knew and recognized. Pikachu remembered everything from his dreams, and all togepi knew _was_ Ash—they were his support line when he was struggling.

Everyone he knew in his dreams were _damn near_ professional, except for him—he was the coma-patient, the guy with weird dreams—no standing knowledge of the world that seemed beneficial to carry into a normal conversation, and no title to flaunt to seem important.

Sure, he was being selfish, _he knew that much_ , having remorse for something out of his control, being _jealous_ of other peoples hard earned titles was childish—but he couldn't help it. For once, he didn't feel like he was much at all standing around all these enamored people—just a kid who nearly died in the ocean trying to find his pokemon.

Disoriented, and _possibly_ a little tipsy from whatever was in the cider, he rose to his feet from the railing where he was leaning, and politely excused himself. Before he managed a step around the bend, slender fingers grasped his forearm and reeled him around.

"Where are you going?" Misty mused quietly, blinking wide, sea-green eyes at him. He stared back, a little embarrassed, and found the truth wouldn't emerge.

"Just to the washroom." he replied quickly.

She released him a moment later, framing a sharp 'oh' with her lips and smiling. "Well don't take too long, announcements will start in a few minutes."

His escape was framed by the sound of strong wooden doors cutting out the chatter of the party. The hallway was silent when he stepped out and exhaled to hang his head. All he needed was some air, a few minutes of silence to collect his thoughts away from the prestigious background noise. While the Elite Four and champions might have been _the_ top tier, everyone else was no laughing matter, either.

Ash rubbed the back of his neck and walked forward, pulling on his tie to loosen the cloth. His companions were friendly, they didn't gloat or _anything_ , they just _knew so much more_ than he did and he felt inadequate. Habitually, he ruffled his hair, but then swore right after, remembering that Misty had gelled it before they left, and then quietly tried to pat it back down, using the reflection of the kitchen doors to see himself.

Inside, he could see what he thought was lavender and maroon hair working under large chef hats and swearing at each other. Naturally, he extended his hand to open the door, but another one stopped him in his tracks, landing on the door frame beside him, startled, Ash jumped.

"What was your name again?" Cold, onyx eyes stared down at Ash, and the young man realized them automatically.

"Ash Ketchum." He replied smoothly, taking a few steps back and straightening his suit jacket. "What do _you want_ Paul?"

"What's a nobody like you with a group of people like that?" Paul asked, eyes narrowed dangerously. Ash stood his ground.

"Why do you even care? What's your deal, anyways?" Ash snapped, taking partial of his frustration out on the purple haired man.

"I know if you get in my way, I _will_ end you." Paul warned without skipping a beat.

Using only the base of his fingers, he roughly pushed Ash against the opposite wall and strolled past the man. Ash coughed, and rolled his shoulders, amazed by the strength Paul had behind one shove and rubbed his chest where his fingers had prodded.

"Yeah, same to you, jerk." Ash muttered under his breath but Paul had already left through the side doors. Ash took the time to tug on his collar and march forward back into the kitchen, but when the doors were pressed open—it was empty.

Blinking several times, he sighed. "Maybe I imagined it." Ash said, recalling the trio he believed were nothing more than a nuisance in his dream: Jessie, James, and Meowth. The last he heard of them they were off the grid somewhere, master thieves, leaders of their own diabolical schemes in Team Rocket—far from the goofy mess-ups who were obsessed with pikachu. Still, they _did_ have a way of making Ash feel important.

Sighing quietly to himself, he found his way back into the hall, and kicked his feet against the rug while wandering, lost in his own thoughts. Maybe after all of this, he could rejoin the official Kanto league? After all, he did _technically_ have the cascade badge already and with his currentl team it wouldn't be _insanely_ difficult to take on all the gym leaders. Maybe that would finally give him some sense of worth outside of having strange dreams.

From the distance, Ash heard a strange string of static echo through the hall, and his nose scrunched up, trying to listen for the voice—it almost sounded like a strangled voice on a radio. Carefully, he listened until the ping of static tore through the hallway once more, and then in his nice dress shoes, he jogged to the bend in the hall to dip his head over.

It was black, pure darkness in the otherwise bright hallway. He could see the pitch of the roof had windows in it where the stars peeked down at them, but without the sun, the hallway was crest in blackness. Now, Ash was an adventurer at heart, but if traveling for months taught him anything, walking into a dark cave—or in this case, building, without a light, was the same as playing chicken with local traffic.

Glancing around himself to make sure no one was around, he fumbled through his belt for chimchar's pokeball, and then released the pokemon quietly.

"Mmmmm~" The ape yawned, stretching from the pokeball, Ash squat and then shushed him quickly, knowing well that pokemon weren't supposed to be out of their balls—which was strange, this _was_ a league party celebrating pokemon trainers. But, he supposed it would be chaotic if everyone had their pokemon out.

"I just need you to light this place up for me."Ash asked kindly, rubbing the monkey's head. The pokemon nodded, and then the fire on his tail burned a bit bright, casting light into the hallway.

"Thanks." Ash hummed happily, walking side by side. Nothing was out of the ordinary, a few doors here and there, but nothing _strange_. Maybe the lights just went out for this specific corridor? Ash rubbed his nose tiredly, believing that he was trying to make nothing into something just to distract himself from his own discomfort in the party. He never thought he would be so bothered, but here he was.

"Yes, do you have everything set up?" A familiar voice cut through the darkness, and Ash held his finger up to chimchar for the monkey to cut out the light. He jumped from the floor and into Ash's arms while the trainer pressed himself close to the wall, and tread near until he could see the faint light at the end of the tunnel.

Ash knew that voice well, it was the same voice that plagued his time at the hospital with a sour grip on reality and pessimistic outlook of the world. When Ash turned to see the figure lite up thanks to the open curtain, his breath stilled—Dr. Sebastian! What was _he_ doing here?

Ash held his breath, keeping his ears open and head down low so he wouldn't be seen. From beyond the curtain, Ash couldn't hear the person the therapist was speaking with, but the goatee, glasses wearing fraud was all too unmistakable, more than that, Ash recalled the black curtains from the party—the stage where the announcements would be made, and titles would be properly addressed.

"I want to be sure that _nothing_ goes wrong. We need for tonight to go _exactly_ as we planned."

Looking down at chimchar, who gazed at Ash with worried eyes, Ash's throat fell into his stomach when he gulped—what _plan_?

Fight or flight coursed through Ash's veins while his senses honed in on listening to what could be happening behind the curtain—he couldn't know without seeing it for himself, but it sounded like machines and people. At first glance, he noticed the man Sebastian was speaking to was dressed in an all-black attire, and inhaled sharply. Ash wasn't an expert—but he knew was Team Rocket garb looked like!

Easily, Ash could throw out greninja and snorlax, break up _whatever_ plan they were hatching—or _ruin_ the entire night for all of the guests, and _likely_ since Misty brought him, it would reflect negatively on her. More than that, it was a safety issue; if Ash started swinging, guns ready to fire, that could put the whole party at risk. Forcing his adrenaline and instincts to the farthest part of his mind, he shifted back around the corner of the corridor, and then started back the direction he came—only, on his way out, he bumped a table, or _something_ and knocked it over-breakable, and glass and _damn it_.

"Did you hear that?" an unfamiliar voice called over to where Ash was standing previously, and Ash threw caution to the wind, and started barreling down the hallway back to the party. Once he hit the lighted area, he darted past the kitchen doors, and through the double frame without a single breath or heart beat. He didn't _slam_ them behind him, but he did lean against them breathlessly once he reached the safety of the bustling party.

He thought that no one noticed him, all eyes were on the stage where Gary was standing, accepting an award and medal for being the youngest professor in years to take over for Kanto, when Misty's strong grip reeled him away from the door. Naturally, he panicked and instinct launched him to defend himself. With a stoney grip, he jarred her grasp from his shoulder and heard a brief, strangled yelp. Meeting her eyes, he released her hand and had luckily stopped short of pushing her over.

"What's wrong with you?" She hissed quietly, rubbing her hand where he grabbed her. He held up his hand in apology and pointed to the door.

"Sorry." He muttered weakly, but she took a step away from him when he pressed near. Dawn glanced at the two of them and along side Brock held a questioning gaze but Misty managed to wave them off with a practiced smile and then pointed back at Gary who was rambling some short 'thank you' speech.

For the first time since he arrived, Ash took a _good_ look at the party guards—how this many people, _professionals_ from all around the world were kept safe, and saw the tell-tale signs of men in black surrounding them. Carefully, he side stepped towards Misty and softly draped and arm around her shoulders and leaned in to whisper the way a lawyer might. The redhead looked briefly at his hand that rest on her shoulder, and then titled her head to listen to him. At first, she wanted to give him a piece of her mind for lashing out—his grip _hurt!_ But instead, her face still radiated a proud smile for Gary, and she pretended to pay attention, though, her attention lied on Ash's breath against her neck.

"Do your parties usually have men in black stationed at every door?" Ash asked quietly, causing Misty's eyes to break away from the stage and glance around to see the men Ash was referring.

"They're security guards?" Misty explained quietly behind her smile.

"What about Dr. Sebastian talking to someone just beyond that curtain?"

Misty's face fell. "...Sebastian?" She muttered, blinking twice. "What would he be doing here?"

She spared Ash a glance, looking for communication error or a lie in his eyes, but when they reflected the truth and genuine concern, her eyebrows knit together and she shrugged her response.

"What do you think is going on?"

"I don't know." Ash said, "but it seems fishy."

"Do you think they're hatching a plan here?"  
"Maybe? Did you bring any of your pokemon?"

Misty inhaled, drifting from listening to the announcements and presentation to her conversation with Ash.

"All of them—why?"

"Maybe they're planning a heist?"

Alarms went off in her head. It would make perfect sense! There were hundreds of strong pokemon trainers who would be none expecting of terrible intentions. Before a reply escaped her lips, her name was called to the stage, and Ash's arm jumped away from her skin, leaving goosebumps in their wake.

She shared a worried glance with Ash before forcing a smile back to her lips, looking up at the upper balcony where the other Elite Four members who were missing from the top floor, and made her way to the front of the stage. Meanwhile, Ash dipped and dodged around a few seats to stand beside Brock. Once there, he poked the man in the arm and Brock leaned over to listen, but his attention was modestly on Misty.

"What's up?" Brock whispered and Ash pointed to the men around the room.

"We think something is wrong here." Ash explained for lack of better words while Misty presented her best smile, and was handed a medal with her name on it.

"The woman of the hour—to be honest-the reason we probably all came out here tonight—the newest Kanto Elite Four member: Misty Waterflower of Cerulean City." The man said, clapping happily.

Cheers erupted from the crowd, and she waved awkwardly at them while the man introduced her to the crowd, listing off her credentials and battle records; as well as personal feats such as 'saving' route twenty five. Meanwhile, Misty spotted Ash speaking with Brock, both eyes on her before she used the opportunity standing at the highest point in the room to gaze into the crowd. It was mostly dark, and the mesh of different colored hairs and colorful dresses made the guards posted around the room only more obvious. She inhaled silently, counting backwards in her mind while trying to spot something substantially strange—anything.

What she _did see_ when she turned to the announcer to pose for a brief picture, and accept her certificate, was the gleaming, beady eyes of Sebastian standing beside the curtains, just like Ash had said—but when he realized he had been seen, he ducked backwards.

Misty's heart raced in her head.

"Do you have anything you would like to say?"  
"Uhh." Misty started, seeing a few guards break away suddenly, opening doors simultaneously and leaving, while others held radios to their lip that were concealed in their sleeves. The announcer left the microphone at her lips, and she felt a cold shudder run down her spine. More specifically, she saw two figures at the back of the room unmask themselves—one with bold, lavender hair, and another with long, snake-like maroon hair and the words left her body before her brain could tell her otherwise.

 _"Team Rocket's in the building."_

 **Author's Note:**

400 reviews, whaaaaaaaaaat. Thank you guys. -heart- I don't always get back to reviews because I'm trying to keep my updates steady, but I always read what you all write and appreciate the effort you take into writing something and providing feedback, even if it's only a couple of words :)! I will hopefully be getting back to reviews within the next few chapters—I'll let you know when! Until then, leave me lots of questions! If I haven't already mucked up the plot enough!

Thanks to everyone who favorites and follows this story as well, I hope you're all enjoying it.

...So, have you ever gone to a formal event and compared to everyone else in attendance felt insanely inadequate? Ash has always been a very headstrong person in his dreams, somehow everything always lands him in the center of attention—but, he sort of realized since he has been back, he has -not- been; which was the feeling he mustered at the party. Just kind of felt like it was something I wanted to touch on, plus it was a segway to get him out of the party for a time frame so he could go crashing plans like he does so well! XD


	36. Chapter 36: Questioning

**Locked Away, Chapter 36**

 _"Team Rocket's in the building."_

Misty's voice was passive, barely audible. Had it not been for the microphone, it might not have even echoed beyond a breath. She didn't believe the words when they came from her mouth, let alone when each face in the crowd began to whisper in panic, looking to each other with expressions of fear. For a brief moment, her eyes left the duo of bold hair colors at the door, and blinked to Ash then back to the door. Progressively, his eyes followed her gaze, meeting for a single moment, and then drifted to the very people he saw nearly everyday of his dream.

Everyone sounded as if they were in water from his point of view; drowning in a sea of people and whispers. The sound of gasps and words flooded into his ears, but like Misty, he couldn't hear hear their words when his eyes turned to meet the two figures at the door.

Red lips pulled into a pious grin, though the lighting covered the duos eyes. Released from a black gloved hand was a shiny, metallic surface with a small fuse burning bright red. Ash's heart skipped, he knew that shape—

"Everyone get down!" Ash's deep voice boomed across the gala in a deafening projection.

He lunged at Dawn and Brock and slammed them both to the floor before the explosive went off-a shockwave vibrated through the building, knocked over some trainers, as well as empty tables and shattered the high-glass windows. Dawn screamed when she hit the floor, but Brock only let out a grunt as he rolled over to face the front entrance. The doors, which were firmly closed only minutes ago, were now clearly off their hinges, and in pieces on the floor of the lobby. Before anyone could speak, another blast tore through the room, silencing the screams with a knee-jerking squeal of high-pitched proportions. Ringing penetrated Ash's ears while he covered them with his hands.

Another blast, and smoke filled the room before the silent crest of the moon shone through the destroyed entrance, stirring the smoke as the wind blew in. Ash couldn't see from the dirt that clogged his eyes, but when another whistle of an explosive shook the ground, his eyes found proper perch on Misty at the stage who was crouched down, awestruck. The announcer fled the scene, but she remained grounded.

Suddenly, she was moving to the edge of the stage, and habitually, maybe dutifully, Ash's legs kicked into gear as well, following her.

Misty jumped the two feet off the stage and onto the ground on her tip toes, clearing a few panicked travelers on her way to the center lobby floor amongst all the dust and chaos. Her eyes turned once more to the men on their radios surrounding the lobby. The men in black were gone and the whistle of another explosive going off brought her attention soaring back to the demolition experts. Screams mixed with confusion and terror when Ash snatched her hand, and pulled her off to the railing beside Brock, and Dawn, and forced her to squat away from the shock waves, beside them.

Her head was spinning from the adrenaline; she looked like a wild cat when Ash finally caught glimpse of he eyes.

"Are they trying to blow everyone up?" She gasped, scrunching her nose from the smoke. Ash watched her for a slip second while he slipped his palms inconspicuously down her arms, checking for injury without notice, and then turned to look back at the trespassers, and gripped the railing.

"I don't know. Did you get a good look at them?" Ash asked loudly over the noise; he had only a second to see them before the explosion started. He didn't know if anyone had gotten hurt—he _prayed_ that they didn't, but amongst the ringing, the screams, and the smoke—he could hardly see.

Meanwhile, Brock and Dawn gathered their wits. Both were in complete shock, having no idea what to expect while they both pressed their backs against the railing. Ash presented an unearthed calm in his voice which Misty noticed right away-Ash, and chimchar, who had poked his head out of his jacket, seemed all too comfortable with the destruction.

Misty gasped, her chest lowering. "Those weird ones."

"Alright, you stay here, I'll go after them." Before she could get in another word, he leaped over the railing with the skill of a triathlete, and darted head-first into the smoke. He couldn't see—but he knew where they were, and he was going to stop them!

"Ash, wait!" Misty yelled a moment too late, but grunted when she tried to stand. Her ankle screamed at her—most likely, she had twisted it on her way down from the stage and she slipped back beside Brock and Dawn who watched her. Being the brave man that he was, Brock glanced at the door, saw the young boy through wisps of the smoke, and he took Misty's hand before she threw herself toward the enemy on her hurt ankle—because she was prepared to.

"Wait here, keep everyone calm and get people to safety!" Brock ordered, knowing that a person in Misty's position would have an easier time take control of a messy situation. Misty's mouth opened to object, but with less ease, Brock managed to climb over the railing and then dart after Ash, into the mayhem.

 **XOXs**

A boyhood habit of Ash's was rushing in without thinking, and this was definitely one of those situations.

He cleared the surface of the room in under thirty seconds, and stopped at the entrance—Team Rocket—Jessie and James were already feeling, pushing over a few news media stands that took cover behind the strong concrete walls, cowering. Ash inhaled briefly clearing his lungs of smoke, and then with leaps and bounds, he chased after the maroon hair flipping in the wind, as well as the traces of lavender. But why were they running? Why would they blow up the front door then run away?

"Stop!" Ash gasped, dodging a shuck of news papers that exploded in his face. He ducked beneath the damage, and rolled to his feet while allowing chimchar to dive into the dirt. Skillfully, he twisted a second pokeball, and launched it at the fleeing duo.

"Snorlax, cut them off!" He screamed as red lightning fluttered through the air and moments later the beast, snorlax emerged beside Jessie and James, cutting them off at the city streets.

The chaos around him fell on mute ears when his eyes met the gleaming pairs of blue and green. They didn't speak, rather, they glared, watching snorlax behind them—the gentle giant that it was, didn't move to attack the duo. Ash inhaled, the people that stood before him _looked_ like Jessie and James, but they were older. He could see the traces of wrinkles form under Jessie's eyes, and the lines around James' mouth. Sweat trickled down the back of Ash's neck, the humidity sinking into his clothes, and he breathed.

"Team Rocket, what are you doing!? Why did you just blow everything up?!" Ash shouted, desperately wanting answers from these two individuals.

Silence and glares; chimchar growled at Ash's feet then, without words, they both charged him.

Taken aback, they cleared the two feet of distance before Ash reacted, luckily, chimchar's instincts were faster than his trainers, and the moment he saw them jolt, he fired a barrel of fire at James. The older man ducked beneath it with the finesse of a dancer. Flames touched the ends of his hair and trickled out, and seconds later his fist was up; impaling Ash in the stomach, and then twisting to kick chimchar the same moment.

James knocked the wind out of the younger trainer with the upper-cut, followed closed by a left hook from Jessie that sent Ash spiraling backwards and directly on his back.

Ash coughed once—he wasn't sure which injury to grab first, his stomach or face, so he settled in the middle somewhere and let out a long wheeze and grunt when one of their boots connected with his head, and without a peep—he was out cold.

Somewhere, in the depths of his mind, he could hear chimchar's last attempts to drive the duo off, followed by a very angry snorlax, but as quickly as he was attacked, his mind was silenced.

 **XOXs**

Since Team Rocket fled the scene, the violent explosions settled, and the dust began to clear but the screams didn't stop. Misty covered her ears when she looked up waiting to see Ash return. Minutes passed after Brock followed him, and then she finally inhaled through the smoke and bellowed.

"QUIET!" She shrieked, her voice carrying over even the loudest of whimpers.

Quickly, all eyes fell on the woman, and when nerves had been previously been her drive, she blew a strand of hair from her face and then exhaled before throwing a pokeball into the pit that cleared.

"Kingdra, use water gun and put out that fire!" She yelled to the pokemon, then addressed Dawn and Gary who looked at her with wide eyes. "Find anyone injured and help them."

Moments later, Misty whistled to the gym leaders—looking mostly at Sabrina and Lt. Surge who were petrified of her authority. Smoke funneled through the air as kingdra lashed the fire that started, soon enough, two more pokeballs erupted—a piplup courtesy of Dawn, and a marshtomp from a trainer within the crowd.

"Water trainers put out the fires! Everyone else form a single file and prepare to exit through the side door!" Dawn yelled, cupping her mouth and standing on the railing. "If you have any medical experience, please try to help those around you!"

Screams turned into slow mutters, followed by the scuttling and shuffle of feet as those who could help did, and then the rest started toward the exit Dawn pointed to. Naturally, Gary phoned the police to inform them, and then made his way through the crowd to the people who were closest to the entrance. Misty's mouth fell ajar, glancing back at the stage where she recalled Ash mentioning Sebastian—from the distance, she _thought_ she could hear the squeal of an engine, but put it at the back of her mind when one of the fires sparked the sprinkler system.

"Kingdra, return." Misty yelped, followed by Dawn who's pink dress which was frilly at the started, matted to her body and drug behind her.

"Crisis avoided?" Dawn guessed playfully, making light of the very dreadful situation. Misty licked her bottom lip and glanced around the smoke trodden, destroyed party furniture and panicked sullen faces.

"No." She breathed. "The beginning of one."

 **XOXs**

Within ten minutes, the trainers, gym leaders, coordinators, and anyone who could walk were escorted from the premises through the side exit doors: everyone muttered beneath their breaths that they didn't understand what happened and they were 'so scared'. Meanwhile, Gary returned to greet Misty and Dawn with his arms folded over his chest.

"Quick thinking." He complimented Misty and Dawn, who nodded brashly. Though the sprinklers had stopped, the police arrived with the ambulance to help the injured, and the firemen finished with the remaining embers; she couldn't shake the ringing in her ears.

"Thanks." Misty pointed to Gary's shirt and ran her fingers over the white fabric beneath his black suit. "Is that blood?" She questioned, looking at him with raised eyebrows. He glanced down, then covered the spot with his jacket and rolled his shoulders.

"It's not mine..." Solemnly, the trio shared a look directed at the arriving ambulance, and inhaled miserably. Gary wouldn't say it, but there were a few people that had been hurt from the shock wave and debris from the door—while most of the guests were shaken up...a few weren't so lucky.

"I'm okay, are you two okay?" he asked as an after thought. The flood gates opened, and Dawn's mouth fell.

"I _can't believe_ what just happened! Team Rocket?! Why would they be here?" Dawn looked to Misty, mortified. "More importantly, how did _you_ know?" she asked expelling the question she had kept pint up since the incident began, keeping her voice down. Gary, with a pessimistic look glanced at Misty as well.

"...that's actually a very good question—how did you know?"

Carefully, Misty turned from the injured, to the floor, and then to Dawn—her estranged companion, and then to Gary—her not so much of a friend, then very slowly exhaled. She _wasn't_ sure it was Team Rocket—but at the moment, she panicked. What else would she say? _Could_ she say? Who ever those men were guarding the doors, they weren't security guards and they _had_ been up to something. However—it seemed counter productive to blow off the mostly-blast resistant doors.

...if they wanted to hurt anyone, they had them—this _was_ the perfect place to attack them. If the doors were guarded, there was no way out of the main entrance hall. Misty's mouth opened, and then closed thoughtfully before she blinked and licked her lips. Ash and Brock hadn't come back yet, but she needed to check on her own.

"Ash said there was suspicious activities right before..." her voice trailed when she saw the police turning away, then without missing a beat, she snatched Dawn's arm and guided her to the very double doors—rather, she limped to the doors that Ash had emerged from seconds before admitting to her that something was wrong. What ever was there, she had to see with her own eyes. Did the league plan this? Was this just perfectly timed? How in the world was a _therapist_ involved?!

"Misty, let go, you're hurting my arm!" Dawn gasped, being released a second later, though, Misty didn't change her resolve. Without checking for permission or alerting the police, she threw open the doors, and found herself marching down the corridor with a puzzled Dawn, and worried Gary at her feet.

Someone attacked. _Someone actually attacked them_. They plotted and intended to hurt all of the pokemon trainers in that room—there was no telling what plan they hatched and _if_ those men _had_ been security guards, surely they would have jumped into action when the bombs started flying—but instead they _ran_.

To make sense of this, she needed to know if what Ash said was true. Sebastian, that little weasel, was connected to this, and with any luck; she would find him herself.

 **XOXs**

Ash had never been punched before. For that matter, he had _never_ been kicked in the head before—least not that he could remember. The entire world spun when his eyes flicked open. The night sky darkened the figure above him, but it was very clearly not the redhead who often found him passed out—instead, a man with dark skin and brown hair stared down at him with a chimchar on his shoulder.

"Ash, holy caterpies, are you okay?" Brock asked, waving his hand in front of Ash's face. In return, Ash grunted, and slowly sat up; though he felt like his brain was left in piles on the dirt below him. People had gathered in a circle around him, but snorlax kept them at a distance.

"Where did Team Rocket go?" Ash asked in a daze, rubbing the side of his face only to reel away at the contact. The complete right side of his face felt like one big bruise, and Brock didn't miss this fact.

"I don't know, I found you collapsed and bleeding on the ground." Brock held a napkin out for Ash, who snatched it remorsefully while he sat up on his knees to address the situation. Chimchar jumped from Brock's shoulder and explain the situation fully. After Ash had been knocked unconscious, Team Rocket escaped by use the fire escape on the building beside them—chimchar couldn't stop them. It looked down disappointingly, but Ash stroked his head and sighed kindly.

"It's alright little guy. You tried your best, don't worry about." his words reassured the pokemon before glancing up at snorlax. "You too, buddy." Ash waved, and then very slowly, almost unsteadily crawled to his feet.

"However, I need to return you both." Ash grunted, returning them as he spoke. The pokemon sent a few words few goodbyes, and a thank you to Brock while Ash exhaled, watching the crowd around him disperse. His side ached and the spinning didn't improve when standing, so he took a few minutes to regain his balance while the spectators whispered amongst one another. Instinctively, he checked the number of pokeballs on his belt—counting them all, including the one from Agatha and exhaled happily when he realized they were all there. Team Rocket hadn't robbed him—they just did a number on his face and took off, at least that was good news.

"What happened..?" Ash finally asked once more looking at Brock who shrugged.

"Ash, man. It looks like someone hooked you. Did they catch you off guard?" Brock asked, grabbing Ash's shoulders to steady him and get a better look at his busted lip. Ash faintly grunted, feeling nauseous.

"Sort of..." he groaned, holding the half of his face that _didn't_ make him want to scream. Leaning over, his stomach growled at him, that little bit of alcohol and the fist that had winded him reminding him sorely how _painful_ this world was in comparison. He felt like he had been hit by a truck—but in reality, he had only been hit a few times. The sensation of being rendered incapable of fighting back was _new_ and _foreign_ and he couldn't say that he liked it very much.

...if Brock was here...

"The party?" Ash gasped. "Is everyone okay? Is Misty...?" She was the one who announced their arrival, after all—there was no telling what happened after he left!

"I don't know, I left her in charge when I came to get you. It looks like everything has been taken care of though." Brock looked thoughtfully into the distance where they could see police cars. "We should get you checked out, too."

"I'm fine. Let's go back to the party." Ash insisted, wiping his mouth with his wrist. It stung, but not as much as it should have—his adrenaline kicked in, and the pain was almost numb.

Brock followed him with a concerned expression; "Ash, you might have a concussion."

"I'll manage." Ash grunted, knowing that at the very least, pain was temporary. Brock followed him closely as he shambled his first steps, and then into a dutiful trot. After all, Misty, Dawn _and_ Gary were still there, he couldn't leave them. If he was lucky, maybe they already escaped, but that didn't mean Ash didn't have unfinished business. He needed to get back to the gala; he _needed_ to check out that room where Sebastian was.

 **XOXs**

When Brock and Ash arrived at the grand lobby, the police had already sectioned off the blown up entrance and prevented news media and trainers from entering. Ash could see the destruction left behind; it wasn't just hand-bombs that had been exploding, the hinges of the door had to have been rigged to some extend because the metal was in pieces. He could still see white smoke funneling into the street via the open door, and cameras were rolling in from all direction asking for statements from people inside.

Everyone was getting their fifteen minutes of fame—but Ash only wanted to get back inside the moment he realized that not only Misty was missing from the crowd of people—so was the blue hair of dawn, and the familiar spikes of Gary.

Ash could only assume they were still in the building, which only meant he had to find his way back in to. If he knew Jessie and James were going to club him, he might not have been so eager to follow after them—but everything was clearer in hindsight. Keeping at the far edge of the crowd and within the limits of the shadows from the buildings, Ash maneuvered his way with Brock at his heels.

"What are we doing? The crowd is that way?" Brock asked skeptically, keeping his eyes trained on the news reporters and ambulances outside. Not one, but three were outside the building. Two were loading up the majorly injured, and the last was helping patch up the less-injured individuals.

"Breaking in, what else?" Ash replied nonchalantly, kicking out a brick from the stone fence before getting a swift jump up. He grabbed the top of the brick fence, careful not to notice the metal spikes at the top when he pulled himself up. Ash slipped his feet between the prongs, and then looked back at Brock and grumbled.

"Hurry up, someone will see us!" Ash muttered, extending his hand to give Brock a boost while he looked frantically at the crowd—they were technically entering a crime scene!

Ash was crazy! Brock hesitated for a moment, glancing between the police and Ash when Ash muttered:

"Are you going to leave them in there by themselves?"

"no" Brock said instantly, taking Ash's hand. The raven-haired boy pulled Brock up by using his body weight, however, since Brock was a good five or six inches taller than Ash, he nearly lost his footing and fell over into the flower garden.

Luckily, their scuffle went unnoticed and Ash was able to lead Brock around the bend of the building, until they were looking up at a balcony with an open glass door. Brock's heart was racing, his hands were trembling—he had never done anything illegal before, and yet here Ash was, nearly fearless.

"Misty wasn't lying when she said you had a wild streak, Ash." Brock observed while Ash looked at the second story balcony and gnawed on his lower lip—he hardly heard what Brock said until their eyes met.

"I wouldn't call it a wild streak." Ash said in his defense, but then with a quick draw, he wrapped his fingers around a pokeball. It clicked, then bounced off the ground and once the red lightning cleared, greninja squat on the grown beside them, staring up at them.

"Brock, give me your jacket." Ash hummed, removing his own suit jacket while Brock stared at him questionably.

"What in the world for?" He asked, but complied with Ash's demand. "Be careful though, it's a rental."

Ash almost snorted, he knew that feeling. Misty would kill him if he damaged his suit jacket. However, that was the furthest thought in his mind while he tied together the two clothing and handed it off to greninja. "Can you crawl up the wall and tie this to one of those railings, buddy?" Ash asked politely, and the pokemon nodded—though his concerns were more directly on the fact that Ash's face was black and blue.

Greninja complied to his masters command and after holding onto the tied jackets, he jumped up the wall with the skill of a trained ninja, and hoped over the railing of the balcony. To be safe, the blue water pokemon checked inside for activity, and when he saw none, he did as Ash had commanded, and tied off the jacket, allowing Ash and Brock passage to the second floor.

"Thanks!" Ash whispered, taking the jacket and using the side of the building to climb up to the second floor. While Ash, after the months he spent traveling the world and training with his pokemon made the task look easy, there was a bit of a struggle for Brock, so greninja was prepared to catch him if he fell.

Gasping and nerve-wrecked, Brock huffed loudly upon reaching the balcony. While Ash untied their jackets—to be safe, Brock caught his breath.

"I almost want to ask if you've done this before?" Brock grunted, sitting forward for a moment. When he climbed to his feet, Ash grinned back at him, and then smirked at Brock and greninja. The latter knew not of Ash's adventures, but pikachu and togepi talked quite a bit about his adventures.

"Never _this_ per say, but we've had our share of adventures, huh greninja?" Ash asked happily while the pokemon nodded coolly in response. Brock sighed happily while shaking his head, wondering for a moment what he had gotten into before he followed Ash inside.

Together, the three of them moved into the small room, scoped it out to make sure the coast was clear, and then darted into the corridor. The police hadn't started sending in officers to check out the inside hallways, which was good for them. They managed to clear three hallways before coming to a stop at the sound of voices—Ash discovered that the hallway which was less than an hour ago pitch black, was now bright. Even the vase he knocked over previosuly was cleaned up.

…was he in the right place? He wondered for a moment before he crawled forward, holding up his finger to remind them all to be quiet—to _remind himself_. Naturally, he wanted to scream and ask if anyone was there, to announce his position, but if his friends were in danger, or it was still Sebastian, he wasn't sure he wanted the to know he was here yet.

Without needing to speak his thoughts, greninja understood perfectly the predicament, an as such moved forward quietly without permission, he dipped around the bend in the hallway to make sure it was safe to move forward before Brock and Ash stumbled closely behind.

"It almost feels like we're in one of those super-spy movies." Brock said quietly, under his breath. Ash snickered at the comment and nodded.

"What would our movie title be? The party crashers?" Ash snorted at his own pun, causing Brock to laugh as well. Greninja shushed them both, amused and disjointed by their commotion that he hadn't noticed a figure appear before him at the turn in the hallway.

"Water gun!" A female's voice bellowed out, alerting the gym leader and pokemon trainer. Both Ash and Brock rose to their feet, prepared for action when the attack was followed by another woman's voice.

"Wait, Dawn that's-!" a turret of water funneled through the corridor before she could finish, though due to his natural abilities, greninja danced away from the attack. The edge of the blast caught the corner of his long, scarf tongue whilst preparing his own attack, however, the trained pokemon stopped mid-counter upon seeing familiar red hair staring back at him.

"Whats going on-?" Ash gasped along side Brock who had prepared to use his own pokemon for battle, but upon turning the corner—they didn't see men dressed in black, or even a distressing scene—they saw Misty wagging her finger at Dawn.

"You have to look before you attack people!"

"I didn't want them to get the jump on us!" Dawn whined in response, shrinking away from Misty and folding her arms—she was not as accustom to sneaking around, either, apparently.

"Piplup pip!" The small penguin argued alongside Dawn in full agreement with her actions, flapping his small wings. Ash laughed nervously, making his presence and Brock's known to the females.

"Ash!" Misty gasped while spinning, partially elated until his appearance caught her eyes. Terror filled her eyes. "Your face!" She added, covering her mouth in surprise while Dawn winced at his busted lip and bruised eye.

"I'm here, too." Brock mused pathetically under his breath, though Misty waved him off when she approached Ash, removing her cardigan at the same time. Still damp from the sprinkler system earlier, she held the white fabric up to Ash's face and with a deep scowl, she pat his bloodied lip through his grunts of protest

"What the heck happened?" She asked Brock, glancing between the two of them while Ash winced slightly at her touch.

"I'm not sure exactly, I found him like that. I can only assume Team Rocket hit him." Brock answered honestly, looking at Dawn, and at Gary who was knelt in front of the doors Ash had seen Sebastian talking with someone at earlier that day.

He carried a pin and paper clip between hi fingers, and was clearly trying to lock pick the door—Brock exited the real world and entered some type of Mission Impossible scenario, that could be the only explanation—besides, everyone was dressed for the part.

"It's fine Misty—can you stop?" He asked, grabbing her hands, only to have them swat away by her more aggressive ones. She could see the bruise swelling over his eye, and if they didn't put _something_ cool on it, his eye would likely swell shut. Not to mention his lip was cut open. The white of his eye was turning purple, and she was _sure_ he had a knot on his head. She growled in response.

"Did you try to use _your face_ as a weapon? Jesus, Ash." She asked sarcastically with a scoff, he returned the sentiment with narrowed eyes.

"It's not _that bad_." He assured her, pulling away, though he accepted the cloth. He held it to his face when he approached greninja, who agreed with his trainer. Misty slammed her fists against her hips disapprovingly. They stared at each other like that for a moment, Misty wanted to help, Ash didn't want it. If anything, he was expecting he would have to hatch a rescue plan, not be assaulted.

"How do you two ever get anything done if you argue all the time?" Dawn laughed nervously, earning both of their glared simultaneously. Neither answered, since humor was seeped from their bones the moment they _knew_ that it had to have been Team Rocket. Instead, Misty rolled her eyes, and hobbled carefully to the door where Gary was, refusing to show that she had twisted her ankle.

"We have more important things to look after—" She gestured to Gary who rose to his feet with a failed shrug and broken pin. For once, Ash agreed halfheartedly with Misty when he glanced at Brock. They shared _a look_ and then smirked.

Clearly, the three of them had never thought out of the box. Why _unlock_ a door, when there were _several_ other viable options that were faster and more reliable. They grinned at each other.

 **XOXs**

When geodude smashed open the doors, the group of five walked in with their heads held high.

"I guess that is equally as effective..." Gary observed, watching Brock thank his pokemon and return him.

Ash was a bit more disturbed by what he saw. The room was _empty_. He was _sure_ that he saw a few computers, heard the voices of many people working in here—there was supposed to be an operations base here—it wasn't supposed to be _empty!_ Ash looked desperately around the the room, spinning a few times before he glared back at the group who looked equally as disappointed.

"Are you sure this was the right spot?" Misty asked, running her finger across the dusty surface of a shelf.

"I'm positive. I saw Sebastian talking to someone just outside this door—and, and.." he fumbled with the curtains, poking his head out just far enough so that he could see the police officers slacking off inside of the building, gossiping where they should have been trying to figure out what happened. It was late enough, that Ash figured the police wouldn't be doing anything productive until the next day. He glanced back at everyone, who had separated to look for evidence of Team Rocket, or of Sebastian.

Ash almost asked what they were doing before he realized that the four people standing in front of him acted with only Ash's input; they believed him without questioning it, and hadn't tried to dissuade his beliefs at all. His heart skipped when greninja returned to his side, telling him he will keep watch on the curtain so that Ash could join the inspection with his companions.

 _Thanks_ , _guys_. Ash thought happily, scoping the small room out.

After about a five minute search, checking and re-checking in silence, they finally regrouped at the center of the room, with only Ash still walking around, this time, checking the folds of the curtains for clues. Piplup walked at his feet as well, squawking at greninja and Ash that he was a 'private investigator', though it apparently had no idea Ash could understand him—because he was chuckling under his breath at the stories piplup was creating.

"Looks like whoever they were, they cleaned up shop." Gary noted, looking at the ceiling for any indication. Ash wasn't ready to admit defeat though, and turned slowly, missing a shimmer from the dusty floor; however, piplup the PI did not.

"Piplup!" It shrieked a bit loudly as it bounced forward to the ground beside Ash's foot, and then with it's beak, it scooped up a small microchip and held it up for as to glance at before the pokemon raced back to Dawn, and jumped into her arms. She gaped at the leap, twirled slightly, and then when she managed to get piplup settled, he dropped the microchip into the palm of Dawn's hand.

"What in the world..." She muttered as Ash approached, eyebrows raised.

"What is that?" Ash asked, noticing the groups mortified features.

"Why would this be here?" Gary questioned, accidentally ignoring Ash's confusion as they glared at the small object. Dawn felt sick holding it, so she passed it off to Brock, who flipped the chip over to see 'Silph Co.' stamped on the back. He grimaced while Misty gnawed on her bottom lip.

"What _is_ it?" Ash asked once more, more assertive this time. Pairs of eyes watched him, remembering that since he, as a coma patient, was not present for the story—he had no idea what _this_ meant. Hell, they weren't evne sure that _they_ knew what this meant.

"It's a pokemon chip..." Misty explained slowly, braving the explanation for the group. "They put them in pokemon's heads to make them more obedient."

Brock stared at Misty who twisted her lips and shifted on her feet. "More importantly," he thumbed the small object, asking it for answers. "They're illegal."

"Right, so why would they be here—is it _Team Rocket_?" She asked, unamused. "I know that you said it was a long story, Misty, but..." Dawn started a bit skeptic, speaking the words that no one else seemed to want to.

Gary shook his head quickly. "A microchip doesn't verify that—Misty are you sure you saw Team Rocket?" He asked, unnerved by such an association; he clearly had a closer relation to the horrors of the criminal group.

"Who else would attack a league party?" Ash offered in defense of Misty's claim without directly stating that he 'knew' Jessie and James were apart of the organization.

"Did you see the damage? Only Team Rocket would do something so heinous." Brock added shortly after, glaring at Dawn and Gary.

Misty coughed and slacked. "Actually... if they were planning a heist, the last thing they would have done is taken off the doors—we were sitting ducks with those doors closed, they were supposed to be designed to be blast resistant because of rioters. If they were blown up as easily as they were... it had to be planned in advance."

"But you _said_ it was Team Rocket." Dawn gasped, while Ash and Brock watched her nerves catch. Misty shrunk a little, unsure of herself.

"I.." she looked into each of their eyes and then glanced away, staring down at the chip between Brock's fingers. "I don't know what I saw. I saw _something_ for sure, but I panicked and said the first thing that came to mind."

Dawn gawked. "So now you're saying that it _wasn't_ Team Rocket?"

Misty sighed and shook her head pathetically. She touched her forehead and then glared at Dawn. "I'm _saying_ that maybe I wasn't sure of what I saw."

"But you did see those guys in black, didn't you? They were completely gone during the chaos—so were the elite four members and champions." Ash noted quickly, trying to buff up Misty's statement that it _was_ Team Rocket.

"Plus, the people I chased were clearly Jessi-" Ash stopped, a thought having occurred to him when he touched his lips. He glanced at greninja, then at Brock and then settled with a puzzled look at Misty. Why would Team Rocket knock him out and leave his pokemon? They hadn't even touched chimchar—and Misty had a point, if they wanted to steal, why would they _give_ trainers the ability to flee?

"Were clearly who?" Dawn almost snapped, eyebrows narrowing. Ash's attention turned to the woman in a pink dress, and his lips moved without thought.

"No one, I was mistaken..." he muttered. "Must be the head injury..." he lied halfheartedly while Brock and Misty shared a concerned glance.

"Regardless, we have one illegal microchip to turn into the police, and _maybe_ Team Rocket did it." Dawn recited, holding up her fingers to think. "Is that the _big_ secret you and Brock always talked about?" She pointed to Brock and Misty with an allusive glare.

Neither could answer honestly. They didn't want Dawn, the top coordinator of Sinnoh, a local figure, or Gary Oak, the newest professor of the Kanto region to know about their conspiracy theories because as of now, that's all they were. They were, unfortunately, a little more than 'just theories' now that the league had been attacked, but that didn't provide length or knowledge about _who_ was the alleged attackers. Team Rocket, a third party? At this rate, it could have been several different groups.

"They wouldn't tell us because of our position as political figures, Dawn." Gary observed with a smug expression, rolling the recent events over in his mind, trying to find an error in the occurrence—unfortunately, he hadn't been paying much attention outside of the announcements, unlike Ash, Misty, and Brock, since he wasn't _aware_ there was a problem, he wasn't _looking_ for one.

However, that did not mean that Gary had missed several cues. "Is that why the champions and Elite Four don't talk with other trainers anymore?"

All eyes fell on Gary while Dawn made heads and tails of the information she had been given—if Team Rocket was indeed behind the attacks, and working as a secret organization behind the guise of league champions and Elite Four members, then they were indeed in quite the pickle. Becoming a new Elite Four member put Misty in the middle of it, which meant that if _too_ many people did know, they could all become at risk.

As upset as it made her, Dawn fidgeted, she understood why they kept the information from her. If Dawn and Gary were found to be 'involved' in illegal activities, or connected to an organization like Team Rocket in anyway, or caught with the knowledge of them, their credibility could be lost—as well as all of the goals they have worked endlessly to achieve.

"If the league _knew_ about the attack then we can assume that the police which works directly beneath the Elite Four might..." Dawn started, eyebrows scrunching as she recalled Ash's insight on how the league officiators were no where to be seen during the attacks.

"Maybe taking the chip the police isn't the best idea-"

"Hey, I heard voices from over here-!" a calm, strong voice bellowed from the hallway, catching in the throats of each 'trespasser'. Ash glanced around, nudging for greninja to come back when they turned to the door which was split open.

Gary stood in front of them quickly and put out his arm. "Go on ahead, Dawn and I will talk with the police and media." He muttered, turning to look at Ash specifically.

"Take that chip to the Viridian City Silph Co. and tell them it's from professor Oak." He spat quickly. "And as soon as you find out who was in the market for such things—you'd better let me know." He warned through hazel eyes.

Naturally, Ash opened his mouth to reply, but as the pound of footsteps outside echoed into the empty room, Ash took one more glance over to see to emergency exit at the opposite end, and then gestured for Brock and Misty to follow him out.

"I will let you know if we hear anything." Ash said, and Dawn dusted off her ruined dress the best that she could.

"I guess we will play the part of clueless confidants..." Dawn muttered quietly, winking to the trio who were begrudgingly on their way out. "And hey, when we have this sorted out—I would like to know the whole story behind this." She said confidently, to which Misty and Brock waved back at her apologetically before they were hustled through the dark exit by greninja and Ash.

Leaving behind Gary and Dawn to deal with the police and possible crime scene trespassing consequences, Brock, Ash, and Misty barreled quietly through the emergency exit at the side stage door. Where they were previously right of the stage, protected and hidden by the large, black curtains to one side, and the large, wooden frame of the league building to the left. In the distance of the corridor, they could hear the police question Dawn and Gary, but the further they fell into darkness, the less they could hear.

"Wouldn't it be better to take the microchip to the police if it's illegal?" Ash asked suddenly, with a sharp gasp when Brock's elbow rammed into his side from the close quarters.

"No, if we took in the chip and explained what we knew, there is a high chance they would take Misty into police custody." Brock explained, reaching the end of the dark hallway in order to press open the back way out; they were me with a large, brick fence like the one Ash had climbed up previously.

"...Why would they do that?" Ash asked while rubbing his stomach. Misty and Brock immediately moved to scale the fence, Brock having an easier time of it the second time around.

Misty stopped at the top to look down at Ash, having been the most quite since the discovery of the chip, she wiped her forehead, grateful for the tights she wore under her dress—though she was rethinking the heels now. Her feet were going to be sore and blistered tomorrow.

"Because I'm technically and Elite Four member, and the statement I made earlier...if they think the Elite Four or champions are even remotely on a hit-list, I'll be placed in a program under constant survilance."

Ash looked up at her as if that wasn't a terrible decision. "If that's what is safe, what's the problem? They were obviously targeting someone."

Covering the clear twitch in her ankle, she slipped over the other side of the fence while Ash and greninja scaled and leaped over gracefully. Brock stumbled but Misty groaned, a little unnerved that Ash made the situation _look so easy_.

"But like you said. The rest of the Elite Four and Champions were _gone_ at the time of the attack, which could mean many things. It's just best that we don't deal with the police right now." Misty elaborated, slipping off her heels in favor of walking barefoot. Her ankle didn't seem so tinder, and she refused the help from either boy when they asked. She would manage on her own.

"Let's just get back tot he hotel, and then we'll figure out where to go from there..." Misty explained, looking back at Brock and Ash. "You can stay with us Brock." She offered, waving her heels at him tiredly. In the distance, she could see the lights pulling away from the building and could see the faint traces of Dawn's pink dress while she stood in front of the cameras, explaining what had happened at the party.

Hopefully, an uproar didn't occur.

 **XOXs**

The trio dodged through the streets, zigzagged around corners and small groups. They used the darkness to their advantage, and stayed close to the shadows—luckily, they had a pokemon dedicated to such techniques, and greninja took great pride in leading them away from the distill of cameras.

They found their way back to the hotel quickly, and for once, Misty was glad she wasn't stay in one of the rich league hotels that she was offered. Since she was technically the only lead official at this hotel, and few people knew that, the only camera in the room was of a woman snapping a picture of her son standing beside a water fountain.

On their way to the elevator, they didn't wave hello the the auditor sitting behind the desk, filing her nails, they didn't speak to one another about the incidents, and aside from returning greninja via size restrictions and pokemon regulations, their actions consisted mostly of walking, groaning, and slouching.

While in the elevators, Ash and Brock started the removal of their choking ties, and Misty started the removal of her earrings. Thanks to the damp cloth Misty gave Ash previously, his shoulder was wet from the fabric, but his face wasn't as red. Adding her sprained ankle to a list of things that had gone wrong today, as well as Ash's beaten and bruised face, she felt guilty for being tired at ten o'clock. Their long hours typically consisted of staying up until the wee hours of daybreak, now she was ready to sleep the moment her feet hit the carpet of their hotel room.

Misty almost forgot that just earlier that day, she and Ash had spent time with Cole, bought ice cream, and had a normal day that would have otherwise been classified as _ruined_ now. Ash shared these same thoughts, but unlike Misty, his mind kept ticking back over to Jessie and James, who beat him to a pulp, and left his pokemon alone.

 _It didn't make sense_.

Brock had been focused on the big picture—what Team Rocket, or this new third party was thinking when they attacked a room full of highly skilled, highly trained pokemon trainers. There was no doubt in his mind that _one_ of the trainers could have taken on at least two goons, so his mind kept drawing to the chip in his pocket. However, the more he thought about it, the less it made sense.

When they arrived at the room, Misty clicked the door open, and flew inside without skipping a beat. Her shoes were tossed onto the side table where her suitcase lay, before she flopped unladylike onto her bed, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Togepi and pikachu awoke at the sound of their trainers arriving, and while pikachu was moderatly a grouch when woken from his naps, togepi snapped up happily and chirped his excitement. He pelted Ash with questions when the trainer grabbed the egg to rest him on his lap when the egg started to shriek about Ash's wounds.

Misty peered over from the comfort of her mattress to see Brock removing his suit jacket, and falling onto the couch at the corner of the room, whereas Ash was scolded and pestered by his pokemon about his injuries. Even now, Brock and Misty were in awe at how much his pokemon truly cared for him, and while he promised them that he was okay, they returned to their positions at his pillow with a deep scowl—especially from pikachu, who on top of everything else, beat himself up for not being there.

"it's not your fault pikachu—they came at me out of no where, there wasn't much you would have been able to do."

Small sparks erupted from pikachu's red cheeks, engulfed by agreement from the egg who shuddered his disagreement. "Pika." The mouse squeaked dangerously, thinking of what he would do to the bandits the next time he saw them.

Ash laughed nervously, and then without skipping a beat, his eyes fell on his companions, who watched him with a questioning gaze.

"So, what are these chips, exactly? Why would Gary tell us to go to the manufacturer instead of the police?"

"For evidence. If we just turned in a chip without context, they could easily deem us as the carriers." Brock explained with a yawn. He sat back in the couch and draped an arm over the back, tired.

"But why would Team Rocket use them?"

Misty didn't correct Ash that they weren't sure it was Team Rocket, instead, she pursed her lips and sat up to rub her ankle. "They were originally presented by Giovanni, he allowed his pokemon to be test subjects. All Team Rocket captured pokemon had these obedience chips installed. They prevented wild behavior and allowed a trainer to track them."

"That's cruel..."Ash muttered quietly, looking down at pikachu and togepi. He couldn't imagine putting in anything that would manage their free-will; it was bad enough 'pounds' existed when pokemon should have been allowed to live in the wilds. "Why would someone invent something like that?"

Brock seemed rather glum at the memory, Ash had clearly opened a wound that was closed when Brock cracked his neck.

"Are you familiar with how the Team Rocket War started?" he questioned, and Ash shrugged—he knew somethings. "Giovanni marketed these chips to trainers who weren't _very good_ , you see? Installing these chips allowed people to not only better command their pokemon, but also _purchase_ pokemon on a black market. New trainers could own fully evolved charizards and blastoise without lifting a finger—all with the help of this." Brock held the small object up and Ash wanted to laugh.

"As trainers, we are taught and understand that battling as rules and limitations and it's our duty to train our pokemon to act accordingly—in official matches, if our pokemon don't obey, sometimes people in the stands can be hurt. With these, that fear was eliminated, but it came at the price of taking away our pokemon's freewill. If we commanded them to do something and they did not listen, then they could be punished or shut down..."

Ash felt sick listening to Brock. "Punished how?"

"Electric shock, mostly. But many of them were wired to damage the pokemon's primary motor skills. The larger the pokemon, the larger the shock. When these chips were first designed, they were _revolutionary_ , but we discovered quickly how _evil_ people could be..." Brock inhaled. "Most people, _decent_ people were against the use, but a sudden push from the Chief executives of Kanto passed a law that required all pokemon to have the chips installed—obviously, this caused an uproar in the region. At the time, battlers and coordinators were already in a huge rivalry over equal rights, so some groups thought that they could use the chips to gain an edge over their rivals."  
"In the end, chaos ensued when the chips stopped working how they were supposed to, or the pokemon became hostile. When general chaos ran rampant through the streets, Team Rocket took the initiative to attack parts of Kanto, with their primary target being the Unova region. Everything happened pretty quick, and while we were focused on what was happening here, Unova, which is miles away was placed under siege without support of its southern allies—the Sinnoh, Kanto and Johto regions." Misty glanced at Brock while Ash recalled the massive weapons on the shore of Unova.

"Why would they attack Unova?"

"Dragon pokemon." Brock and Misty said in unison.

"When they found out how powerful the first dragon pokemon were after the discover from draognite, they of course went to the source of the powerful pokemon to capture them." Brock elaborated, glancing down at his feet. "Dragon pokemon are considered _legendary_ pokemon amongst normal pokemon."

Ash raised his eyebrows and pursed his lips: "Then what about charizard and gyarados?"

"They might look like dragon pokemon..." Misty laughed nervously, "But _they're not_." She assured him, unsure of a better way to describe the situation.

"Anyways, Unova held their own against Team Rocket, and when Kanto finally got the situation with the microchips under control, it was...well, you saw the pictures." Misty gestured, trying to keep away from the sore subject of Iris, the Dragon trainer champion of the region. "After the attack on Unova, Team Rocket's army basically amounted to a few foot soldiers, and the entire pokemon league was on a man-hunt for the leader. That's when Giovanni came forward and everything matched up; he had been raising an army under the guise of 'students', investing in different kinds of weapons and Silph Co. product. The courts ruled him guilty and he was sentenced to prison for life..."

"...what happened with the microchips?"

Misty grimaced. "Have you ever seen a watermelon fall from a window?" She asked, holding her stomach. Ash's mouth fell agape.

"That's...awful." Ash grunted, choking on his words. Misty glanced over at him and frowned. "That's why they were quickly outlawed, and the pokemon they were installed in were rushed into immediate surgery to have them removed. In the end, it was one horrible distraction so we wouldn't be able to help Unova."

"Is that why the place is quarantined from the rest of the world?" Quickly, Ash turned to face his companions and Brock blinked a few times nervously.

"It's quarantined? Since when?" Brock questioned in surprise. Misty could only stare at Ash.

"I tried to go there and the entire place was shut off. We couldn't even make it to shore before-" Ash trailed off, looking at Misty who raised her eyebrows quizzically, and then he thought better of mentioning his or charizard's injury.

"A woman named Burgundy said that it was only mentioned on a need-to-know basis."

"Did you know anything about this?" Brock snapped, turning to Misty. She shrugged. She had spent a few months in an academy where she listened to a professor talk about the regions and all of their primary goals and agriculture, and their species of pokemon—but she had never heard about the place being _closed off_.

"No, this is news to me. After they fell out of the league like the Kalos region did, Kanto hasn't been involved in their affairs." Misty licked her lips thoughtfully while the words danced from her lips, first questioning why Ash hadn't brought this up before.

"Unova was supposed to be in the process of rebuilding after Team Rocket was defeated—they wanted to rejoin the league the last I heard of them." Misty added, crossing her arms.

"Well..." Ash hummed, looking concerned. "Maybe Team Rocket never left? I mean, did you _see_ Unova after the war, or did you just _assume_? I mean, we didn't hear about Bill's lab for _years_. If they could keep a secret like that on home soil, who is to say that they couldn't hide the status of a region thousands of miles away?"

Neither gym leader had an explanation for the occurrence, in fact, they were flabbergasted for words at the accusation.

"That would explain why they want so much control over the media..." Misty muttered, biting her thumbnail as she sat up. He head was spinning.

"But people still travel over there, _don't they_?" Brock asked suddenly, "I mean, recently there have been many pokemon trainers that...Oh."

"Hiding in plain sight... It's a strategic play." Misty glowered while snatching her phone, she flipped through a few sites, and then smacked her lips. "They, who ever they are, send in updates, but then when trainers try to visit, they _go missing._ " She gestured with her hands for emphasis while Ash gasped.

"They're taking trainers?"  
"They could be." Brock explained while Misty handed her phone to Brock first, the last place listed on the missing trainers goals of travel was none other than the Unova region. They all grimaced.

"Hey, at least we found the link to the missing trainers." Misty hissed while she stood up, grabbed a bundle of her clothes, and stalked off to the bathroom—the boys would have asked where she was going, but they were stunned. Ash read though the list of names and gnawed his bottom lip. What else _could_ he say? Their problems seemed only to escalate, not only was Team Rocket attacking league parties, _now_ they were likely controlling Unova? Ash waited until the bathroom door was closed and locked when Ash huddled in close to Brock to whisper.

"Maybe the trainers who tried to visit were taken because there are balistas on the shore, Brock?" Ash whispered, cupping his mouth with his hand. Brock shuddered.

"Balistas?" he echoed.

Ash gestured with his hands, and elaborated with terror and enthusiasm—Pikachu and togepi joined in thoughtfully.

"I was _literally_ shot out of the sky when I got near that place! They have to be hiding something there." Ash hissed quietly holding up his shirt to show Brock the neat scar he carried because of it. Brock's mouth opened, and then closed.

Brock wanted to argue. "But that doesn't explain why Team Rocket would bring illegal chips to an official pokemon league party? If they control Unova and have captured trainers, what was the point of pestering Kanto officials?"

Ash raised his eyebrows, and then sat aback. There were many answers for that question that would be _possible_.

"That I don't know." Ash mumbled.

"Maybe they were trying to kidnap other trainers pokemon?" Misty asked, emerging from the sower wearing a set of baggy pajamas. Ash inhaled, finally having a moment to speak his peace.

"About that... I don't think Jessie and James were—well, it's weird they would let everyone out, and let me and _my_ pokemon go without a struggle. I mean Jessie knocked me out cold; there was no reason she should have left my pokemon alone."

Misty murmured something under her breath while she grabbed the first aid kid from beneath the bathroom sink in the washroom. She approached Ash who grimaced outwardly—Misty was anything but _gentle_ when it came to patching him up. She cracked the box open while Brock awaited a reply. He winced when the clean towel brushed over his bruised lip, but didn't fight her.

"Like you said, it's a little weird that they would break the door open if the intention was the steal everyone's pokemon. Maybe they were creating an escape route? Maybe they were trying to help everyone get away— _maybe they aren't_ working with Team Rocket?" he said hopefully as Misty placed a butterfly strip over his lip to seal the wound.

Brock snorted. "Are you trying to say that Jessie and James are _good_? You know you're talking about one of the most well-known, non-convicted criminals, right? They've stolen more than one thousand pokemon around the world for Giovanni during Team Rocket's hay days."

Ash's eyebrows scrunched up cutely, partially because of Brock's statement, but also because of Misty applying pressure to his bruised eye. "Well, I'm not saying they're _good_ , I'm just saying that maybe they're not working with Team Rocket."

Misty "How do we know that Jessie and James aren't working _for_ Team Rocket, and whoever had those microchips isn't _someone else_ entirely? A third party." she suggested once more, concentrated on causing Ash less pain. He winced once more.

"Why else would known Team Rocket members seek to sabotage a set up like that? Maybe it's not just one group." she added hotly.

Brock leaned back in his chair. "Don't say that...that makes this _much_ worse."

They sat in silence for a while, Misty pressing Ash's wound until it was clean. She wiped her thumb against them gently once they were properly bandaged, causing Ash to wince and swat her hand away once more.

"Thanks." He murmured catching the concern in her eyes before Brock rudely interrupted.

"So, what's the plan then?" He asked suddenly, look between the two of them.

Misty licked her lips. "We could go investigate Unova?"

"Not an option." Brock said quickly, glancing at Ash, knowing that he kept the _shot out of the sky_ from Misty intentionally. "I mean, we should think smaller right now; maybe try to find whoever gave authorization to create these microchips again?"

Misty quirked her eyebrow at his objection, and then smacked her lips. "We could do that. Like Gary said, Silph Co. has a manufacturing office in Viridian City. As an Elite Four member now they should let me in without a problem and we have his consent."

A silence rushed between them, each lost in their own thoughts. Ash wondered how long things had been such a mess—first Kanto, then Unova, and now _this_. There was no telling who they could trust and who they couldn't. Suddenly, the small circle of friends they had seemed twice as important, and Ash felt _slightly_ strangled.

"How many people do you think are in on this?" Misty voiced her concerns as she slumped from Ash's bed, back to her own. Togepi greeted her their in an attempt to solicit his happy nature, which Misty accepted gratefully. Snuggling into the pokemon as Ash imagined she did many times in his dream.

"...We can't be sure." Brock said. "Other gym leaders, maybe? I didn't get a chance to see who all was still in the building when everyone attacked."

"Then it's settled," As interjected. "We leave for Viridian City in the morning!" Ash announced boldly, and the duo nodded.

"I was supposed to attend my first Elite Four meeting in the morning, but because of the most recent attacks, maybe it's best to wait to make my official introductions until _after_ we've seen if the league is trying to sell these microchips once more."

"I couldn't agree more." Ash said nonchalantly, elated that Misty knew better than to put herself in danger. It was, unfortunately a trait he didn't share in.

"What about you Brock?"

"Well, I put in a week's vacation at the gym for this party." Brock explained. "I have time to check out Viridian City and while we are there, we can let Agatha know what happened; maybe find out if Dr. Abby knows more about this Sebastian character you mentioned earlier, Ash."

Ash nodded, though Misty had already turned over, exhausted while she blinked up at the ceiling. Thinking of Sebastian's presence at the party. He complicated things. While he had been _odd_ before, Misty never associated the man with Team Rocket. In fact, outside of Ash's description of Jessie and James, she wasn't sure _who_ was there. She knew who they were... but... her head hurt from thinking about it. While Ash went to change into his pajamas, Brock removed his vest and shoes and set up the couch to sleep on. Ash would have offered Brock his spare set—but Brock was much taller than Ash was and their clothes wouldn't have fit.

When the lights were off and pikachu was neatly settled into Ash's chest, and togepi into Misty's. Ash finally grinned, in spite of himself and the situation. Finally, after almost a full year apart, the three of them were together once again. While the situation that brought them together wasn't _the best_ , it still brought them back together as a group, and the joy radiating throughout Ash's body made him sing internally. Now, they only needed to fix the problems they were faced with, return the balance to the world and stop Team Rocket, and then Ash could return to a normal life; he could help his mother, visit his brother, hang out with his friends and travel, and the world would _finally_ be complete. If they worked together, Ash grinned, he didn't think there was much that they couldn't do.

 **Author's Note:**

So, we put chips in our animals heads. We tag our cows, we mark our horses. Why _wouldn't_ that be an option for pokemon? Given their high intelligence and freewill, though, I would assume such a heinous invention would be _illegal_ , but not unheard of. Also, sorry guys, I know that this might have not been as exciting as everyone was hoping for! ;w; bare with meeeee!

ALSO, hi guys! For those of you who don't follow my tumblr (I think all of you don't XD) I'll just rehash quickly why this chapter took so long.

I was in a car accident on the 21, whoop whoop! Both drivers are okay, but I am still a little beaten up from it and am currently on certain pain meds that make me feel really loopy haha. I'm not sure how much of this chapter makes sense, but as I'm re-reading it...I think it's okay!? I will have to check again when I'm not high as a kite, but for now, I leave you with:

TO THOSE OF YOU OLD ENOUGH TO DRIVE **BE SAFE ON THE ROAD** , to those of you who are not driving yet, tell the people you get into vehicles with to drive safely. Don't text on your cell phones and run stop signs—that ruins peoples day, man. DX and my car... ;w;

NINT


	37. Chapter 37: The calm before the storm

**Locked Away Chapter 37**

Misty didn't sleep well—maybe a few hours here and there, but the majority of her time was spent tossing and turning, watching the dark ceiling, and listening to Ash and Brock's interesting tales of snoring. Yesterday's ordeals weighed heavy over their shoulders, a harsh reminder that life was never as simple as it should have been—and likely never would be again.

Misty sighed, rolling over to view the electronic clock. A quarter after five, the sun was rising behind the dark curtains, and her head throbbed from sleep deprivation and possible dehydration. She pulled herself out of bed, making sure not to disturb togepi as she maneuvered herself to the floor, and shambled toward the bathroom. First, she noticed how sore her muscles were; the remaining effects of the shock waves of explosions and adrenaline that vibrated through her entire body from the party. However, her muscles were nothing in comparison to the ache of her feet—she could hardly walk straight—with a bruised ankle, and sore pads from the heels she wore yesterday, she wanted to scream. Luckily, she clutched at the edge of Ash's tall bed for support, and all but crawled to the bathroom for relief. Her bag of clothes was still huddled in the corner from the previous night, below her tattered blue dress, which hung on the back of the door. She shut the door before thumbing for the lights, and then exhaled once the searing golden rays penetrated her pupils.

She blinked a few times to adjust, nearly tripped over Ash's discarded suit, and swore _loudly_ in spite of herself. Slapping her lips with her hands to prevent further swearing, she muddled through Ash's suit, as well as the white cardigan she lent him, which was stained with drops of his blood.

A crack flashed through her eyes as she dropped the cover into the sink and ran water over the top to remove the rustic scent from the cloth. She scrubbed once or twice, but the stains seemed irremovable. Realizing such effort was a lost cause, she flicked the cardigan into the trash bin beside the sink, and then slowly pulled Ash's suit together. The suit was torn at the cuffs, the white shirt was padded with dirt and drops of blood, and she could have swore at him for damaging such an expensive rental—but the seeping fear in her chest was a reminder that they were all in danger. This could have been a lot worse.

After the suit was moderately placed back into its plastic protection, Misty licked her dry lips recalling the party for the millionth time; trying to reminiscence every detail, every face—anything that seemed suspicious before the doors were blasted to hell. As always, she could think of nothing else but the pound of her head, and she let out a frustrated sigh before slipping out of her clothes, and into the shower.

Thirty minutes later, when she had pulled on a pair of jeans, a red tank top and a yellow vest, she unlocked the bathroom door, expecting to see the boys still snoring. Unexpectedly, they were both awake, struggling to pull their gear and minds together. The moment Misty stepped out of the bathroom, Brock cut in with an abrupt, "I have to pee!" and nearly knocked her over on his way inside.

Ash stifled his laugh while preparing for their travels. Togepi had crawled into Ash's lap for cuddles when Misty left, and she suspected that the small egg was the reason anyone was up.

Ash yawned, and glanced over his shoulder at the redhead;

"Are you okay?" He murmured tiredly, knowing well enough that she was not-much of a morning person. Her mind was elsewhere when her eyes drew to him and she let out a strangled, pessimistic noise in return.

"I should be asking you that: you look like a bruised peach." She laughed under her breath while approaching him.

Instinctively, he attempted to move away from her, but a smothered togepi kept him in place, and he swallowed hard at her intense gaze. Carefully, she hooked the point of his chin between her thumb and index fingers and reefed his face forward to get a closer look at his injuries. His lip was a giant, ugly, red scab that she touched briefly with her thumb to watch him flinch anxiously. The minor first aid she applied yesterday seemed to do the job of keeping out infection, but she was still moderately surprised that his eye hadn't swollen shut—Ash's eyes wandered everywhere but to her—begging for Brock to hurry when he heard the shower-tap start.

Inwardly, he groaned. Figures Brock would steal the second shower—but Ash couldn't complain when Misty brushed her cold hand over his bruised eye then said, "Man, they really did a number on you, didn't they?"

His right eye was swollen, luckily, not swollen closed, and the white of his eye was pure red, causing the brown of his iris to glow. His skin was a bit darker, so the yellows didn't protrude as neatly, but his hair had matted to his face during sleep; put simply, he looked as if a geodude had clobbered his face.

"You shouldn't worry so much about me when you're clearly the most injured one here." Misty scolded playfully before releasing him from her grasp. He watched her intently for a moment when she reeled backwards, and flopped onto her bed with an obnoxious sigh. A faint blush crossed Ash's cheeks when he watched her.

"Sorry." He grumbled, and raised his eyebrows. "How's your ankle?"

Misty's lips pursed, she wasn't aware that Ash noticed she hurt her ankle; but apparently his observation skills had gotten better.

"I just rolled it when I was wearing my heels, it's much better today." Sitting up, she shifted her weight onto the palms of her hands, and looked directly at Ash, who blinked in return.

Since the first time they 'met' in the hospital, conversation had always been moderately easy between the duo, few moments of childish outburst, and less moments of mild anger and frustration. They shared a thousand different conversations and jokes; _moments._ But none ever so _awkward_ as the day after being legitimately attacked by whoever they had been chasing the last few months. Honestly, Ash wasn't sure if he should question what happened between them _before_ the party—the feelings leading up to this, or the _events_ of the party. Surely, some heavy repercussions would follow for announcing Team Rocket's presence at a league party, but when he thought to speak—no words came out.

For Misty, the pressure was a bit different—she knew that Ash was tough, in his own way. He had been through _a lot_ more than most people ever would in their lives, but looking at his worn and bruised face, she felt a brief helplessness she had never before; and a deep, buried anger. A part of her wanted to lash out at Team Rocket for attacking him— _them_ \- at the party, but another part of her knew that this was bound to happen at some point.

"...that's great." Came the delayed response from Ash when he finally tore his eyes away from her green ones. Her chest lowered when she rose to her feet, and pointed around the room.

"We should get ready to go while Brock is showering." She muttered, trying to busy herself.

Ash followed monotonously, shifting around the room with pikachu at his heels, and togepi at Misty's, they fell into the morning routine they kept at Misty's residence: clean up, and start the day. Since they hadn't spent much time in the hotel room, there wasn't a lot to clean up, but Misty spent a good portion of her time separating important items between her suitcase and traveling bag. She made sure to bring spare clothes, and then crammed the rest of her unimportant belongings into her suitcase.

All reminiscence of yesterday had been washed away or removed, aside from her black heels that glared at her from the corner of the room where she had discarded them. When she picked them up off of the floor, she didn't hesitate dropping them into the garbage bin. Ash had been in the middle of some lighthearted joke about Misty's sisters likely freaking out, when her phone started to ring.

The duos eyes fell onto the black object, and Misty twisted forward to grab it from the nightstand, and check the number. Whoever it was, they hadn't been saved to her contacts, so she shrugged at Ash, and answered while Ash took a seat beside her, and removed the remove from her fingers.

"Hello?" Misty responded hesitantly, Ash _tried_ not to eavesdrop, but his eyes turned at her regardless, he thumbed through television stations to appear 'busy' but his mind was trained on Misty.

"Is this Misty Waterflower?"

Misty swallowed and said, "Yes" weakly. "And who is this?" She inhaled, regaining her confidence.

"Lorelei—" the woman on the phone answered naturally. "Where are you? Your first meeting started fifteen minutes ago. Not a very good first impression."

Suddenly, the redhead's rage returned and she smacked her lips. "Really? I was under the impression I had a pass on my 'introduction meeting' given the circumstances last night." her voice carried a distinct sour tone to it that made Ash's eyes turn to the screen ahead of him, sweating.

"Oh, don't be dramatic! You're still expected to complete your duties."

"Really? That's easy for you to say, seeing as you and the other members seemed to be missing in action so easily!" Misty roared back, clutching her phone violently. Lorelei's voice seemed strained, unimpressed on the other side.

"Now, now, calm down." For a faint second Misty heard Lorelei speaking to another person in a muffled tone. She had covered the receiver and Misty groaned.

"Technically, my first _league meeting_ isn't until next week—so maybe you should try calling back then!" her voice boomed through the small room while she violently pressed the end call button, startling Brock as he exited the bathroom, and causing Ash to jump beside her.

Only, Ash's attention had fallen to the news, where last night was once again an ugly scar dampening the situation. Nervously, he tugged on Misty's shoulder before she started her angry tirade, and pointed dejectedly at the television screen. The phone clutched tightly between her fingers slipped, and her entire body collapsed on itself as Brock approached, mouth wide.

"Newest political leader, Misty Waterflower: the regions best interests at heart, or insane?"

"..What?" Misty echoed quietly when both Ash and Brock's eyes turned at her, questioning what her reaction would be.

"Just stay calm, getting upset isn't going to fix this." Ash tried to cool the coals before they erupted, but it was too late, she grabbed the remote from his fingers as the news anchor started remedying the events of last night, twisting them to fit into a small box: that it wasn't really Team Rocket, because they've been disbanded for years. The anchor had just finished taking some of Dawn's interview out of context to fit the bill that Misty was, indeed, crazy, when she lugged the small remote through the LED television.

Sparks flew in every direction, and both Ash and Brock cowered behind one another, grabbing pikachu and togepi and keeping them away from the sparks while Misty heaved, and then curled her hands into fists and started swearing. Sleep deprivation didn't bod well for the young water pokemon trainer. She wasn't thinking clearly.

"They're making me out to be a laughing stock!" Misty glowered. Her phone started ringing again while Brock and Ash shared a look—wondering how long the news had been cycling through this information.

"What?!" She snapped at the caller, a smooth voice followed; Lance, another Elite Four member.

"Are you coming to the meeting?" He asked, though Misty was fuming and when she stomped her foot, she drilled her finger violently against the end-call button, violently shouting; "No!"

"Mis-isty, the TV, you just-"

"I know!" She snapped at Ash, who yelped and felt his eyebrow twitch. Luckily for them, the room wasn't equip with another television for her to lose her temper over, so after a brief simmer, and a look of utmost concern reflected through Ash's eyes, she settled, and fell backwards onto the edge of her bed.

Clutching her forehead, she curled her knees up to her chin and exhaled a few times. Ash's heart ached, she looked so small. When he shared a look with Brock, the latter had already moved to comfort her naturally.

"Misty, it's okay. You have to remember that people will believe _anything_ before they believe that Team Rocket is responsible. That was only one news channel—they can't _all_ be saying that. I mean, there were at least a dozen people injured at the party. The truth has a way of-"

Misty reeled backwards, needing space. "But don't you get it? They want me to look crazy because _they_ control the media. The truth means nothing if there is no way to obtain it." She said quietly, pathetically rubbing her temples as she moved toward the exit.

"Misty-!" Ash called to her when she pulled open the door of the hotel room, and she breathed.

"I just need a minute. Get ready to go." She managed, leaving the boys standing.

"...She has quite the temper." Stroking his chin, Brock muttered to Ash, who raised his eyebrows.

Should he go after her? His eyebrows lowered sadly when he nudged togepi and pikachu to follow after the redhead instead, and then shrugged to Brock.

"She doesn't..." Ash replied in her defense, then his eyes fell onto the destroyed television. "At least...not usually..." _Not recently_.

 **XOXs**

Of course she was mad! Less now that she she wasn't confined to the four walls of their shared room, but she was still upset. They had been attacked, and they were calling _her_ crazy? If it hadn't been for her and Dawn, everyone might have just remained in a panicked ball for the rest of the night.

Following only the click of her bare feet against the carpet—she had neglected shoes by mistake-she tucked her hands into her jean pockets and decided to take the stairs in an attempt to clear her head. Before her foot touched the first step, togepi and pikachu stepped down with her, and she sighed happily at them.

"Togeebrii" The small egg said in support while pikachu jumped from the floor, taking perch on her shoulder. Since the pokemon lost weight, he was much lighter, and Misty didn't seem to mind his weight on her shoulder. Oddly enough, she found it quite comforting.

"Hey, guys." She mused pathetically while they chirped their enthusiasm her way. They would cheer her up if it was the last thing they did.

The hotel was accustom to breakfast, so she made her way down the three floors and into the small dining hall where she slipped into habitual movements of gathering a few muffins and fruit onto a plate, and found a seat nearest the television set since she destroyed hers, a decision she was now chiding herself over relentlessly. Misty nestled into the booth with pikachu and togepi and let them nip at the fruit she gathered, while she listened.

"Threats of Team Rocket escalate once more after a supposed bombing at the League official headquarters last night-" Misty cupped her chin watching the appearance of a man in glasses who continued to explain the situation.

"At least a dozen pokemon trainers were admitted to Viridian City hospital last night after an incident related to active explosives destroyed the front of the grand lobby of the latest pokemon league party. After newest Elite Four member, Misty Waterflower, was quoted on stage saying "Team Rocket is in the building", an immediate explosion followed. What the people want to know—is how or why she believed it was Team Rocket?" He paused, smacking his lips together in an 'all knowing' manner that sent chills down Misty's side. She fumed, her appetite suddenly gone while she tucked her head below her hands to avoid stares. The man on the screen continued;

"Some people are saying she's too young to lead a region. One well known trainer in particular, Dawn Matthews, had this to say:

"Uhh," Dawn's face appeared on screen, her make-up was smeared and her dress was ruined. This was clearly the footage from last night, right after she left the building. Misty could see Gary standing beside her, clearly uncomfortable with all the cameras while the news reporter wedged a microphone in front of her face, instead of asking if she was alright.

"What do you think of the newest Elite Four member? What about what happened at the party?"

"She's a good leader, but" Her face turned away, as if distracted by something off screen when she spoke. "She hasn't always been the most stable."

Misty paused, then grabbed the waitress beside her and pointed at the screen. "Can you reverse that?" She asked, and the woman shrugged Misty's tight fingers away and scoffed with a tired 'no', before storming off.

Misty's eyes returned to the screen—it had only been for a minute, but she was sure that the words weren't moving with Dawn's mouth—it didn't even sound like the young woman. Seconds later, the interview continued, with the scene skipped to where Dawn was looking at the camera once more;more irritated than before.

"Team Rocket has been gone for years, bu-..." The film skipped, and Misty dug her nails into the table. "Why would anyone attack the league?" Dawn's picture was quickly removed, and Misty's stomach churned at the response—they were changing statements, Dawn was _clearly_ not being quoted accurately. Her words were being manipulated to suit what the media wanted her to say.

Dawn must not have known about the changes yet—since she hadn't tried to call Misty and verify what had happened last night. It was still relatively early in comparison, only a partial of the region was waking up before seven. The stiff man in glasses, with his mock glare, and up-turned lips caused Misty to shudder.

"Clearly, what ever happened last night might have been a political attempt to create hysteria in the region. The young miss Waterflower has not been quiet about her desire for change in the region, and perhaps she believes _fear_ will work as a guide to the people of Kanto and Johto?-" before the man on screen could ask his colleague for her opinion, Misty exhaled, a little more depressed now than angry, and started back towards her room. Beside her, both togepi and pikachu shared a concerned look, before chasing her up the stairs and leaving their penniless meal on the table.

 **XOXs**

"I should have known this was going to happen." Ash sighed, having just stepped out of the shower.

Like Misty had for him, he took her ruined dress; recalling briefly how _amazing_ she looked in it, before he tucked it back into the plastic she left on the armchair.

"If she had not said what she did at the party—things could have been a lot worse, especially if you're right about Team Rocket intentionally sabotaging the _real_ plan by blowing up those doors." Brock guessed, knitting his eyebrows together. Ash sighed in response, knowing Misty well enough that such words would do little to ease her troubled mind.

"I suppose..." He started. "But we should really get on the road before the press finds out where Misty's staying." Ash nodded to Brock, who left his suit jacket and vest on a hanger beside Misty's dress, and opted to leave his white undershirt unchecked with his black slacks—he wasn't in the most comfortable attire to travel. Hopefully, the group would be willing to stop at _his_ motel for a change of clothes.

Ash was at the door moments later, red cap on his damp black hair with Misty's travel bag tossed over his shoulder and her phone placed carefully in his back pocket. Misty decided earlier that morning that she would leave her suitcase there and send her sisters for it at a later time. There was no way they were going to lug a weeks worth of clothes around with them on their return to Viridian City. All they wanted to focus on now was what that chip they found was, and their best answer was at the Silph Co. manufacturing plant in Viridian City. The few times Ash had visited Viridian City, he saw the outside of the tall building across from the even larger pokemon centers. From his room in the hospital, he could see both like a looming reminder of the changes in this world.

Meanwhile, Brock smiled behind Ash, and clasped him on the shoulder tentatively, in an attempt to remind him that he had his back. "We will figure all of this out." Brock managed. "I swear."

"I know. I just hope Misty realizes that. She's the one taking the brunt of the damage right now." Ash sighed, while rubbing the back of his neck.

"She's a tough girl. If there's anyone who can handle all of this terrible news media—it's Misty." Brock said affirmatively. While Brock spoke, Ash pulled open the hotel room door and stopped when sea-green eyes met with his brown.

"-Hey!" Ash gasped, astounded when she replied with a sweet, sincere grin. Pikachu was popped onto her shoulder, and togepi was cupped gently between her arms when she lunged herself forward to grab both Brock and Ash into a tight hug, nearly dropping togepi in the midst.

"Thank you both." Misty hummed, their confidence in her was only a small reminder that even if the world was out to get her, she was never alone.

 **XOXs**

Brock was staying the cheap "Motel Grand Prix" which was a joke of a motel, if Misty ever knew one. It was just about three blocks away from Misty's hotel, but on the duller side of town. Brock chose to stay there because of the price first, and secondly because he felt more at home around people who were not 'rich'.

Before heading to Viridian City, their goal was Brock's motel; Misty was busy checking out and having the bell-boy place her remaining items into the safe deposit box until her sisters could come buy and pick it up for her. However, before they left, Misty changed into a borrowed-hoodie from Ash that she could hide her hair with, and sighed at the heat. Summers spent in a hoodie weren't really her _thing_ but, she couldn't complain—at least it would keep the stares and vulturous media at bay for the time being.

"Man, Misty," Ash sneered in a mock-laugh. "I haven't seen you so _dressed up_ in awhile." he laughed, adjusting to seeing her dressed down once more. The last time she wore anything less than her Misty attire was their short trip through route twenty-five, an adventure that felt like forever ago.

"It suits you." Brock added in a mock tone, stifling his laughter. Misty's fists met both of their shoulders and they chuckled on their way out of the building when a hushed voice caught their attention at the front desk.

"Have you seen Misty Waterflower?" The woman asked, her purple hair gleaming brightly under the tall lights of the hotel. She wore a red tube-top under a black cardigan that barely contained her bursting bust, and a slimming pencil skirt.

"That's Lorelei." Misty gasped suddenly, recognizing the woman right away—more importantly, wondering how in the world the Elite Four member found her! Misty didn't tell anyone aside from Ash and Brock where she was staying.

Worriedly, she added; "How did they know where I was staying?"

Ash's attention fell entirely on the woman, and then on Misty who seemed genuinely concerned—should he have been concerned as well? It was _odd_ , but Misty _was_ skipping out on meetings. Wouldn't they look for her regardless? Now with the new reports, their looking for her almost seemed natural. Brock cleared his throat a minute later for the duo to look at the doors in front of them, where the large, fighting-type pokemon trainer who had a problem keeping his shirt on; also known as Bruno; leered down at Brock.

"Hey, there, Waterflower, where are you going so early in the morning?" When he spoke his voice carried high above everyone else—he was easily seven foot tall—at least that's what it felt like to Misty, Ash, and Brock, who with a combined effort slowly huddled together and blinked worried at the tall man. He _looked_ friendly enough; but that didn't ease their suspicions.

"For a walk." Misty gasped, noting right away that Lorelei's attention was turned to the front entrance. She approached the trio as Bruno crossed his terrifying, bulky arms.

"For a walk? We had a meeting all prepared for you and you never showed up. You can't blow off duties just because you feel like meddling with the natural order of things." Bruno joked, almost sweetly—well, however sweet a _giant_ could sound. Ash, in an attempt to be brave, stared down Bruno when Lorelei clasped her hand on Misty's shoulder to tug her away.

Instinctively, two arms went up, one from Ash grabbing her right hand, and another from Brock, grabbing her left hand—keeping her in place at their side. Lorelei smacked her lips and raised an eyebrow.

"Calm down, we're just here to check up on her." She commended smoothly with a voice as clear and sultry as butter—Brock's knees went weak, but a hushed glare from Misty kept him rooted.

"I told you I wasn't going—besides, how did you two find me?" Misty wondered aloud, making eye contact with Lorelei, her childhood idol, who pushed on the rim of her glasses.

"Well, this meeting was rather important: it was your introduction to the Elite Four..." Lorelei eyed Bruno who nodded his agreement and Misty fidgeted, releasing Ash and Brock's grip on her wrists to fold her arms.

"I thought that I would wait until all of this news stuff blew over before making my first introduction." Misty offered as a practicality, but Lorelei scoffed.

"You were so quick to accuse Team Rocket, and now you want to hide from the press? My, my, you have _so_ much to learn." Lorelei waved her hand at Misty. "Why don't you cut the nonsense and we'll help you explain that you didn't know what you were talking about."

"Excuse me?" Misty nearly roared. "Maybe if _you_ weren't missing conveniently, you would know that I _do_ know what I'm talking about! Where's your alibi, anyways, huh? Where _were you guys_ while I was trying to maintain peace after the explosion?" While Misty carried on, Ash's eyes fell on the entrance once more, where shocking red hair pressed through the glass behind Bruno and made his way to the group. Ash nudged Brock to look away from Lorelei. Staring back at them were the sharp eyes of Lance, scowling at the trio while he pat Bruno on the arm.

"We don't _need_ an alibi, Waterflower." Lance scolded. "We're the Elite Four." He whispered in a champions voice, as if the idea would sway Misty's temper.

It did not. In fact, Misty felt gross, and she reacted in such a manner, taking a full step away from the rest of the Elite Four who stood in front of them.

"Well, if being an Elite Four means we can make our own rules—then my first rule is that you can blow it out of your-"

"Misty." Ash nudged her, pointing to the red and blue lights outside of the hotel, while Brock saw the increase of peers surrounding them. Even if Misty was 'hidden' under her hood, Bruno, Lance, and Lorelei were known well enough throughout the plateau that they wouldn't be missed. Especially not the three of them at once.

"Dear, why don't you stop acting like a child and we can sort out this mess?" Lorelei extended her hand to Misty, with a sweet, benign look that seemed more traitorous and dangerous than it seemed sincere. The three elite's clearly ignored Brock and Ash's appearances at Misty's side.

"I mean, you can come with us...or make an official statement with the police—your choice." Lance added harshly, placing his hands on his hips.

Sharply Misty inhaled, neither option was optimal, and both would be detrimental—either way, she would end up back at the Elite Four building, trapped there for however long they deemed necessary and no one would bat an eye. Misty wasn't stupid, they tracked her down—put her into a social situation so she wouldn't 'act out', well, apparently, they hadn't met Ash Ketchum before.

Ash winked at pikachu, realizing the hostility. Whether Misty had a plan or not, whether Brock advised against it or not, Ash made the decision for the group. _They_ weren't taking Misty, and they were walking out of here—one way or another. Without an exchange of words, the electric mouse jumped forward, landing at the top of the entrance doors, much to the gasp of everyone present.

"Ash, what are you-!" Misty yelped when a spark of lightning surged through the building, erupting the lights and bursting them one after another when Ash grabbed her and yanked her forward.

The sudden surge of lights and mini explosions ruptured terror through the gathered crowd while the three Elite Four members covered their faces. Brock followed a foot step behind Ash and Misty, catching pikachu off the door frame. Before the police officers managed to get out of their cars, Ash, Brock, Misty and their pokemon darted across the street. Behind them, they could hear the police shout, and also the summoning of Lorelei and Lance's pokemon.

An ice beam meant to stop them, carried out from a very angry Lorelei. They were using pokemon to attack humans—to attack _them._ Ash realized right away that the police made no movement to stop the attack, so while they jumped to avoid the first ice beam, Misty reefed her hand away from Ash's. She gripped a ball on her waist, prepared to call out a pokemon in their defense when after the second beam was being charged, togepi lurched from Ash's shoulder and with a shrill battle cry, erupted in a blue shield that deflected the second attack.

"Safe guard!" Ash grinned, wanting to clap himself on the back. After deflecting the attack, togepi sunk back down from the sky, falling into Misty's arms who caught the pokemon in a twirl and grinned.

"When did you learn that?" She asked sweetly,

"Ask questions later, run now!" Brock grimaced, seeing the large pokemon emerge from the pokeball Lance had thrown. Ash and Misty agreed unanimously, and then they dipped into the alleyway, skipped over dumpsters and fences, and _ran_ as fast as their legs could carry them.

 **XOXs**

They were at the edge of the plateau, huffing from exhaustion when they fell at the base of a tree behind the train station.

Taking a train to Viridian City was clearly out—the Elite Four had already arrived at the station, and were waiting patiently for them to appear with dragonite watching the skies. Ash had never seen the pokemon in the real world before—and was petrified at its size. The dragonite Ash remembered was a funny, happy-looking, seven foot creature with small wings. _This_ , was a monster. A _dragon_ type, he echoed in his own mind.

With the shadows of the trees as their disguise, Brock and Misty seemed unfazed at the lumbering pokemon above them.

"My feet are killing me." Brock gestured to his feet, rubbing his calves. Misty exhaled, her hair falling into her face while she laughed.

"Try wearing heels."

Their nonchalant personality seemed to disturb Ash as he looked on at the monster overhead. Comparatively, dragonite was still large in his dreams, but this one...its wing span was greater. When the pokemon extended his wings, a vortex opened up in the skies, spreading leaves and debris around. The pokemon's skin was like an aged leather, brown and tough, but silky enough to appear graceful, unlike charizard and gyarados, which had small scales over their bodies. When it roared above the sky, it seemed less menacing than a charizard, but its scale and height far rivaled that of the flame pokemon. Ash covered his ears to dim the loud cry of the dragon.

"Why are they chasing us?" Ash finally managed, shuffling through his pocket where he grabbed Misty's phone by mistake, and then his pokedex.

Misty's face scrunched up and she wiped her brow of sweat; wearing a sweater jacket was not her best idea. "I can imagine it's because they think I might be rogue—or crazy...or you know, on to them." She muttered, getting a nod from Brock.

"You don't think they'll try to remove you from the position for this, do you?" Brock gestured to the sky above at dragonite, and Ash swallowed hard.

"Only if I miss an official meeting, or do something illegal." Misty huffed, squatting. Ash fumbled through his pokedex, reading everything he could about the dragon pokemon, and then looked up at Misty and Brock desperately.

"Why is it so big? It's almost the size of a train cart!" He muttered, leaning forward to keep his voice down. Brock and Misty shared a look, the size was not abnormal for the two of them, but Ash probably had never seen a real, fully grown dragonite.

"It's a dragon type." Misty said as if it was normal. "They get bigger with age." She explained though they didn't have time to go into detail. The police were filling the train station, talking on their radios and pointing around—the goup needed to clear out of here now, and it appeared that walking was going to be their only option.

When dragonite squealed above them once more, Misty got to her feet, and shoved the two boys deeper into the forest.

So much for a relaxing train ride.

 **XOXS**

They didn't have a map, which should have been their first clue that they would get lost. Secondly, they didn't have any flying pokemon to scout out the area, that should have been their _next_ clue. They wondered around until late after noon, had a small lunch that consisted of berries and some rations from their traveling pack. However, rations were unnecessary with Brock around—he could cook _anything_ out everything. He was a culinary genius.

Somehow, Brock was capable of creating salads from otherwise unappetizing ingredients—and his knowledge of berries, leaves, fruits and vegetables of the forest was uncanny, and unbelievably useful. After lunch and a short rest, they followed the river—deciding it would be the safest way to arrive in Viridian city rather than crossing through 'bee-drill' territory, which inhabited the western part of the forest; they would need to loop around, and head onto the northern pass toward Pewter City and then back down into Viridian City to arrive safely.

...Also, because Misty didn't like bugs—she especially didn't like bee-drill.

Just a few hours before sun down, they were completely enveloped in the sound of the trees and the embodiment of the forest—long gone were the sounds of the plateau, of the dragonite looking for them, or the busy streets of the league headquarters. It was relaxing, and in favor of _relaxing_ , Brock finally called it quits.

"I hate to be this guy, but I have to stop." Brock gasped at approximately a quarter after six. Misty frowned, as did Ash.

"What for?" Ash asked when Brock stopped to lean against the tree. Since they were unable to stop at his motel, he had only his pokemon and the clothes on his back. Unlike Ash and Misty, he had no pack to carry—but, he was still in slacks and dress shoes from the party.

"My feet are killing me, I'm sure I have blisters." Brock groaned, sitting on an available tree stump beside a fallen tree.

Misty and Ash looked down at their own feet, which were covered in the protective nature of hiking sneakers, and then looked sadly at one another.

"No, it's okay. We can always get to Viridian City in the morning." Misty complimented, approaching Brock and shuffling her backpack off of her shoulders. Since their walk began, she had ditched the hoodie and vest, and walked with only her red tank-top over her shoulders. Ash followed suit, removing his light jacket previously, an act he never had to commit in his dreams because the heat never seemed to bother him, but at least _now_ , he was able to keep up with Misty. It was nice being physically prepared for everything for once.

"Don't feel bad, Brocko, you should have seen me on my first day out of the assisted living home. I made the fast route to Pallet Town take three times longer than it should have." He laughed while clasping Brock on the shoulders.

Behind them, pikachu and togepi didn't hesitate to jump into the bank of the river, flipping water over their hot bodies and sighing. Not a single cloud hung in the sky above, but the sun radiated heat like a fire.

Misty followed suit, rolling her pants up, ditching her sweaty shoes and socks, and then all but dived into the water. Her feet went first, and then she sat on the bank and fell backwards. Brock and Ash followed her over, rolled their pants to their knees, and dipped their feet into the water after removing their shoes and socks. Brock hadn't been lying, his feet _were_ torn up. Misty winced upon seeing them when Ash took a seat on the opposite side of her and splashed his glove-less hands into the water with a sigh.

Silence ruptured between them, the only noise was the occasional tweet of a happy togepi, and an excited pikachu while they splashed in the water beside them. The forest was so peaceful; it would have been easy to forget that they were being followed, _hunted_ , by the Elite Four, under the suspicions of Team Rocket, and under a constant threat of _what is going to happen next_? For a moment, they were three friends traveling, on an adventure in the forest. Ash couldn't have been happier.

"You know, traveling the world without anyone else around was fun.." Ash broke the silence with a proud gleam in his eye. "But traveling with old friends is even better."

Misty snorted and rolled her eyes in retort, though Brock seemed genuinely happy to be included in that statement. "O _ld friends_." She mocked. "Ash, we haven't even known you for a year."

Ash's lips pursed and he narrowed his eyes at Misty. "So?" He questioned, and looked away cutely when she shoved his shoulder.

"Let's catch some dinner." She mused, standing up in the water. Ash watched her questionably, and then glanced at Brock.

"...catch...dinner?" Brock groaned when Misty reached the center of the stream, the water reached up to her thighs, though she didn't seem to mind that she would get wet.

"Right! You know, _fish_!" She chirped, looking into the water while togepi and pikachu crawled out, being sure not to disturb the water.

"Pfft. You're not going to catch a fish with your hands, Misty." Ash mocked, pointing at her. "We should make some kind of fishing line or a-"

She ducked, and then seconds later pulled out a flopping fish that gleamed with the colors of a rainbow, and Ash and Brock's mouths opened wide while she looked at them skeptically. It was complete luck, but she wasn't going to let them know that.

"I'm sorry, what was that? I couldn't hear you over the sound of my fish!" And then she threw it at Ash, whacking him in the face so all of the slimy moisture gesticulated onto his clothes and face as it slipped down. He all but yelped, trying to grab the fish from his body.

"M-Misty!" He shouted while both Brock and Misty laughed. Beside him pikachu was in hysteria, kicking his feet to and from and rolling back and forth when Ash finally got a grip on the fish and lurched it back at her.

"Ash! Don't throw my fish! That's dinner!" She screamed, but it was followed by an obnoxious, overwhelming splash from the raven-haired boy—his attempt to get even.

Misty gasped, soaked from head to toe, and then slapped the water beside her back at Ash, hitting Brock in the process.

"Children, please!" Brock yelled, covering his face. As a rock pokemon trainer, he didn't fancy being soaked, but at his complaint, a playful Misty and Ash splashed him again.

"Hey!" He shouted, jumping into the water to get even. "Not all of us have a change of clothes!" Brock bellowed when he slipped on a rock, and fell backwards into the water, much to his companions humor.

"Tooogeebrii~" The pokemon shouted, jumping from land and into the water with a canon ball.

"Wait, don't. You can't swim!" Misty yelled, but the pokemon hit the surface of the water with a large splash, and then float back to the top laughing with the rest of them. Little did Misty know that togepi had a few hours in the middle of the ocean to learn how to float properly.

Night came quickly, they had a small meal of river trout and berries before crawling under a tree to sleep. Thanks to the summer heat, sleeping bags wouldn't be required, which was good, because Brock didn't have one. Luckily, they didn't have to break into _that_ awkward conversation when they collapsed beside each other. Ash and Misty had changed out of their wet clothes after playing in the water to cool off, but Brock had dried out during the time it took him to prepare their late meal. He complained that he smelled like fish and dirt, to which Misty replied he was 'camping', so he would live.

Misty was back in her normal pair of shorts, and the hoodie she borrowed from Ash; while Ash wore his other set of jeans and black t-shirt. He had fallen into a troupe of the same-attire, but if it worked; that's all that mattered, right?

By nightfall, they were exhausted from the days heat and walk, that they fell into their own thoughts. Misty was playing with togepi, wondering if the fairy pokemon knew anymore 'tricks' that she didn't know about. The pokemon seemed so innocent and kind when Misty held it, but she knew now after months of traveling with Ash, togepi was probably a lot stronger than it showed her.

Brock was writing down the days events, as well as yesterdays in complete detail in case they were ever questioned by the police, and Ash tossed a rock up and down between them both, and watched the stars peek in over the horizon.

Ash felt a little guilty, he was having so much fun even though _now_ was not a time to do so. So many horrible possibilities, experiences could emerge from such a small event—yet, he couldn't count on his ten fingers how many times he had been so _happy_ since he woke up. He had Brock in his life again, and Misty, and many of his pokemon—and even though the world was falling apart around him, he knew that at some point _it had to get better_.

Brock and Misty were tired, they weren't trained to travel on foot all day; but Ash was. He actually felt moderately at home with such strain put on his body. When his companions were falling asleep, Ash finally opened his mouth to speak once more.

"Hey...when you guys said that dragon pokemon were legendary amongst normal pokemon—what about the legendary pokemon? Where are they?" Ash hummed quietly, looking up at the constellations.

"The legendary pokemon?" Misty echoed in a slurred, tired voice; her eyebrows raised. Ash nodded thinking back to the Orange Islands.

"Like lugia, the legendary birds and the legendary beasts-You know, "legendaries"." He listed them off with no surprise, using his hands for emphasis.

Few things from Ash's dream world were becoming uncommon to the duo; at this point, Ash could have told them leprechauns were real, and they might have believed him. His knowledge of the legendary pokemon didn't seem so farfetched, now that they were all so well acquainted. Misty blew a strand of hair from her face while Brock leaned forward peering at Ash in the darkness. Misty remembered Ash mentioning them briefly during his stay at the assisted living home—the reason he was tired of talking with Sebastian was because of it. Brock spoke first.

"Well...mythical creatures might fit a bit better—we don't see legendary pokemon often, if ever. The only sighting of these pokemon are from text books—there haven't been any in recent years... but of course, look at our news stations. It's a wonder we know _anything._ " Brock explained sarcastically, throwing up his arms.

Ash raised his eyebrows. "What about what happened on Shamuti island? I was over there and three islands were supposedly wiped out from a tidal wave..."

"That happens to islands sometimes." Misty mumbled with a puzzled look. "Why?"

Ash wasn't sure what to say, or how to say it when he blinked at his companions. "Lugia was the guardian of the sea, he was supposed to save the three birds that inhabited the islands there." Ash explained. "But they weren't there when I went by...so I thought maybe something happened—that you guys might have heard something?"

Brock shook his head. "We haven't seen a legendary in decades, Ash."

Ash's eyebrows furrowed—recalling the many he saw in his dreams and sulked backwards. He had never thought about it in that light, that legendary pokemon were considered a myth in this world. Their powers were unshakable, after all. He squeezed his eyes shut, swearing at himself.

"I think we might— _I might_ have made a mistake." He explained suddenly. "I know why Sebastian was at the party."

"Why?"

"...I might have... mentioned where to find the legendary pokemon to him." he grunted, Misty instinctively wrapped an arm around his shoulders—already knowing this.

"So, you think Sebastian is working with this third party or Team Rocket then? We never had a reason to include him before." She pat him on the shoulder, her warmth immediately accepted by Ash who relaxed, and scratched pikachu's scalp nervously.

"Do you think that's it?" Ash asked. "That's what they were after? If there was a third party?"

"There were no legendary pokemon at the league party last night, Ash." Misty confirmed, rocking him in a comforting manner before Brock smiled, his teeth gleaming through the night.

"Well, Sebastian could have had his eye on Ash..." Brock mumbled, then when he felt Ash stiffen beside him, he followed with; "It's best not to dwell on it, guys." Brock explained. "We can't change what happened, and we can't read their minds. The only thing we can do is move forward with the task we have right now: finding out who ordered the creation of this chip, and going from there."

"Not to mention clearing my name." Misty weighed in skeptically, raising her finger.

"You're right." Ash hummed with a sigh; though because he seemed to cheer up at Brock's comment, Misty tucked her arm away from him, and back around togepi, who started to drift in and out of sleep. A moment of silence passed before Ash spoke again.

"I'm sorry for dragging you guys into this." He said honestly, recalling all the stress that he caused over the last couple of weeks—and almost the full year he had been awake.

"Don't apologize, we wouldn't want to be anywhere else, right Brock?"

"...I dunno, some sneakers would be nice." Brock admit, earning a laugh from his companions.

"Thank you." Ash mumbled happily into the darkness when small chatter erupted from Misty—mostly about what they were going to do tomorrow once they reached the city. Brock was determined they would go to a store so he could find a change of clothes, but Misty was happy knowing that they would finally have some answers.

Eventually, when Misty and Brock had fallen asleep, they turned Ash's shoulder into a pillow, but when it came time for him to rest his own eyes, he leaned left, resting his head against Misty's. She smelled like the forest, a mix of flowers and fresh streams, and nature. He inhaled, wondering how long this would last before their next problem. Ash would have been happy if this was his life. While he might have been trapped in the body of a near twenty one year old, he felt ten again; for a brief, fleeting second.

 **XOXs**

Since they were so deep into the Viridian City forest, the group didn't have signal for their technology until they were a few miles out of the city. They found their way through the thick of the forest and were on the north passage to Viridian City when Ash finally exhaled.

"Remember the last time we were here, Misty?"

"Yeah, it rained." She said nonchalantly, quirking an eyebrow. "A lot." She added and Ash grinned at her while Brock pointed to the city they could see in the distance.

"At least we can say that we made it." Brock announced happily while Misty and Ash both jumped for joy.

At first, it seemed as if everything was finally taking a turn for the best; they out ran the Elite Four, arrived at the city safely, and would finally have some answers until Misty's phone starting ringing in her backpack several times, one after another. She glanced to her companions, and then removed her pack to grab her phone. In the mean time, Ash's pokedex rang as well, indicating he had a single missed call from Gary, and his face scrunched up.

While he checked the message, Misty checked the vast text messages she received from her sisters, and her face paled. She had several missed calls from the Elite Four, and numerous from unknown numbers; the gist of her sister's information, however, made her hands shake.

"What's going on?" Brock questioned, with his eyebrows raised. He checked his own phone for a missed call from Dawn while Misty flipped her phone around and quickly removed the battery. Before Ash could listen to what Gary had left in his message, Misty ripped the pokedex from his fingers, and turned it around before ripping out the battery from it as well. The light died a moment later, and his mouth fell agape. As did Brock's.

"Have you lost your mind?" Brock asked when Misty grabbed the two boys, and wrestled them back into the lining of the trees. She held her finger up to her lips, gathering her thoughts when she opened her mouth to speak next.

"My sisters text a full page about how a mysterious pokemon trainer with a pikachu attacked the Elite Four and kidnapped me from my hotel."

Ash scoffed, clearly missing the hint. "Who would do that?" He laughed, and Brock and Misty gave him a withering look as he slowly came to the realization.

"...oh." Ash pointed at himself. "They think I did it?"

Brock removed the battery from his own phone, realizing why Misty had done so already. The tracking feature was removed when the battery no longer had a charge. "Well, that's not something I wanted to hear today. Did they mention me?"  
Misty shook her head and rubbed her temples.

"My sisters didn't mention you, Brock." Misty grumbled. "That means that you should still be able to get into town and figure out what the hell is going on. Scope out the area, see if it's still safe to get into Silph Co. Hopefully, they didn't see us on our way to Viridian City."

"Alright. I'll stop and grab some supplies as well. Don't move." Brock muttered, accepting his job immediately. He dusted off his clothes to look presentable, the scruff of his beard made his face itch, but he was ready to go. "I'll be back. If I'm not by dinner time; don't wait for me."  
Misty scoffed. "Like hell."

"We'll look for you if you're not back in five hours." Ash said in a hushed tone, nodding his approval. He didn't feel right sending Brock on his own—but he know that the gym leader could manage.

When Brock left, silence encumbered the duo while Misty began to pace the forest with togepi at her feet, matching her movements. She walked back and forth for a good thirty minutes, muttering under her breath while Ash tried to decipher his own emotions about the situation. In reality, it wasn't a big deal, no one _really_ knew him. He was taking no public hits by being called a _kidnapper_.

"I can't believe this." She muttered, trying to imagine what Brock walked into. If the league really _was_ accusing Ash of kidnapping, there was no telling what was waiting for them in Viridian City—if they even knew that's where they were going.

Watching her sway back and forth made him dizzy. Ash leaned against a tree, arms folded over his chest, and face scrunched up thoughtfully.

"I've never kidnapped someone before." A laugh carried his voice to Misty, who stilled herself upon hearing him. She turned, a glare apparent in her eyes. Obviously, she didn't think this was as funny as he did. He looked away, and twisted his fingers into the sleeve of his shirt while she threw up her hands.

"I should have known something like this would happen! This is totally like them! I decide that I don't want to follow their example and their hoax of calling me crazy didn't work, so this is their way of getting me out of the picture, but also throwing your name under the bus." She nearly slammed her hands onto her hips and then licked her lips aggressively when she eyed Ash, he looked so innocent and concerned at her temper.

"I bet they're trying to pin everything on you! I know if I was in their shoes; given that you were at the league party with me _and_ that you were the only one who ran after the explosion culprits—a nobody that was friends with an Elite Four!" Misty pointed at him when she spoke, and Ash covered his chest mockingly.

Ash gawked. "Who would believe something like that, though?"

Misty shifted her weight onto one foot before squatting so that she could gather her thoughts properly. Hands tangled into her hair, she breathed a heavy sigh and looked up at Ash who's humor faltered when she spoke.

"People desperately wanting to believe anything but the truth? After all, if we're right about the media being controlled, they could just _make up_ a story and people would believe it because they wouldn't know any better."

"That doesn't seem fair." Ash complained quietly, but Misty didn't reply.

Of course it wasn't fair. That was the point. If they wanted Misty to conform, the easiest way of doing so would be to control her lifelines to the real anyone knew how the Elite Four would handle a situation of a rowdy member, it would be Misty. She did spend the last few months preparing to become one.

Ash squat down beside her, cupping one side of his cheek and lowering his voice.

"What do you think Cole is thinking right now? If your theory is true, my face has to be plastered all over the news papers and televisions right now." He grumbled quietly, with a somber expression. Misty offered the best, hopeful smile that she could and gripped Ash's shoulder tightly.

"I'm sure he knows better." Misty assured him happily. "I just hope that he doesn't have your brash nature and get himself in trouble defending you."

A small, proud sparkle appeared in Ash's eye. "Do you think that he would?" he chuckled optimistically and Misty rolled her eyes.

"Are we talking about the same Cole? Of course he would." she chuckled, looking up only to freeze at the apparent closeness of their faces. When had it become so normal to be this close to him? While Misty's mind was otherwise occupied on the tension of the situation, a scarlet blush covered Ash's cheeks when he realized she was only an inch away from him.

"Uhm." Ash swallowed against a lump that formed in his throat preventing his speech. Sweat trickled down the back of his neck from the heat, and Misty tilted her head suspiciously and parted her lips to speak—at least he suspected she was going to speak when the bushes besides the road opened, revealing a troubled, breathless Brock.

Both Misty and Ash rocketed to their feet, causing togepi to roll backwards awkwardly, and Misty to rub her hands against her shorts and take a few steps away from Ash.

"That was fast, Brock." She mumbled, eyebrows furrowing when she moved closer to him. "What's up?"

Ash's hand instinctively followed her as she left, and his mouth drew into a line when he blinked up at Brock, who had finally turned to look at them.

"We need to leave, and fast."

"Wait, why?" Ash grumbled, calming his nerves while Brock extended a news paper to Ash and rubbed his face. "It's...it's really bad. It's like they knew we were on our way. The Silph Co. building alone is under heavy security and there are cops at every corner and..." he cleared his throat, looking to Ash. "Wanted posters."

"Wanted posters?" Misty gasped, stepping back over to look over Ash's shoulder while he flipped through the news paper article headlining the page.

They skimmed through the article—it was like Misty had stated. They did a brief outline of Ash's life; how he woke up from a ten year coma, was known to hang around Misty Waterflower for long periods of time, and then went missing for several months. He was cited by 'witnesses' that once he returned to Kanto, he had become _obsessed_ with not just Misty, but all of the Waterflower sisters. _Witnesses_ indicated that he was always following the girls around, even though the three sisters refused a statement.

As Misty feared, they were trying to pin the league attack on Ash, as well as Misty's ill-belief that Team Rocket returned. Ash was known to create 'wild' stories and attempted to fill peoples heads with lies about Team Rocket and other conspiracy theories regarding the region. In a final act of rebellion, he _kidnapped_ the newest Elite Four member after convincing her that the current members were _evil_ and was now holding her hostage at an unknown location.

Ash had an undeniable urge to laugh, but he fought it simply because he could hear Misty seething behind him when she tore the newspaper from his fingers and nearly ripped it in half.

"I can't believe this!" Misty bellowed loudly, throwing the paper onto the ground and spinning on her heels to stare at Ash and Brock, the latter of which didn't bother to stop and buy a change of clothes after all.

"They're monsters! Evil! What in the world do they think they're going to accomplish by doing this?!" She shouted, causing birds to stir above them when Ash and Brock both shushed her.

"Well, it's like you said, Misty." Ash said in a surprisingly calm voice. "This is the easiest way to get both of us out of the picture—and if Sebastian knows about me, he knows that I know he's up to something."

"Then why isn't Brock mentioned?"

"It wouldn't be very good publicity to include a gym leader in this mess, would it?" Brock said calmly, scratching his short beard.

"Well, then we will just go and clear his name now! I'm perfectly fine; Ash didn't kidnap me." Misty hissed, pulling together their supplies and picking up togepi when Brock frowned.

"...Ash is being charged with some pretty serious crimes, Misty. Even if you show up, they can still keep him contained until processing. If they think you're being manipulated at all, your opinion won't hold up in court and," Brock paused picking up the paper to gesture to the 'unknown witnesses' "The _witnesses_ testimonies are fairly damning; especially if Sebastian is questioned when referencing Ash's former mental health. If they believe you're being talked, they could hold you in police protection as well..." Brock grimaced.

Ash shrugged his shoulders, thinking of his time at the hospital, and how 'damning' his report was before Dr. Abby reevaluated him. Regardless of the reevaluation, he doubted if anyone would believe he was _perfectly_ sane right now. He was spouting off about an organization that had been defunct for the last few years and caused a monster amount of mayhem in the league—of _course_ people didn't want to believe him. Suddenly, he was very angry; his fists balled and he glared to the road. He couldn't believe people! Or the media! How blind were they!?

Since neither Ash or Misty spoke, Brock raised his shoulders and then gently pat them both.

"I think we should head to Saffron City's Silph Co. instead." he muttered, his determination and reluctance to give up elicited hope into his companions eyes. "Pewter City isn't far from here, and I know that we can catch a ride on the train there. We can cut the walk short by taking the river we found earlier up through the Viridian Forest. They won't expect us to go to Saffron City, and right now our options are limited." he looked at Ash, as if inciting that it was the new 'man hunt' that was going to make everything difficult, but what did they expect? It's not like he did it on purpose.

With a sigh, Misty turned to Ash with apologetic eyes and said, "I'm sorry, Ash."

Seeing the sadness reflect at him, Ash pumped his fist up and then shook his head. "It's alright! When the truth comes out, whatever it is, my name will be cleared—I, _we,_ just have to live with some repercussions for awhile."

Misty smiled at his enthusiasm and rubbed her chin happily.

"That's really mature, Ash." She complimented shrewdly.

"Thanks, I'm learning!" he gawked with a sincere laugh. Misty rolled her eyes, and as a group, they pressed back into the forest.

 **XOXs**

Unlike their walk to Viridian City, the ride down stream to Pewter City was a silent one. Ash exuded enthusiasm, but when Brock and Misty's backs were turned preparing for their next plan of action, he looked softly at pikachu who looked back at him with equally sad eyes. This was going to get a lot worse before it got better. Brock and Misty already knew that, but for Ash, it was already _worse_.

They hiked beside the river on foot until they arrived at the rapids, finally deep enough to use water pokemon. Misty summoned gyarados, who had an ugly scar across the front of his chest, thanks to Ash's charizard. The three of them climbed on top of the sea-monsters head, nestled into the bridge of its crown and ears, and then clutched on when he dipped low into the river, and started forward.

Flying with charizard was child's play in comparison. Ash felt each bump and turn, and the splash of water every so often when they fell into deeper waters. The pokemon was like a torpedo, and while Misty stood proud, looking over the pokemon's crown, Brock and Ash clung to the pokemon's ears for dear life. It would take hours before Ash could get used to this.

By late afternoon, they arrived in Pewter City, and made their way to the gym which had been closed for a week for the league party. They entered through back door _just in case_ someone was watching the gym, where they quickly found their way to their own thoughts and preparations for the journey ahead of them. They would be leaving before nightfall, so Ash and Misty found themselves in student housing, while Brock showered, dressed, and packed a new bag for their travels.

An hour after arriving, they were ready to leave once more; Ash hadn't switched his clothes too much; he changed into a black hoodie, against his normal blue jackets, and abandoned his red cap in his bag. The pictures he saw of himself in the news and posters were of him sporting the red hat and a blue jacket—so he hoped that by wearing a hooded jacket and ditching the hat, he would blend in more with the crowd. Brock nodded to the appearance change but revealed that it was Ash's eyes that gave it away the most, regardless of the bruising there.

Playing dress up, most likely, Brock popped out the lens of a pair of reading glasses, and flipped them onto the bridge of Ash's nose.

"There, I can hardly recognize you now." Brock snorted, covering his mouth.

Ash removed the glasses and glared at Brock apprehensively before his eyes turned to Misty who walked down from the bleachers. She wore blue short pants, and a traditional red tank top, but the major difference was her hair—Ash's jaw dropped, as did Brock's when they saw her.

"Y-your hair." Brock squawked.

"It's black." Ash stammered, pointing to his own hair for color contrast. Unhappily, her lips pursed at the boys when her foot met solid ground. She stood toe to toe with Brock and Ash when she folded her arms.

"So, what? People are going to be looking for me, and my orange-y hair sticks out quite a bit. I'm too easy to spot in a crowd. _Now_ we will all blend in." She grumbled, thumbing her dark strands. She wasn't pleased with the color change, _either_ , but it was the hard choices she had to make.

"If it's any consolation, it looks nice." Brock offered, and Ash puffed up his cheeks—he was clearly in favor of her orange hair, but he wouldn't complain—it didn't look _bad_ , it just wasn't _Misty_.

"Thanks, Brock." Misty mused, ruffling her hair when Ash raised his hand to speak, but then thought better of it; more importantly, he wasn't sure _what_ he was going to say.

"We should head out now. My brother Forrest left the train tickets in the mail box." Brock ushered, waving three tickets at his companions. Misty took one, and Ash took the other when the former-redhead inhaled.

"Brock...maybe you should stay here." she exhaled, looking into his onyx eyes. Brock blinked at her, and then at Ash, who gnawed on his lower lip in agreement.

"I mean, at this rate, if you're discovered with us, they're going to accuse you of being an accomplice." She added with mirth in her eyes, Brock inhaled, and then shook his head desperately.

"No way in _hell_ am I letting you two at this alone." Brock replied, shouldering his back pack. Light entered Misty and Ash's eyes at his determination. "We all got into this mess together, and we'll get out of it together." he reaffirmed, with a bold, honest smile. He clapped their shoulders once more.

An eyebrow raised. "Besides, I'm the one carrying the chip—I won't hand it over if you two try to leave me. So no funny business." He joked, to which Misty slapped him in the chest and turned away with a laugh, and Ash followed her chuckling.

"Alright, then we're off to Saffron City." Ash chirped, shouldering pikachu and togepi as they walked to the back exit.

Misty flipped on a pair of sunglasses when she turned back at her companions. "Ash, try not to burn anything down this time."

"Try not to break any televisions on the way there." They shared a brief glare, before Brock shoved them through the exit, rolling his eyes at their behavior.

 **Author's Note:**

Thank you for all the kind comments! I'm feeling much better, though, arguably not 100 percent yet! Had a (bad) reaction to my meds that I've been dealing with, but therapy is ending soon so, yay! Thank you for all the reviews, favs, and follows. They're always very appreciated.

Somethings about the chapter:

This was definitely one of those 'transition' chapters; also known as "the calm" before the storm. Last chapter put everything onto the table, so there's one more breath before things finally set sail.

Not sure if I've clarified this before or not (I think I mentioned it briefly, but never thought it was super important) but some normal animals also exist—otherwise, they're eating pokemon, right?

I have been re-watching the OS (kill me, I know) because I wanted more insight into the characters, and I noticed that Misty touches Ash _a lot_ , not in a 'shipping' way per say, but in support/teasing manner at least a few times every episode. I just thought it was important how comfortable that closeness usually was between them and reflect it into the writing. Also, Brock and Misty have a sort of weird bond that I enjoy quite a bit that I've finally been able to include—especially in the episode with dragonite! (that episode inspired this version of dragonite, btw)

Brock is more of the silent 'supporter/mother' brood type. Unless, of course, there are pretty girls.

Given the situation at hand, and how things have been twisted before, I wouldn't put it past 'them' to infer that Ash has 'brainwashed' Misty. We see it all the time in the news in real life, how someone was pressured into something by someone else, resulting in behavior unlike their normal behavior. I think his actions over the last few months could easily be deciphered suspiciously. Plus, the reasons stated above.

LET'S JUST KEEP DIGGING THEM INTO A DEEPER HOLE!

Hashtag don't shoot the author?

NINT


	38. Chapter 38: Discovered

**Locked Away, Chapter 38**

Dying her hair was worth it after all. When they left the gym, they walked within the crowd mostly unnoticed; a few people recognized Brock, but didn't associate Ash and Misty's presence with the great, stoic gym leader.

Being ignored was a new sensation for Misty. She had change her style of clothing, her hair; but for the first time in many years, she was completely overlooked. Her baggy shirt did nothing to please her figure, and while she wasn't going to complain—she didn't know _how_ effective her plan would be. She was surprised at the results.

Neither did Ash. If someone asked him, he thought they looked related. The black of her hair contrasted all of her natural features. While he thought that she looked _odd_ , most likely, other people viewed Misty was the cool, albino relative who rocked a pair of dark shades, and Ash was the tan, awkward cousin that followed behind. Pikachu was unfortunately stuffed in Ash's backpack since the pokemon _refused_ to enter his pokeball, and togepi was tucked gently into Misty's. Since people were looking for a trainer with dark hair, red hat, and a pikachu—it was important _not_ to have any redeeming qualities. Plus, Ash's bruised face was proving to be a distraction—people saw his bruises, and then looked away pathetically. Did they think he was scary? Or did they feel bad for him? The looks all bled together after awhile, so Ash decided to focus on reaching the train, rather than observing his surroundings.

To be safe, Brock stayed a few steps behind the both of them on his way to the train station—just in case they _were_ recognized, Brock would not be immediately associated with them. Therefore, he could cause a distraction so that the duo could flee.

After their walk, consisting of several updates—listening to the television, radio and citizens of Pewter City gossip about Ash Ketchum, and the new Elite Four member, they finally entered through the metal station doors. Each member was quick to slip their tickets to Saffron City into the ticket booth, and found their way into the train with Brock following last.

After searching for a moderately secluded area of the train, Ash and Misty slipped open the door to a small seating area and then they removed their pokemon from their containment, then stuffed their bags into the overhead compartment, and took seats opposite of one another. To keep up the social front they were sporting, Brock _asked_ if he could sit in with Ash and Misty, and then shut the door upon entry.

Once they were all seated, and the train pulled into a slow locomotion, they each exhaled in relief, one at a time.

"That was nerve wracking." Misty chided, "but it went well, didn't it?" She pulled the window blinds down for privacy.

Brock sunk in his chair and nodded his agreement and for a long time, they all sat in silence. Exhaustion from sleeping on the road the night prior, and the lack of _actual_ rest since then worked through each of their bodies as they drifted into a peaceful sleep.

 **XOXs**

The trainers woke ten minutes out of Celadon City, when the speakers in the train announced that they would be passing through. Misty groaned the loudest, using her arms as pillows while her legs were curled up on the seat. Brock and Ash were crammed, each hugging the opposite wall of the train compartment. Groggily, Ash was the first to adjust himself forward to sit for the remainder of the trip, followed shortly by Brock.

Misty wouldn't move though; togepi and pikachu had clearly decided she was more comfortable to sleep with than either Ash or Brock, and so both were curled at the bend of her hips.

"Misty, get up." Brock groaned, rubbing his eyes.

Ash felt his eyebrows twitch in uncertainty, _sometimes_ the former redhead had a plethora of reactions upon first waking up, but this time, she merely stretched and grabbed her forehead when she sat forward, nearly knocking togepi and pikachu onto the floor.

"I'm exhausted." She muttered, and a silent agreement was passed between them while Ash was otherwise calm and collected. His eyes were fixed on Misty when she blinked open her tired eyes, the greens seemed brighter than normal because of her dark hair, and his breath escaped him.

Perhaps it was the sleep-deprivation speaking when he said, "You look strange."  
"Is that a bad thing?" She snapped unhappily, "I'm _supposed_ to look different, Ash. That's the point." She growled. In his defense, Ash put up his arms.

"It's not a bad thing, it's just different, you know?" Her face still darkened, and he swallowed hard, stammering: "I mean, it looks nice-it brings out your... eyes?"

Brock raised his eyebrows with pursed lips, then smacked Ash on the shoulder.

"I think what Ash is trying to say is the new color really compliments your features," Brock grinned devilishly, wiggling an eyebrow at Misty whose pale features took on an unearthly glow of red while he thumbed his growing beard. "And, well, _at least now_ we know what your kids will look like."

 _WHAM_.

Brock fell backwards in his seat, gripping his chest when Misty threw her folded sunglasses at him. They landed with a whip, and he gasped, rubbing his chest in return. Beside him, Ash withered into the seat, covering his beet red face with his hands and leaning his elbows onto his knees for support.

"Don't be _disturbing_ , Brock." Misty hissed in a vile, embarrassed, tone before stumbling to her feet. "I need to use the washroom." She grunted, which was a nice way of saying she needed space to breath, before excusing herself and shutting the thin door behind her.

Chuckling, Brock nudged Ash with a grin. "I was only joking, man. Relax." He said while Ash groaned in response and looked begrudgingly up at Brock.

"Why would you say something like that?"  
"You two have the best reactions—last time I had hot tea splashed on me." Brock murmured honestly, sharing an unimpressed look with Ash's twisted one.

" _...I.._ don't understand?" Ash questioned, feigning possible innocence—though parts of him understood the chagrin and Misty's reaction. Had the compliment been directed at him, Ash might have panicked himself; however, as he was adapting to this world, his emotions, and thoughts; explosive bouts of emotion were becoming more trivial. Trying to keep a straight face, Ash forcefully looked away and crossed one leg over the other.

"We have other things to worry about, anyways!" Ash tried, but Brock shrugged, and looked at his imaginary watch.

"Not for...another hour, at least" He paused then struck a knowing pose. "You could allow me, Brock, the relationship guru to give you some advice." He raised a quizzical eyebrow, elbowing an uncomfortable Ash who wished for Misty to come back already. Brock wouldn't be so openly teasing him, otherwise.

"Someone _has_ talked with you about this stuff after you woke up from your coma, right? I mean you're what, almost twenty one now? You should know stuff about _women,_ don't you? I mean," Brock paused, keeping his snickers low. "It's totally normal to be attracted too-" his voice was mostly teasing, but the burn over Ash's cheeks in return was not. His cheeks, down to his neck was bright red when he bolted form his seat, dropping togepi who had barely crawled into his lap. Agile as togepi was, it bounced from Ash, hopped from the floor as if it was floating, and then back onto the seat where Misty start prior.

It huffed, glaring at his trainer and grumbling to pikachu about Ash's antics.

"I'm going to go use the washroom." Ash declared in interruption. He escaped the situation the only way he knew how: he ran. Brock snorted, then laughed loudly.

"Okay! Don't _bump_ into Misty on your way over!" He sneered gleefully, watching Ash fell through the door in a nervous shamble.

The very moment the door slipped closed behind Ash and his foot steps carried down the hallway of the train, Brock slipped his hand into his pocket, and removed the quarter sized microchip and placed it into the palm of his hand. The craftsmanship was impeccable, each wire was neatly tucked into the circuitry board and blended to create a monstrous technological disease over the world. Flipping the small object over, he scanned the small numbers at the corner; _Pd-457_ , then above that the small engraving of 'Silph Co." inscribed above the numbers.

He stared for a long time at the chip, into the small, gray mass; asking for answers. In respect to Misty and Ash, who had mixed feelings about the chip; he never examined it in their presence, Brock was an extraordinary pokemon breeder, and an even better pokemon trainer—but technology had never been his strong suit.

Footsteps fell in the corridor behind him, and swung open the door revealing an antsy dark-haired Misty as she veered back into her seat, holding three bottles of water, and a small bag of peanuts in one hand.

"Hey, what are you doing?" She asked suddenly, causing Brock to nearly drop the chip. He tucked it away quickly when Misty shuffled one knee over the other, watching him.

He didn't reply at first, having felt a bit silly for staring at the small microchip.

"I was trying to see if there was anything else on the chip that we needed to know... you know, maybe something we missed?" Brock expressed politely, keeping his hands on his lap. Misty extended a bottle forward for him to grab, shrugging gently.

"What more can it tell us? It's just a stupid chip."

"Yeah..." Brock hummed, cracking open his water. "but _why?_ What purpose could it serve to use these again? And to leave just _one_? It seems kind of..." He trailed off, gathering his thoughts while Misty leaned her head back, pressing the top of her head against the rattling metal wall behind her seat.

"They slipped up." Misty deduced, closing her eyes once more. Brock sighed, that was the _logical_ explanation, but he couldn't help but feel a little pessimistic about the whole ordeal. It seemed almost too easy—aside from the mishaps following them after the discovery, simply finding the chip was...

"Hey, where did Ash go?" Misty wondered aloud, sitting forward to glance at the door while pikachu climbed into the overhead compartment to dig in Ash's bag for some pokemon food. Brock shrugged gently, then with Misty's silent approval, returned to his observation of the chip.

 **XOXs**

Fleeing might not have been Ash's best course of action, but he wasn't sure what else to do at the time—plus, he was really hungry. He spotted Misty on her way back from speaking with the stewardess, but veered away to the farthest part of the train's compartment until he reached the bathrooms at the end of the hall. Outside of the two separated bathrooms, was a small hatch, the emergency exit that Ash looked up and down carefully before rolling his shoulders, and stepping into the bathroom.

Once finished with his business, and killing enough time by shuffling his feet around the hallways, trying his best not to bother other passengers, he started the slow walk to the small store where Misty had been prior. _Of course_ someone, namely Dr. Abby talked with him about his _budding_ _hormones,_ as she called it. More importantly, Ash understood that he had one some _level_ an abnormal attraction to Misty; maybe a part of him wished that no one else noticed it as much as he?

Aloofly, Ash stuffed his hands into his pocket while he looked up and down the cart for snacks, and goodies—he was _pretty hungry._ Not just avoiding Misty, or his boiling emotions. A small part of him, as tiny as it might have been, understood that Brock was trying to make light of the situation in favor of the _other_ conversations they could be having. Ash was a wanted felon, Misty was technically missing, and if Brock was ever caught with the two of them, he would be technically an accomplice—if _teasing_ Ash relieved him, even for just a few moments, of those harrowing thoughts; Ash would take the abuse.

"Oh, hey—are you and that girl related?" The woman's high-pitched voice tore Ash from his thoughts when he looked over his shoulder at her.

"No. She's my friend." Ash explained with a dull tone while he grabbed what he wanted from the cart. The woman looked him over several times, eyebrows raised. Over time, her obvious gaze grind into Ash's nerves and he looked up at her.

"Can I help you?" He grunted through grit teeth.

A blush covered her cheeks, realizing that she had been caught staring. "Oh, no, I'm sorry. It's just you look _really_ familiar!"

Ash cold sweat trickle down his neck. "Uhh.. yeah, I get that a lot." He said nervously, but when she tilted her head, he placed the snacks down and retreated quickly, silently, and most important—calmly. He couldn't have been sure but that 'ah-ha' moment seemed damning to him, it might have also been because a poster was hung on the bulletin board behind him that looked quite _a bit_ like his face.

Unfortunately it was damning, as a few seconds passed before the sudden realization clicked in, and a panicked gasp followed behind him from the waitress. Yeah, it _would be_ Ash's luck that food would be his downfall—what was he thinking walking around without a care in the world? He was wanted by the government, he shouldn't have been around _anyone_.

Ash rushed back to their compartment on the train as a speaker over the intercom announced to the passengers that they were requiring an emergency stop in Celadon City for repairs—but Ash knew better than 'emergency stop'. They were stopping because a wanted criminal was on the train. When he slipped open the door to their private compartment as calmly as humanly possible, he expressed a sigh simultaneously to Brock's exasperation that they had to stop in the city; though, his claims fell on deaf ears when Ash snatched his bag from the overhead compartment, then followed by dropping their bags onto the rest of them.

Before they could get a word in, Ash hustled them to their feet while trying to tuck the pokemon away into their bags.

"What are you doing?" Misty finally groaned, ripping her upper arm out of Ash's clutches. He shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other with a panicked shrug.

"I blew our cover. The lady at the snack bar recognized my face."

Both Brock and Misty face-palmed at his claim.

"You blew our cover for snack cakes?" Misty groaned while pinching the bridge of her nose. Ash winced.

"I didn't think she would notice." Ash said. "I'm not used to being a wanted criminal, you know."

It was true, the chance to be recognized was fairly small—but given their recent track record, they shouldn't have been holding their breath for any good karma. They weren't careful enough.

"Well then, what are we doing? We need to get off this train." Brock ushered the two of them, tucking the chip away, ignoring the red bleep that surfaced on the wire between Silph Co and the identification tag when Ash was present.

"How are we going to get off of a moving train though? We can't exactly free fall into the forest, and we can't exit normally at the terminal—people will recognize three trainers obviously fleeing the scene; besides, police will probably be swarming the place by the time we stop!" Misty expressed in one breath, the pitch of her voice rising with each word.

"Do you always have to be so pessimistic?" Ash asked nervously, leaning forward to stare out the small window of their private compartment and inhaled. The trees below whipped backwards from the speed of the train, but as his eyes drifted from the window, to Misty who was carrying a confused togepi, Ash's lips curled into a daring smile.

"Besides, I have an idea."

 **XOXs**

Naturally, anything involving Ash _had_ to be dangerous. These were the thoughts Misty was slowly coming to terms with. There was never a simple solution to any of their problems anymore. What was worse, Ash was dragging them all down with him in a fiery blaze of glory.

When Misty pressed her nose against the window of the door labeled clearly 'emergency exit, proceed with caution' and a mixture of instructions she groaned at the view that faced her. The tracks leading into Celadon city were raised on a platform a little over ten feet, the train was easily slowing down from ninety-five miles per hour; even if the height wouldn't _kill them_ the trajectory and velocity upon exit _would_.

"I'm not doing this." Misty complained, backing away from the door and steeling her gaze at Brock and Ash, who were already preparing for the inevitable jump.

"C'mon Misty." Ash cheered her on, nudging her shoulder. "It's _safe_. We have a plan—we'll be fine."

"Ash, your _plan_ consists of jumping out of a moving train, into the thick of the route sixteen forest." She hissed, then gestured to Brock. "Brock, please tell me you think this is crazy!"

He gave a subtle shrug. "It beats the alternative. Like you said, if we wait to get off at the train station, the police will probably already be there, and they won't let anyone leave without ID'ing them first. A change in hair is nice, Misty, but if they ask for your license, your information, and Ash's information is already there."

For a long time, she stared at him in disbelief, followed by the flattening of her lips when she looked at Ash once more. "You're crazy." She accused, and Ash rolled his eyes.

"You're just realizing this?"

"This isn't a dream world, Ash."

"We get it, death approaches those who jump ten feet out of a moving train—but do you want to stay on the train and get caught by the police? We may have, for the first time in our lives, the perfect opportunity to stop the evil that's been happening in the world." Brock interrupted her, tying the makeshift rope they were sharing to stay together around her waist. "We have a better chance of surviving in a thick forest than we do jumping on the concrete closer to Celadon City; so, Misty, get ready." Brock demanded and Ash had to hold his applause.

Misty still didn't like the idea, but she didn't fight them on it, either.

"Togepi knows safeguard, when we get close enough to the ground; togepi can use that to break our fall at the tree line. We just need to get far enough out of the train as a single unit to avoid the pull back. Mist. Don't worry."

As they fell into line at the door, only inches apart with Ash leading, Misty in the center and Brock at the end, Misty inhaled very slowly while Brock and Ash both exhaled. The moment the emergency door flew open, it was suctioned clean off the hinges, falling quickly to the forest. Alarms bellowed loudly through the train, and Misty wanted to cover her ears, but instead she latched onto Ash's shoulders like a wet cat and forgot to breath. Behind her, Brock grabbed her shoulders. Technically, when the gust of the violent wind hit them, they had a few minutes to reconsider their options—but Ash, holding togepi like a football with one hand, brushed Misty's hand confidently, and leaped in perfect unison with Brock. They had to break the wind barrier, and to do so, they had to jump as one person, not three separate entities.

When the gust of wind didn't immediately whip them back into the metal train, and they were propelled forward, Misty screamed. Brock screamed. Ash grinned.

When the wind whipped at the sides of his face, he recalled the times he had been so daring in his dream world; this was no different, the consequences were higher, but the actions were the same. Carefully, Ash fought the dizziness in his head from the sudden pressure change, and prepared himself. Togepi knew the risk; the pokemon was as brave as Ash, sharing his kinder nature; but also his adventurous tendencies.

It wasn't the worst situation; they were only ten feet up, and once they had time to really slow down during the fall, the movement of the train wasn't going to matter—what mattered was everyone jumping at the same time to avoid the seconds delay that typically resulted in someone getting thrown back onto the train, _or worse_. Even if togepi messed up, the worst would be a few broken bones, right? They could break their fall on the trees, on each other, really, whatever hit first.

 _You won't mess up_. Ash told the egg confidently before they jumped, and even now that his confidence was being tested, Ash felt his heart bolt alive as he released the pokemon from his grasp, and shouted for him to activate safeguard.

A mixture of blue lights blended with dark shades of green of the forest. The wind died with the rush of the moving train above them as a blue, spherical orb, solid as a shield spread around their screams and cut out the rest of the noise. Before the branches and limbs of trees came with a sudden crack; less the confrontation of the forest floor.

Regardless, while safeguard _softened_ the blow, it did nothing to ease the crack of their bodies when they fell against the brush of the trees, and onto the damp forest floor before. The homemade rope they shared snapped with the first contact to a tree which caused safeguard to shatter, and they fell to the ground with individual shouts and heavy thuds.

As the train barreled past them at high speeds, soon the loud rattling left behind an eerie silence that small, beady eyes looked into.

"Toogeebrii?" The egg called to its trainers and to pikachu who was tucked carefully into Ash's back pack before jumping. Togepi knew that he successfully managed safe guard to break the majority of the damage, but that didn't prevent the trainers from the fall. Digging its small toes into the ground, it chirped for them once more, and started to shuffle forward when a pale hand shot upward behind a line of shrubs.

"Over here." Misty's hoarse voice wheezed while she moved to sit up. Her face was lined in dirt, and her shirt was torn lightly—but aside from mud, and leaves in her hair; she was okay. Green eyes poked across the forest floor as she pushed herself to her knees, then thudded her way to togepi and snatched the egg up.

"Good job, togepi." She gushed into the egg with a loud, accepting sigh and nuzzle.

"Ash, Brock!?" She called quickly after, trying to wipe some of the dirt from her face.

When no one bur the sound of distant crickets replied, she pressed togepi onto her shoulders to free her hands, and began her search. Above her, she could see where they broke the upper-lining off the trees with togepi's safeguard, followed by their bodies falling an easy five-feet the rest of the way down. Nothing that could kill any of them.

"Misty?" Ash's voice cracked left of Misty as she stopped to listen. Forests were like halls of mirrors at the circus, voices echoed from all sides, as reflections appeared from all angles.

"Is Brock with you?" Misty shouted, in return, she heard Ash grunt.

"Yeah."

"Is he hurt?" Misty asked calmly, trying to pinpoint his location with the help of togepi.

"I don't think so."

"Is he conscious?"

A pause, "...no." Ash managed calmly, and Misty's body sprang to life with adrenaline. She rocketed from her droopy composure, and stomped her way to where she believed Ash was. He was past a small set of broken tree branches, and smashed shrub from when their bodies went over the hedge.

Misty crawled through the damaged greens to fall on her knees in front of Ash, who was sitting up with his knees to his chest, pikachu at his side, and hand against his forehead.

"Are you alright?" She gasped, glancing over Brock, who appeared to have no damage either, but was unconscious. "What happened?" She asked nervously, checking for an injury when Ash grabbed her hand and pointed at his forehead, which was bright red. The bruise over his eye had busted and was leaking a small line of blood when Ash snorted.

"We landed fine. It was _after_ that hurt." Ash rubbed his scalp. "I think I knocked him out with my forehead."

Misty pressed her palm against her face sourly, and breathed a loud, heavy sigh. "Are you joking?"

"No, unfortunately." Ash laughed while she exhaled carefully.

"How did you manage that?"

"Well, your rope broke, Brock landed first, and I fell on top of him. Our heads sort of just...smacked. Like one of those hammer toys at the arcade."

"Oh, Ash." Misty huffed, shaking her head. "You're the only person I know whose head is hard enough to knock someone else out." She grunted as togepi sprung from her arms, and into Ash's.

He grinned down at the pokemon, "See, I told you that you could do it." He managed confidently while Misty stood, trying to remove some of the mud from her knees and clothes.

"We should get going."

"Brock is out cold." Ash groaned. "And my head is killing me."

"Well, it should be." Misty huffed, "But after that, they're going to be looking for us. The underground pass isn't far from here, we can carry Brock until he wakes up, and then we'll _try_ to take it easy from there." She nudged Ash on the thigh with the toe of her shoes before swooping down to collect one of Brock's arms over her shoulder.

"You probably gave him a concussion." She scolded aloud while Ash watched her.

"I did not." Ash argued, but complied to her demands. For many reasons, he admired her determination and justifiable actions; however, he was not in favor of carrying Brock—but, since she asked so _nicely_ , he would comply.

At least they had a few hours of a _normal_ train ride.

 **XOXs**

"The best thing about escaping in such a way, is that we can likely shake off their trail if they _were_ following us." Misty managed once Brock and Ash were groggily lagging behind her. Just at the crown of Brock's head, a bump rose from where Ash hit him previously, and Ash's forehead had started to bruise beneath his matted, dark hair. Only Misty seemed unscathed from the fall. With togepi beaming at her heels, they moved sluggishly through the forest, with their heads held high.

"Man, Ash, I think I have a concussion." Brock groaned, watching the ground around Misty and Ash's feet sink with each step.

"You don't have a concussion." Ash argued quietly, feeling guilt.

"See, I told you jumping from a moving train was a terrible idea." Misty managed while pursing her lips knowingly at the men behind her. When she turned away once more, Ash childishly stuck his tongue out at her.

"We survived, didn't we?" he said in a sing-song tone of voice while jogging beside her.

"And now, we get to spend time in the forest, away from the craziness of civilization!" He added happily though Misty could only snort, with a carefully placed eye roll.

"Yeah, the deep, dark forest of route sixteen is where I _love_ to spend my evenings, don't you Brock? With all the poisonous and dangerous pokemon." Sarcasm lathered heavily over her words, earning a sharp chuckle from Brock.

"Oh yes, my favorite part of traveling is never knowing what horrible fate may be around the next corner." Brock added in a mock tone.

Ash felt his shoulders fall, grumbling under his breath that they never complained so much in his dreams. Eyes darting away from the duo, pikachu pawed his head, and whispered into his ear. Snapping his fingers, Ash reached around the back of himself, and grabbed chimchar's pokeball, before summoning the pokemon once more.

"Hey, buddy! Looks like we're going to need your light once more!" Ash said cheerfully, earning a clap from Misty.

"Yay, now we can see the deadly pokemon when they attack us." She cheered in a mock tone that earned her a playful shrug by Ash who moved ahead while she totted behind with Brock, snickering.

 **XOXs**

The decision to take the underground passage to Saffron City was made hours ago when they decided the shorter-route was safer. That way, they could beat the Elite Four, or the news reporters to Saffron City; if they traveled all night, against the ache in their body, they would arrive sometime after 1:00am, which would give them just enough time to sleep off their exhaustion, and then wake up early to examine Silph Co.

Over the tree branches, Ash could see the looming Saffron City tower. The cities were so close, that a bike route was created years ago for trainers in a hurry, but the route was rarely used since the introduction of the train system. However, since Ash was last spotted on the train, they would likely spend at least a few hours checking passengers, which gave them some time to breath. They could have taken the bike route, but that would likely be the next place they would search, so instead; they decided the dark, scary tunnel was safer.

Ash shuddered, watching as Misty walked head-first into the darkness, save for chimchar's light, and kept one hand to the wall. The woman complained about jumping from trains, and was terrified of bugs, but she didn't think twice about entering a small, dark cave. Perhaps Ash was the one most afraid of what awaited them in the tunnel. Since the nature of his _waking up_ consisted mostly of wandering in darkness, he felt a chill take hold of his heart, long before his mind caught up. He choked on his words when he pressed closer to chimchar for the light the pokemon emitted, then nervously started to ramble on about the adventures they used to have; just to pass the time. Pikachu and chimchar made commentary that only Ash could understand time to time, but the majority of his mindless stories occupied the fear, and replaced it with excitement,

Before long, they reached the half-way point. Their feet were sore, their minds were tired, and now, a few hours after jumping from the train, they could each clearly indicate that the initial pain was masked by adrenaline. While Brock complained mostly that his head hurt at first, he had taken to talking about his tailbone and shoulders for the remainder of the time. Misty tossed a comment every once in awhile that she 'felt Brock's pain', but Ash kept mostly to himself.

Sure, he was in pain—but it was far from the worst pain he had ever been in before.

When Brock wasn't mentioning the aches in his bone, he fondly told stories of the _old days_ when the underground passage was littered with trainers trying to catch rock pokemon—but over time, the tunnel became like most things in Kanto, unused and empty. Old paths that were created by previous trainers were long untraveled and most likely unsafe, so they kept to the main path, in hopes to avoid a cave in. Ash and pikachu told tales as well; they spoke of his travels, the differences he found; how odd it was to discover for the first time that the world _didn't_ run on pokemon power, and actually had electricity powered through engines and solar energy.

More importantly, he talked about the legendary pokemon. About each event with them—how he was somehow always 'chosen' to be the hero of this epic story—how he at one point dreamed of having 'aura powers' to help him connect with pokemon and the world. Saying it out loud, he knew how crazy he sounded, but Brock and Misty didn't tease him.

Well, they did.

 _A little_.

"The _chosen one,_ huh?" Misty snorted, trying to contain her laughter. Ash shot her a nasty glare and returned his focus on chimchar.

"Yeah, the chosen one! Maybe I had a little bit of an inferiority complex. I wanted to feel special. I don't know." Ash barked back, folding his arms. Brock was a bit gentler with his response.

"How's it feel to be in the real world as a normal person? Seems like you've lost a lot of the magic that came with your dreams."

Mentally, Ash stumbled at the comment, thinking of his time in his dream; the bright wonderland of beauty and magic and then shrugged in minor defeat.

"I don't think about it too much, at least, not anymore." He clarified. "After being awake for so long, they definitely _feel_ more like a dream now." Sadly, Ash laughed in spite of himself. "Even I cringe at some of the things that I _thought_ were normal." he added, kicking his foot into the dirt to create a small dust cloud. Misty grimaced at his sad tone and nudged him gently.

"For a normal person, you're still pretty special." She hummed quietly, settling the discomfort in his stomach until he wedged an eyebrow at her.

"I was waiting for the punchline when you insult me." Ash joked, much to her chagrin.

"Oh, c'mon." She groaned and rolled her eyes. "I mean it. You're not _the chosen one_ " her voice mocked his in a low tone before she continued, "but you're still making a difference, so maybe that's all that matters."

Brock smack his lips, and smiled happily at the two of them. "Aww, she is nice sometimes."

Ash held up his hands for emphasis. "It's behind layers."

"Shut up!" Misty shrieked in her defense, shoving them both playfully. Her voice echoed down the tunnel, which was replaced quickly by their laughter. The best part of traveling as a group, is they didn't have to focus only on the terrible thoughts in their mind—how bad this would get before it got better, instead they were able to talk, pretend, joke: laugh.

It was a wonderful thing.

By the time they could see the exit of the cave at the end of the long tunnel, the sounds of the occasional water drip, the shuffle of their feet against cold dirt, and the occasional pokemon chatter became normal. Even the sleeping pokemon that were left undisturbed by their presence remained solely on their perch, leaving the trainers alone. After a long silence, focused primarily on pushing one foot forward, Brock finally spoke, cutting through the tense night air.

"I think I've figured out why they're so desperate to catch us." Brock said, thumbing the chip in his pocket to remind him of their predicament. "They know we have this _thing_ , and if we can connect it to the league, we've won half the battle. They're pulling out all the tricks to stop us."

Misty nodded her agreement, though she and Ash had already made the mental observation hours ago, neither felt brave enough to voice it. "I think so, as well. There's no way the league could cover up for it, either. I wonder if the Elite Four knows, though?"

"They must." Ash grunted. "Otherwise, why would they be so determined to make false accusations?" Given his exhaustion, his _real_ feelings of the subject rose from his voice; absolute frustration.

Misty nodded silently, but didn't know how to respond. After years of seeing the Elite Four look down on people, she sincerely doubted it was because they were _concerned_ about her. They knew that the three of them were onto something big, and they wanted to stop them from talking without using violence, though, Misty wondered how long it would be until violence was the only answer.

In the past, they never had an issue with _making people disappear_ before—like they did to Brock's dad. Misty felt a cold chill run down her spine and calmly reminded herself that they only had to get to Saffron City before the news reports or the Elite Four knew they were going there, and they would be safe. However, Ash _knew_ that it wasn't going to be so easy—he _almost_ wanted to bet that Silph Co. was already under heavy watch, and they were walking into a trap. Still, he tried to stay optimistic. After all, they had to try something.

As they neared the exit of the passage, staring into the darkness of the opposite forest that was aglow with the reflection of city lights on trees, a distant rumble hummed behind them. Slowly, each trainer stopped, turned, then stared; against their better judgment.

"What was that...?" Brock questioned as a louder, more aggressive rumble formed at his ears.

"That almost sounds like...someone is digging? Maybe tunneling?" Misty muttered aloud, though Ash was the optimist, Misty was the pessimist.

"Maybe it's a pokemon?" Ash offered, but Misty scowled.

"Or maybe they finally caught on." She offered, and like clock work, men cloaked in dark robes, with small, red insignia on the shoulder funneled inside from the exit of the cave, as well as from the darkness behind them. Clutched between their gloved hands were a weapon of some sort—a gun, maybe. Misty couldn't tell with only the faint light of chimchar's tail.

"What do you want?" Ash asked blindly as their weapons rose, then seconds later, nets expanded in all direction.

Ash threw up his arm quickly. "Chimchar use flame thrower!" the pokemon reacted with the innate training it had processed over the last few months by blowing towards the exit a righteous fire that burned the nets in a fraction of a second. However, that was only one of many that sprang forward.

One of which, wrapped deathly around chimchar, followed by nabbing Misty who was reaching for her own pokeball—then Brock, until Ash was standing with pikachu and togepi and they both tumbled forward

"Pikachu use thunderbolt, togepi, use safe guard!"

Both pokemon rose, but only pikachu successfully delivered the attack, togepi, who hadn't much rest since earlier, sputtered out, and fell to the ground with an unaccomplished thud. Ash chose to ignore the problem once pikachu's lightning brightened the entire tunnel; revealing at least twenty men, against the three of them.

"Ash-!" Brock and Misty yelped as the net that wrapped around them sprung to life in a full pull; chimchar was rushed quickly to the exit, thrashing against the net, while his friends were dragged back into the darkness, where light disappeared.

For Ash, another fate awaited him when he saw the lining of what he thought might have been a rifle, and his heart skipped.

 _Not today_.

"Pikachu use thunder on _them_." He commanded, the very first time he ordered his pokemon to attack a living, breathing person—the thunder cracked quickly, since pikachu was already charged from his last attack, and it was released long before the bullet left the chamber.

Luckily, for him, a net didn't put Brock and Misty out of the came either, and moments following the deafening scream of electrocution, poliwrath, and ryhorn blew holes in the other defenses.

"Chimchar, get out of that net with scratch! Or ember!" Ash shouted, jumping backwards to grope for Brock and Misty on the floor, to remove the net that had wrapped around them; naturally, and thanks to Brock's insistence, Ash helped Misty first, who took front and center by grabbing togepi while Ash wrangled Brock from the net.

Seconds later, While Ash had successfully crippled the team at the entrance via electric shock—Misty took on the back with blind fury.

"Poliwrath, use hydro pump on the walls of the cave."

"Misty that'll-!" Brock started, but the pokemon already released the turret of water, that was followed quickly by the sound of crumbling rock—a cave in.

Misty was at Ash's side a moment later, grabbing him by his upper arm, followed by pulling Brock to his feet, who recalled ryhorn a moment too soon.

A bullet whizzed by Ash's head, followed by the quick release of two tyranitar whose shock waves kept the cave in line from falling. Ash exhaled when he turned back to see that while many of the grunts were fried—most of them had gotten back up again.

"Pikachu, again!" Ash yelled, and while the pokemon charged the attack, Misty focused on the two large pokemon with determination, and now they had to worry about being _shot_. Not incapacitated, _shot._ The lever clicked backwards, deafening to Ash who could hear nothing but the sound of the deadly rifle, and inhaled as he realized where the gun was aimed—not at _him_ , but at his friendly, electric companion who was in the midst of charging an attack, and would never move in time.

Ash kicked to his feet, rushed forward against the unrest in his body, and landed with a loud bang following his tackle onto pikachu. The pokemon squealed, and while Ash waited for a long time to feel a sudden, sharp pain on his body—indication that the bullet fired went through him somewhere, when he opened his eyes; it was to the blinding light at the exit of the cave, which was followed by a fire so intense, Ash had to cover his eyes.

A terrifying roar, mixed with the yowl of an injured animal echoed from every corner of the cave that followed the sudden movement of a very agile, and very aggressive monferno ripping through the men at the exit. In the midst of the chaos, Chimchar evolved—shed its old skin, and cracked a fire blast into the gunners face without a moment of hesitation. With reflexes of steel, it removed the several rifles from the incapacitated, as well as the functioning members, and essentially _beat_ the owner with the weapon when Ash got to his feet.

"Monferno!" He gasped, though the pokemon never turned to him. "Pikachu, help monferno clear the exit." Ash tossed pikachu forward, whipped around to grab at Misty and Brock who were in the middle of their own issues, and lunged them both backwards.

"We need to get out of here!" Ash yelped, indicating to the sound of the crumbling rocks that surrounded them once more. Brock followed Ash who made his way to the exit, but Misty staggered behind for a split second, and then whipped around aggressively, throwing another pokeball as she did.

"Gyarados, use hyper beam! Poliwrath, hydro pump!"

"Misty, stop!" Ash tried, but her mind was already made up; she wasn't going to _leave them_ because if she _did_ they would only follow them again. Whoever they were, they weren't friendly, and they had no intention of _playing nice_ anymore. Neither would she.

When the combination of attacks landed against the opposing team, as well as their pokemon, the cave in was inevitable; luckily, Misty was quick on her feet, returning the two pokemon before rocks separated them, and they were out of the underground passage, sprinting to town. Even in the breaking of rocks and the loud shuffle of their feet, in the distance, they heard the sound of even more footfalls, and aggressive soldiers grunting into the night. Ash thought for the second time that day that the underground passage was a horrible idea after all.

"We need to get out of sight!" Ash yelped, slightly upset that he didn't have time to thank, or congratulation monferno before he returned the tired pokemon so the group could run effeciently.

"We need to get into town; they just tried to _kill us_!" Brock finally gasped, the moment catching up with him. "I'm not sure about you two, but dealing with the justice system sounds a lot more appealing now!"

"You think they will be any better!?" Misty gasped, hearing a warning shot go off over their heads as they broke into the thick of the forest rather than remaining on the path, less than a mile out of town.

"They're following us somehow! There's no way they could have known we took the underground passage! Someone _knew_ " Ash muttered, though the matter of _how_ they knew seemed rather unimportant as they rushed through branches in a sheer panic.

They were being chased, the clear indication of storming foot falls, occasional high-pitched screams, and the dark of the night were only _small_ reminders; the most prominent reminder was how close Saffron City was, and yet _so far_. They would have to return to the path at some point to get into the city safely. Only, that didn't seem like such a bright idea anymore. Obviously, if they knew they were in the passage, there was no doubt in any of their minds that the _rest_ of whatever was following them would be in the city as well.

The looming, dark reminder they chose to ignore dug deep into their hearts when they ran directly into the empty streets of the south west entrance to the city: No place was safe, and they knew the group was coming.

They huffed, and Ash cracked his neck, looking behind them.

"Where do we go from here?" Misty grunted, grasping Ash's shoulder for support as she glanced at Brock who scanned the area. Shops were clearly closed down, and while Ash distinctly remembered _all_ of Saffron City booming with traffic at all times of the night, he understood clearly that this was a set up.

 _What were they going to do_? Was an excellent question that optimism wasn't going to answer them for once. With worried eyes, he glanced at Misty, who's dark hair hid none of her emotions the way that her red hair did, then at Brock, who even when faced with terrible odds, was still looking for _another way out_.

Misty was mentally preparing herself to fight her way through when a familiar chuckle, the shrill, faint muffle of a long-lost memory erupted around them; followed by the earth shifting around them, and being dragged under, one at a time.

 _The sewer system_.

None of them took the ladder down, instead, they landed with a crack against the dirty surroundings and a loud, breathy gasp as two figures manhandled the exhausted trio. At first, Ash feared the worst—they had finally been captured; their good deeds were lost now. The world would suffer, and they would have been nothing more than a small dot on an endless plan.

"Stop!" Misty screamed when Ash was thrashed by the larger figure up against the wall, with his large fist curled into Ash's shirt; his rattling head was met with sharp green eyes, and a blend of lavender hair. Standing behind his attacker was ruby red lips, and curled maroon hair; a female that had effectively tied Brock and Misty back to back, and handcuffed their arms as such.

First panic, then joy, and finally, when the man released Ash and dropped him beside Brock and Misty, fear crept in. _Jessie and Jame_ s, the image of Team Rocket in his mind since he was a child stared back at them with cold eyes.

 **Author's Note** :

I know a certain reviewer who's going to be very happy about the end of this chaaapppptterr.

YES.

IT'S THEM.

OH MAAAI.

I re-wrote this chapter a few times, and while it still feels choppy, I'm rather pleased with it. There were a few moments that were too 'hum-ha' for this far into the story, so I did some editing with conversation and character interaction most of all. Plus, researching the accuracy of the jump from the train that may or may not have been heavily inspired by the jump from the movie Anastasia.

I was torn between togepi evolving or chimchar evolving. I ended up sticking to my original outline with chimchar instead, and saving togepi for later. We talk about dragons being super powerful, but can we have a moment of silence for what _fairy_ pokemon could offer to the table? -breaks out the mythos behind that one- if anyone wants to discuss.

Not much to say about this chapter as a whole. Sometimes absolutely chaos.

((Author u **pdate(** _07/17.2016)_ : bit of a rant about my most recent frustration(s), you don't have to read this.

Last chapter I mentioned that I went off of my pain medications after that accident three weeks agoish! While that was wonderful at first; it has turned into quite a hassle now. My collarbone hasn't quite healed yet, and I still have some major whiplash (that I've been told may never go away, woo) which essentially means I'm in pain almost 24/7. I can sit for maybe an hour and then my neck and shoulders start to ache beyond reason. Physical therapy has finally ended, and with it, I'm really hoping to get back into the groove of writing, and living life and working and you know; all that good stuff...however, no matter how much I try, that doesn't seem to be happening.

Sure, technically _,_ I've been told that even my weekly-ish updates _are_ considered really fast by comparison; but for me, who wrote 30 some chapters in just around three months time, I'm feeling really...disheartened(?) that a chapter that usually takes a day is taking an entire week, and then some. On a normal day, I usually have only about an hour to really sit and write to begin with, but since I was injured at the end of June, I've just been feeling 'meh' about everything. Coupled with the pain from whiplash, I'm sort of feeling 'eh' about writing in general, and it really sucks. Maybe I shouldn't complain(since nobody else has) but I'm really frustrated at the whole situation.

Like, I set a goal for myself, for writing, story telling, editing, and styles this summer; and thus far, I've not met any of my goals. I know it's just fanfiction, so I mean, it's not a _big_ deal if for some reason I can't update (Since you know, some people go months, sometimes _years_ without updating) but in a weird way, I pride myself on the ability of being able to write quickly, not only because it's wonderful practice, but because I love doing this as a hobby. A part of me feels like I'm letting my readers down, but more than that, I feel like I'm letting myself down by not _feeling_ like writing. I have so much that I want to accomplish, not _just_ fanfiction, and since I got into that accident; I feel like I've just been at a mental pause. Nothing seems good enough, and simply put—I don't _want_ to write, but I _want_ to write? The urge is there, the know-how seems to be gone.

Maybe it's just writers block? I've never really _had_ writers block before, though, so I guess in a round-about way, I'm asking for advice? Or maybe I'm just looking to rant about it so I feel better?

To summarize, I **guess, I want to say thank you all for your abundance of patience, support, and feedback these last few weeks. I hope that you will all continue to enjoy the story, and keep moving forward with me as we reach the end of this long journey, even if it takes a bit longer than I anticipated originally. ~End rant)))**

NINT


	39. Chapter 39: Survival

**Locked Away, Chapter 39**

Ash's head was spinning, possibly because of the exhaustion, even more possibly from the stars projecting from his eyes after the lavender haired man smashed Ash's head against the concrete wall of the sewer. Above them, latched onto the ladder above, the maroon haired woman yanked the man-hole cover closed, and gently made her way down, heels clacking against the metal.

Each thump sounded like an alarm going off in Ash's head. His hands were tied behind his back, pikachu and togepi were at his feet, weakened, tired, _exhausted_ , but ready to fight. Even togepi seemed prepared to lunge forward at their perpetrators, but pikachu waited; recognizing the people in front of him, as well. Worriedly, the small rodent looked to Ash for support, but the dazed trainer could offer none.

"You're those two from the party!" Misty hissed, jarring a nearly unconscious Ash back to reality.

He sat forward, watching as who he believed was Jessie and James step forward to haul the three of them to their feet; unlike Ash's original belief, Misty and Brock were not tied together, rather, they had been seated together by the professionals. How pathetic, to be taken down so quickly! However, he still had pikachu, and they could still get away. _Maybe_.

"Pikachu!" Ash yelped, though shortly after, the duo raised their hands.

"We don't want any trouble." The females voice crooned, tired like an old woman, though her features remained stoic and strong, aside from a wrinkle here and there, she looked young still. Who Ash believed was James, crossed his arms, and stroked the length of his chin a few times, assessing the situation as pikachu looked back and forth; confused on what to do. Should he attack? or...

"All you ever want is trouble!" Ash countered deciding to fight. He delivered the words with such a power that pikachu faced Jessie and James with his cheeks alive in electricity. Togepi prepared as well, twisting his arms left and right, though before either could act, Jessie and James swooped down, and collected the two pokemon into small bags, which effectively subdued their attacks.

"Chuu!" the mouse screamed, lights emerging from the bag, but nothing else; togepi thrust its small paws in each direction and Ash shook his head at the duos abnormal speed—but of course, _he,_ and his pokemon were both extremely fatigued; they were probably all moving too slow.

"Let them go!" Ash demanded with the authority of a child.

"You were about to attack us." James screeched in a shrill voice, eyebrows raised.

"You attacked us first!" Misty called, having maneuvered herself to reach her pokeballs, though was shocked when she realized they weren't there. "Where are my pokemon!?" She yelled, wobbling on her feet.

Three belts jingled across from them, held tightly in James grasp as he watched the life in the trio's eyes fade very slowly. "You mean these?" he said in a mock tone. "You should keep a better eye on your things."

"I guess you two earned your nicknames after all." Brock grunted standing beside Misty.

Ash flinched, fighting against the cuffs behind him—willing them to break while inwardly wondering: _What now? What could be at the end of this? T_ hey were bound, their pokemon taken, and in a dark sewer. Outside, they were truly being chased by _the bad guys_. Now he had to choose the lesser of all evils.

Struggling in the bag still, Ash saw pikachu's paws bulge from the bag at all sides, as well as togepi's shrill cries, and his shoulders slumped. The lesser evil, was the one who wasn't trying to shoot guns at them. Stole their pokemon, threw them into a sewer, yes—but right now, there was no immediate danger. Ash sighed bravely, puffing his chest up with a fresh breath of air, then released once more.

"What do you two want?" He asked, distinctly realizing only now that their _third_ member was missing. "Where's Meowth?" Ash asked skeptically, looking around. For a moment, Jessie seemed startled.

With the elegance of a queen, she leered at Ash while leaning over to whisper into James ear, he appeared troubled, then after closing his green eyes, he opened them to nod to the group.

"Follow us." James demanded, walking around the trio to the back of the group while Jessie waved them forward. Unlike Brock, and Ash, who seemed to go along with the demands quietly, realizing they were in no place to bargain; the former red-headed fury was hard to silence, moreover, she was frustrated with Brock and Ash's easy compliance. She stomped her foot in much of the same fashion she did when she was a child.

"So what is this? You chase us through the forest, set a trap, only to drop us in the sewer!?" Misty inhaled, bumping shoulders with her companions. They walked out to the stream of the sewage system, the smell made her nose hairs curl and her stomach churn, but she pressed forward with no reply. Their steps bounced off the concrete walls.

"Damn it!" She cursed. "Who are you people!? Did the Elite Four set you up to this!? The police?! Team _fucking_ Rocket!? Ash these are those crooks from your dreams, aren't they? Say something to them!" Her voice carried, causing both Brock and Ash to wince.

"Misty.. calm down." Ash tried, but her green eyes blazed into his soul angrily.

"I will not calm down until someone answers me! We've been shot at, chased down, and now our pokemon have been stolen! If this is it, then I want to know what the _hell_ has been going on!" She yelped loudly, huffing; her face turned red from anger from her struggle against the binds, and Brock knew from her posture that if she had a chance, she would crack the hand cuffs over the duos head in a heart beat.

A very long pause enveloped the group which only fueled Misty's rage. She huffed once more, but before she could speak, a very solemn voice bellowed in front of her.

"What's the difference?" Jessie spoke quietly.

Ash wasn't sure that he heard the woman correctly at first, his head cocked to look at Misty's expression of shock, then to Brock's. Before knowing it himself, Ash's lips started to move.

"What does that mean?" he questioned aloud, earning a jab from James to nudge them forward faster.

No answer.

"What does that mean?!" Both Ash and Misty's voice rang in absolute panic, though luckily for them, Brock was between them. With the imaginary comfort of his arms around their shoulders, and a quiet 'shh', they two relaxed.

"Guys, calm down. I don't think we're in a situation to ask the questions." He nudged his chin forward to show the two of them that while Jessie and James were not immediately violent, they had the means to do so. A small, metallic item hung in a holster on Jessie's hip while she held the two struggling pokemon with one hand.

"Chaa" Pikachu moaned painfully, finally slumping against the imprisonment, and Ash's voice returned to him.

"It's okay, guys. We'll get through this." Ash told his two pokemon, trying to sound as convincing as possible. James scoffed behind him, eliciting a cold, chill down Ash's spine while he swallowed hard, and looked to his companions for support.

Brock was stoic, in that same-powerful gym leader gaze, he put up a front as strong as any wall. Brock, who was usually the most relaxed of the three of them, was also the most mature; at least, from what Ash knew of him. The face of a man prepared for anything.

Misty was another story entirely, her lips were drawn into a scowl, her eyes were narrowed into dangerous slits, and her head was cocked away from the group, staring into the sewer stream that ran between the concrete beside them. Even now, Ash could see the cogs in her mind working, trying to find a means to escape. James had their pokeball belts, but Jessie had some kind of weapon; which meant James most likely had one, as well. Misty gnawed her bottom lip painfully, searching for answers until finally she realized there were none; and that righteous, furious gleam in her eye faded as she realized they were beaten.

For a moment, Ash thought to say something to her; anything. A comforting phrase or comment that she was usually so good at reiterating to him when he was in the dumps, but nothing fortunate came to mind. He couldn't _lie_ to her, tell her things would be okay, because he wasn't sure that they would be. He wanted to be optimistic, and perhaps it was the exhaustion thinking for him, but he couldn't see a way for this to end _happily_. Either way, they were goners.

Instead, his heart lurched and when she finally caught him staring, her sea-green eyes probably reflecting the same worry his own eyes had, his heart skipped; and his mouth opened to speak.

"Misty I-"

"Shh!"

Suddenly, they stopped. James threw the three of them flushed against the wall with Jessie's help. Gasping as they hit the solid concrete behind them, Brock groaned—likely his injured head only felt worse with the inclusion of more bumps, but now, the foot steps pounding in the sewers from the distance had Jessie and James worried.

"How did they find us?" James groaned, rubbing his face with his free hand.

"They must be tracking these _twerps_ somehow." Jessie alluded, looking down the sewer in the direction that they came, then, her crystal blue eyes fell on the group they captured and she hissed. "Are your devices turned off?"

"Y-yes." Ash blurted out first. His nose scrunched up, glancing at Misty once more who once again had the fury of a hundred men in her eyes, and he sighed in relief. Brock, winced away from the woman when she turned each of them around to rip off their back packs.

"There has to be something else, sorry kids." Jessie grunt, and then threw them into running sewer below.

"Hey! That had-" Misty tried, but James gloved hand pressed firmly against her lips to silence her, an action she thought to bite him for.

 _Material_ _items._ Ash thought, trying to justify the fact that Jessie flung away their last means of survival. Ash's pokedex, Misty and Brock's phone; other small items Ash had been gifted over the year and become attached. He inhaled, but remained silent as the foot falls grew closer; the all knew better than to speak at this point.

It didn't take Misty long to realize that where Jessie and James were probably not _good_ , they were atleastnot working with the crazy people who were shooting at them. Those men in black, with a small, red embroidery on their shoulders did not match the pure black, burglary outfits that the duo wore.

Brock was the next to realize, and opened his mouth the whisper. "We have a microchip that we found at the indigo league. It's in my right pocket." He spoke, twisting his hip to Jessie, who looked absolutely appalled. Her face turned green.

"...You're not just being perverted, are you?"

Brock looked genuinely disturbed, mouth opening. Despite the situation, Misty and Ash found it difficult not to chuckle along side James who silenced his chuckle by biting hard on his cheek.

"I would sooner cut off my tongue." Brock murmured with an eyebrow twitch that pressed Jessie into action. She fished the microchip out quickly, observed the small, red light that beeped on the front, then with one strong arm, chucked the microchip as far back into the sewer water as possible.

"Alright, that might have bought us some time." She nodded to James, who reeled Ash and Misty forward, while Jessie tugged on Brock.

"Move!" She hissed, lunging them forward. "And stay quiet!"

While, they still questioned what was going to happen to them; where they were going, and what Jessie and James wanted. Right now, they were helping them get away from the elite force of jack-asses behind them, so neither member of the trio felt the urge to complain while they were hustled down the foul-smelling sewer system.

 **XOXs**

By the time an hour had passed in the sewers, Ash wasn't sure if his feet were still moving anymore. If it wasn't for the fact that he saw progress by not being yelled at, he would have been convinced he took a nap a few minutes ago. Muscle memory pushed him forward, but his will was gone.

After the group threw the microchip away, the progressing footfalls behind them disapeared into the distance, somewhere far, far away, until only the occasional drip of water echoed along their steps, a huff from one of them, and shrill orders from the maroon haired woman at the front. James would occasionally whistle mindlessly, only to be silenced immediately from Jessie, and while they bickered briefly, Ash would check up on his companions. His stomach felt twisted inside watching his friends' torment; never had he truly witnessed suffering in his dreams, and prior to now, he never _saw_ anyone else suffer; he was usually the one injured in some way.

Seeing them this way, tired and beaten, made his heart ache, and he felt like throwing up.

Apologies threatened to pour out of his mouth—but nothing would have come from such words except retaliation from Jessie and James, who were clearly in favor of remaining quiet. A small, distant part of him still prayed that they were _helping_ the trio, but given their current position; he wondered.

For the first three quarters of the hour, Ash tried to check up on everyone; now, he wasn't so sure that he, himself, was well enough to be asking. His knees hurt; his forehead where he hit Brock earlier was throbbing, and if possible, every muscle felt torn and on fire. However, it was still only the _second_ worst he has ever felt—right behind that ordeal in Kalos when the world was spinning, and he was burning up and freezing cold at the same time.

Brock wasn't much better, his head ached to the point of a migraine, behind the strong composure that wavered very seldom, his body was just as sore as Ash's, if not more. His feet, from the previous day's walk, were on fire from the blisters beneath his socks, his back ached from the fall from the train—and that didn't even start the pain in his head. Jack hammers drilling through solid concrete came to mind, and even the distant sound of drips were starting to weigh heavy on his patience and pain tolerance. However, he didn't complain, they weren't running anymore, and they weren't _dead_. Brock would make it through this, though he kicked himself mentally.

He spent hours looking at that _stupid_ microchip, he should have known better. They were designed to track pokemon, he should have known right away that they were being followed—they were defeated before they ever started this journey; they probably knew that they were going to Saffron City from the very beginning. Those people, whoever they were, were a step ahead of them from the very start, and at his core, he might have believed he was the cause of this.

Beside the two boys, Misty walked the closest to the sewer water—it was the stinkiest place to stand, but it kept her away from James and Jessie, who both seemed too finicky to stand too close to the stream themselves. Time and time again, she thought about throwing herself into the water, but there was no telling what kind of diseases and bacteria were alive in the brown-green sewage system. _Only as a last resort,_ she told herself with a loud sigh.

When she wasn't focused on the smell, she was focused on her friends, and the two bags that Jessie carried. Togepi and pikachu hadn't moved in well over thirty minutes—they either fell asleep, or _worse._ Though, Misty couldn't find the strength to speak. Ash was the only one of the three to talk, with his words being replied with groans mostly from Brock, and silent shrugs from the former-redhead. They were in no situation to speak to one another, and while a part of her _wanted_ to, in fear she wouldn't get another chance to talk to the two few them, another part of her knew this wasn't over yet. She wasn't going to prepare for the worst, because whatever was going on, this was only the beginning.

From the start of their trek through the tunnel, Ash was forcefully pressing forward, trying to remain calm and even stubbornly optimistic, against all odds. Now that his feet shuffled, and he stumbled off and on, Misty exhaled, taking a few steps to the left to his side, and nudged him gently.

"Are you okay?" She asked quietly, watching his sleepy expression fade for a slightly-more alert one. He stared up at her with large eyes, then nodded very solemnly before looking forward once again _defeated_. More so, now that the microchip they hoped would give them the evidence and information that they needed to finally move forward, was gone. Misty wondered exactly how they wound up here. It was _never_ supposed to be this complicated.

Political battles, media reports, rule overturns, riots, petitions; Misty expected _anything_ but this. Being chased through a forest, being shot at and attacked at the league party—Ash being accused of kidnapping her and the entire league hunting them down. Now _this_ , the fact that Team Rocket was supposed to be controlling them from the distance—pulling the strings...

"W _hat's the difference?"_ Jessie's words echoed through Misty's mind, and while her nose scrunched up, she felt angry all over, and against the aches and exhaustion, she exhaled.

"Are you going to tell us where we're going now?" She groaned, breathing life back into Brock and Ash. "You're clearly not working with whoever those guys were, but you're still up to something, and we want answers!"

"Man, you don't stop, do you?" Jessie groaned looking back at Misty who scowled. Watching her outburst, Ash inhaled as well, invigorated.

"Why are you helping us?" Ash followed her question with another, which caused Jessie's back to stiffen.

"Helping you?" She hissed, turning one cold eye over her shoulder. "What made you think we were helping you?" She barked, the words followed immediately by complete, and total darkness.

 **XOXs**

E _xecution_ came to mind when Ash woke from his dreamless state. Darkness faced him once more, courtesy of the blindfold tied over his head tightly. He was on his left side; trying to recall his last waking moments.

Some kind of drug, _chloroform,_ a drug famous in those crime movies Misty liked to watch came to mind. He wasn't sure when they used it though—maybe they used tranquilizers instead? Ash listened for a short while for footsteps around them, but found that it was silent. If they _did_ use chloroform, would have the three of them out in seconds—but why wait so long before using it? Ash pawed at the ground behind him with his cuffed hands, feeling solid, wooden floors beneath him while trying to wiggle his head free of the blindfold to no avail. It was tight against his flesh like a mask. Struggling, he tried to move to his knees when a slow breath beside him halted his movement.

"Misty?" He bit his tongue. "Pikachu? Togepi?" He called into the room, unable to smell anything other than the stench of dust and decay, which embedded his nostrils. Usually, Misty smelled like wildflowers and distinct chlorine, a scent he became so accustomed to over the year that he could find her easily. Now, he only smelled dirt, and his nose hairs curled. No reply, only another breath. Ash rolled over onto his right side, bumping against another body that was larger than his, Brock's most likely.

"Hey, Brock." Ash scoffed sarcastically, trying to wake his friend with a shoulder thrust, though he did not budge. With a groan, Brock moved away from Ash, and the latter sighed.

Ash turned over once more, and then sat up with his best attempt to remove his blindfold. Jarring his head back and forth, he tried using his shoulders, wiggling his eyebrows and nose, but to no avail. He fell backwards, facing what he believed was the ceiling, and released a loud, painstaking sigh.

Whatever they got themselves into, this was it. This _was_ the end. After months of preparation, planning, and training; the people he never _truly_ believed were bad from his dreams, left them in some kind of _cell_ to rot. Took his pokemon, and injured his friends. His chest hurt, for the second time that day, some deeply embedded mark in his heart that cried at him for the second time while he looked what he believed to be _death_ in the eye.

They were alone, somewhere far away from home or civilization, and would likely disappear to some jail cell where they would never be discovered again. A lump formed in Ash's throat, and he squeezed his eyes shut. No, he couldn't think like that! The three of them were smart, they would make it through this one way or another. Too many people were counting on them.

"Ash?" Misty voice cut through the silence, catching him off guard.

"You're awake!" he gasped, sitting forward. He heard her groan, and shift—discovering most likely, that her eyes were also covered.

"Where's Brock? And the pokemon?" She questioned while sitting forward. Ash gestured to Brock with his shoulders, and swallowed.

"Still out cold, I think." Ash hesitated, "I don't know where the pokemon are, and they haven't been here since I woke up.

"Oh.." Misty offered aloud. "Can _you_ see anything?"

"No, they blindfolded me." Ash said quietly.

"Yeah, me too." She said halfheartedly, though her tone rang painful to listen to. Ash moved towards her voice, inhaling. Whether it was from the survival part of his mind, or the sudden urge that they might not make it, or simply because now was better than never—and what would make things worse than they already are? He faced her.

Ash swallowed nervously, a blush on his cheeks that Misty couldn't see, thankfully. "Misty, can we talk?"

"Err.. I guess?" She replied, though the tone of her mind seemed occupied.

"Well...it's about everything that has happened, and if we get separated—ahh-It's that—you know... I'm not giving up, it's just that...I wanted to say that..." He stammered, his lips falling into a slight scowl, struggling for the proper, or improper words when a feisty groan cut him off.

"Ash, shut up." She hissed angrily, her voice silencing the worry in his mind. "We're not going to get separated."

Suddenly, anger replaced the softness in his heart. "I'm not saying that, either. I'm just saying that _if we do_ , there are some _things_ I'd rather not leave unsaid!" He challenged her, only to be countered with a powerful tone.

" _If_ you're going to have some kind of confession—it better not be a 'just in case we all die' scenario, Ash." Misty growled, her voice growing closer to his. His back stiffened, leaning back. How insulting! He was only trying to _help_ the situation. His face was scarlet, not that she could see.

" _C-confession_? What _confession_!" he snapped in a shrill voice unlike his normal, deep tone. "I was going to tell you that you smell like sewer!" he mocked, covering his own embarrassment. If his hands had been free; he would have groaned into his palms and hidden away for the rest of his life.

Then, she laughed.

"That's the Ash I know." She chuckled, and even though he couldn't see it, he knew that she was grinning, and suddenly; he was too.

"Jeeze, Misty." He started, but she blatantly nudged forward, interrupting him.

"Come here." she ordered.

He echoed his concern, following her voice until her knees pressed against his. "Why?"

Once Misty felt his knees brush against her own, she sat forward urging Ash's instincts to move as well. His heart stalled for a moment when the heat of her face mixed with his own, and he held his breath moments before her lips collided with the blindfold on his face. Followed by teeth that gently nipped the flesh of his cheek.

"Ow!" Ash gasped in pure shock. "What are you doing?" he groaned, jerking away from her—he should have _known_ better! When he moved, light stung his eyes from dust covered windows, and he hissed at the bright room around him. Suddenly the unpleasant smell made sense when he glanced at their surroundings, covered in rotting wooden walls, ruined, molded furniture, and the appearance of trash bag sized sleeping bags and a single source of light in the corner of the room. The sun, however, was making enough murky light to give Ash an instant headache.

"Well?" Misty prodded, waiting for Ash, who glanced back at her, _betrayed_ , though unsure of why he felt so distrusting, his heart eased at the blush across her own features. He relaxed, and pursed his lips.

"Well what?"

"My _blindfold_." she groaned, puffing her frustration when Ash rolled his eyes and with a scarlet blush, leaned in to use the same technique she had on him. When the blindfold fell around her neck, she shook her short, black hair free, and glanced around the room. The sun was up, which meant that they survived the night, if nothing else. Her eyes lingered on his, embracing each stubborn mark, the purple and yellow over his right eye, the busted lip, and she heaved a loud sigh of relief, _seeing_ that he was okay.

"We do need to talk." She urged, but then when Ash sat back and blinked, she licked her lips and her attention fell to Brock. "But not _here_." Misty added while turning her body away from the raven-haired boy.

"You don't see our pokemon anywhere?" She asked, blatantly avoiding Ash's gaze.

Ash followed her glance and they both moved on their knees to their sleeping companion, but said nothing. Her words needed time to sink in, and they had to worry about Brock before anything else. They _all_ had to be okay first. Misty twisted at the last minute, until her hands were at Brock's head, and she pulled the blindfold down from his eyes, and felt his forehead for a fever then moved away.

"Brock." She tried, nudging his side with her knee, but he didn't move. "Hey, wake up." She tried again, a bit rougher. Ash watched her with slight amusement, and frowned.

"I think he needs the rest."

"Right, because you gave him a concussion." Enamored, Misty glanced at Ash with narrowed eyes, and Ash scoffed, trying to defend himself—though it was more than likely true at this point. Brock hasn't been himself since the train.

"He probably got it when he hit the ground..." He cleared his throat when he spoke, though it didn't make him feel any better.

"Which was _also_ your idea." Misty offered heartlessly, and Ash glared at her.

"At least _I'm trying!"_ he defended _" Besides, w_ hat put you in such a horrible mood?" He accused, and Misty scowled.

"Oh, I don't know, we're handcuffed in an old dusty cabin with no idea where we are?" Ash cocked his head to one side at her sudden hostility; she was known for it—and had done so to him several times. When put in an awkward situation, she _always_ reacted brash, that's a part of who she was. Ash knew this, so _why_ he took the bait was beyond him—he opened his mouth to retaliate, but Brock's voice cut through the argument.

"Could you two _not_ argue over me?" he groaned. "My head hurts enough _without_ you two yelling at one another."

"You're okay!" Misty gasped while Brock sat forward on his bum. Ash exhaled and offered a smile.

"Did you have a nice nap?" Ash asked sarcastically, which was met with a frustrated, impatient scowl.

Brock looked to Misty for answers. "Did they drug us? I feel like my head has been hit by a semi-truck."

"I'm not sure, but my head hurts, too. That could be the dehydration though." Misty spoke, forcing herself to her feet, even if she didn't want to. She walked the distance of the small cabin while Ash found his way to his feet, and to the sleeping bags.

"They must have been living here." Ash acknowledged, kicking at the magazines on the floor, as well as the _three_ sleeping bags on the floor.

"Do you see any keys? Have they been back?" Brock questioned, but both companions, staying oddly a rooms length away from one another, both shrugged.

"We just woke up a few minutes ago." Misty said, finding a slightly rusted paperclip and struggling to grab a hold of it before groaning when she dropped it on the floor.

"I can't do anything like this!" She yelled in frustration. Ash and Brock both turned to her, worriedly, and frowned.

"It's alright, Misty. We just need some time to think..." Brock tried to calm her when she fell to the ground, and against the binds of the handcuffs, slowly pulled her arms up and around her back, until they were between the back of her thighs and calves.

Both men panicked, hearing her bones crack under the twist of her body, and shuddering. Ash shut his eyes and looked away when she folded her knees to her chest, and then yanked her handcuffed wrists to the front of her body, and fell backwards on the dust covered floor, huffing.

"Flexible enough?" Brock remarked sarcastically, earning a pained glare from the woman when she sat up with better balance and flaunted her hands to them.

"Why don't one of you try it?" She scowled, bending over to collect the paperclip she dropped earlier, and then slowly started to straighten it out. Curiously, Ash pursed his lips, thinking of his own attempt at escaping handcuffs in that way. He bent over, trying to reach his arms to his thighs as Misty did, though his best attempt only made him fall over and cough in embarrassment.

Brock and Misty stiffened a laugh, through the mood was dire.

"It's not for everyone, champ." Brock half mocked.

Ash smacked his lips. "Thanks Brock." He crooned sarcastically, climbing to his feet once more as Misty twisted the paperclip into the lock on her hand cuff.

"Don't worry, I should be able to do this." Misty muttered in determination, bending the paperclip in several ways while twisting it into the lock to find the sweat spot. Ash and Brock looked at one another, and then back at Misty.

"Is there something you need to tell us?"

"I've never lock picked handcuffs before." Misty expressed while they boys crowded around her to watch her fingers move. "But it can't be _too_ different than a door, right?"

Ash knew right away the culprit to teach Misty the ways of _heinous lock picking_ was none other than her sister, Violet. The older woman had a wild side, that Ash mentally thanked for once. After the winding and cracking of her fingers against the metal frame, a click sounded, pouring relief into their souls.

"You did it!" Elated, Ash jumped while Misty rubbed her sore wrist and smiled herself. "We can do this guys! We have a chance to get out of here after all!" Ash bellowed confidently, earning the same confidence in his friends.

A few more minutes passed from fighting with her companions cuffs, she freed them as she did herself, and eventually, the three of them stretched to get the blood moving in their arms once again while they talked strategy. They needed to escape; but first, they needed to defend themselves if Jessie and James came back, and secondly, find their pokemon—there was _no way_ any of them would leave without them.

"Why would they just leave us here?" Brock questioned, walking the perimeter of the cabin, and glancing out the window while Ash and Misty searched for a weapon of some sort. In the end, Brock's question was left unanswered, and Misty and Ash were fruitless in their scavenging attempt.

Aside from the dirt and decay, there wasn't a lot to choose from.

"We'll just have to get the jump on them.." Misty offered, but Ash rubbed his neck, the one handcuff jingling in his ear.

"That's assuming they even plan on coming back..." Ash added when Brock's blurry vision from outside of the window was masked with dark shadows and he grabbed, then pulled both younger trainers into him and pointed to the door.

"Don't need to worry about that, get ready." Brock explained when the cabin door they were standing by swung open. From the ground, as a tornado ripping through a cornfield, dust rose in circles around the black boots of Jessie and James. They looked surprised, a bit worried that the three prisoners were gone when they walked into the cabin, so when Ash, Misty, and Brock silently pushed off the wall and tackled them; Jessie and James screamed in fear.

The three of them collided into the thieves, knocking them to the floor face first. Misty hit James with Ash's help, and Brock tackled Jessie. They each fell into a wrestler's hold, and while Ash held James, Misty ripped the fabric of her blindfold off her neck, and quickly tied it around his wrists before he raised his leg to kick them both away. James rolled away from them as Ash staggered to his feet.

The duo hadn't noticed, but Jessie had already escaped Brock as well, turned Brock's weight against him so she had the upper hand, and held him firmly against the dirt ridden floors, face first.

Misty and Ash blinked at the situation while James quickly freed himself from Misty's poor tying skills, and started to speak.

"You shouldn't sneak up on people like that!" James whined, but before either could speak, they were knocked back by animals. One a furry, ecstatic pikachu, and another a soft, cheerful egg.

"Togepi-!" "Pikachu?" They gasped in unison, stumbling as a third pokemon entered the room; his claws tearing at the hard wooden floors with clacks. His feline features were masked by lines of gray around his snout, and his wide eyes were narrowed to slits. The golden jewel placed on the forehead of his body gleamed in the faint light, and he paused at the entrance, glared at the trainers with a kingly drawl, and _meowed_.

"Meowth..?" Ash managed. The pokemon was larger than he remembered—the goofy, over sized head was a bit smaller, matching the bulk of his body as he rose to pace around Ash and Misty.

"Pika, pika chu! Pi!" The mouse started with togepi speaking at the same time, trying to explain the situation while Misty flinched and nervously took a step closer to Ash. Brock was slowly released from Jessie's grasp at the compliance of the feline pokemon, but Jessie _wasn't_ so gentle when she shoved the trainer into his companions.

"We're not here to hurt you." Jessie managed to say, though the very words seemed painful to speak through her ruby lips. James dusted off his shirt with a girlish groan.

"Jessie, do you _know_ how long it will take me to clean these uniforms?" He shrieked, glaring at Ash and Misty.

Misty, who was still _completely_ against everything Jessie and James had to offer, and Brock, who was confused either way, looked to Ash for answers. Originally, Ash thought he, too,would be distrustful, that he would take on look at these childhood villains and leave; but when he looked into Meowth's eyes, away from the humans in the room, the sparkle indicated they were going to be working with these two _long_ before he actually said it.

Misty watched this expression and groaned in unison with Brock.

 **XOXs**

"You're too quick to trust people, Ash." Misty scolded Ash on their way out of the cabin.

After the morning incident, Jessie and James explained they were out on patrol to make sure they were not followed into the forest. The _last_ thing they wanted to deal with was more people firing off guns; it didn't _go well with Jessie's new hairdo._ So of course, After a brief glance at Mewoth, and a short conversation with Jessie and James—the five of them followed the three kidnappers out of the cabin, with the _intention_ of following them. Once more, Misty had to remind herself that _anything_ revolving around Ash _couldn't_ be normal. Brock also questioned this same incident several times that morning, to no avail. Brock knew that Ash was _strange_ and _imaginative_ , but he never thought the trainer was crazy, _until now_.

"Well, togepi and pikachu trust them—and I trust them—so.. do you?" Ash looked to her with sad, brown eyes—begging eyes; those _stupid_ eyes that made even the coldest hearts melt under his gaze.

"That's not the point!" She hissed quietly, using Brock to shield herself from his puppy-dog-gaze. "Do I need to remind you that these people blew _up_ the league party's doors and _injured many_ other pokemon trainers—including you— _twice!_ " She tried to wager, though Ash met her sea-green eyes by bending around Brock with a harrowing ache, and twist of his nose. His way of _pleading_ for her to listen to him.

"I know, but..." Ash's eyes followed to Meowth, who was listening to their conversation with his keen hearing, and Ash looked sadly back at Misty. "They said they would explain everything when we get to where we're going..."

"But where _are_ we going, Ash? We have no reason to trust them, they haven't told us anything!" Misty growled when Brock looked back, giving his silent agreement to Misty's sane, and logical approach of the situation. In any case, they should take their pokemon, and run.

"I know we don't...but..." Ash fidgeted, "They weren't bad people in my dreams, and they _did_ save us from whoever has been following us—they aren't always good at making quick, effective decisions." He tried in their defense, but it was meowth who finally put an end to the conversation by mewing quietly to Ash; thus silencing Misty.

When he left, Ash's shoulders slumped.

"What did he say?" Misty asked impatiently, and Ash looked to Brock and Misty.

"He said that if you two aren't comfortable following them, then they will give you back your pokemon and you can go..."

"Toge!" The pokemon interjected quickly from Misty's arms, completely against the idea—though Brock and Misty didn't need the pokemon to tell them. They weren't _leaving Ash_ with these nut jobs!

"We're not leaving you alone with these three." Brock muttered, but then Ash shrugged. "Do you even know what they're wanted for? They're still two of the most _well-known_ criminals in the world!" Brock glowered, trying to break through Ash's thick skull.

"They healed pikachu and togepi's wounds, too." Ash gestured to pikachu, who was walking at the front of the pack beside Jessie and James, and Misty finally let her shoulders fall in defeat.

"Fine. But if I—we don't like their reasoning, we're leaving." Misty muttered, but Brock, who was still fatigued from the night prior, shook his head.

"What-!" Brock gasped, unable to believe what he was hearing

"Ash is going either way, and we can't let him go alone, right? We might as well take the chance." Misty offered in Ash's defense.

" _Now_ who's trusting people too easily?" Brock scolded Misty, who shrugged and rubbed her temples with her free hand while Ash smiled warmly at the two of them.

"It'll be okay, I promise." He offered to them confidently while wrapping his arms up and around both of their shoulders and pressing forward.

It was a long shot, but Jessie and James swore that once they were _safe_ , they would explain what was going on—Meowth said he had been looking for Ash for a very long time, which Ash intentionally left out of his reason for following them; so they were either walking into a trap... or about to increase the numbers of their rebellion. Ash was hoping for the later, no, he was _praying_ for it. Somewhere, Jessie and James had to still be bad at being bad, right?

 **Author's Note:**

Oh wow guys, your feedback was amazing. Thank you all for your advice and understanding; You should all feel really amazing and super awesome for being so supportive, even though you don't really know me. Kudos to you all, and thank you. ;w;

I'm feeling a bit better now! I moped around my house the last couple of days, and I think I'm finally ready to just move forward; shit happens and at some point I just have to move forward. So, before I started replying to reviews left on the last chapter, I wanted to leave this chapter here, with my sincere thanks.

 _Really_ , thank you all for the support, as well as reading, and reviewing, and faving/following. And over all enjoying the story. I'm glad I have had the chance to share this story with you. -thumbs up-

 **Thoughts on the chapter:**

This chapter was originally quite a bit longer, but I cut off here, so I can add more to the next chapter (because this chapter and next chapter were essentially the same thing...? wth Nint -shakes head). So, I will try to have the next chapter up in the next few days (since this one was relatively short, and the next one will be relatively long. I kind of wanted all of the Team Rocket exposition in the same chapter...)

Jessie and James are a little tricky, because there's no way they can still be their 'goofy' selves, and have been a part of what I've made Team Rocket out to be in this story; so I made them "quirky". They're supposed to be master thieves, so I imagine their combat skills are good, compared to the original trio's combat skills. (lol, Brock used tackled...it was not effective!), and given the state that the group was in when they met, I don't think they would have trouble manhandling the group.

I mentioned earlier that Misty could lock pick doors; but I want to put this out there: lock picking a door, and lock picking handcuffs are completely different. Handcuffs, in general, are actually _easier_ to lock pick (I think that depends on if they're military handcuffs or not, the ones from my uncle who is a police officer were easy enough to open with a paper clip though... Honestly though, if you ever get the chance, a paperclip is -really- all you need, it just takes some finagling!)

Still getting back into the groove of things, sorry if it's choppy! See you guys soon, hopefully! Thanks again for reading!


	40. Chapter 40: The plan pt 1

**Locked Away, Chapter 40**

Safe, where was _safe_? Ash wondered to himself; when they were _safe_ Jessie, James, and Meowth swore to tell them what was going on, but _when_ would that be, if ever, at this point? Hovering like a mosquito above them, the lumbering reminder of the cruel intentions the other group held for them was a constant source to keep quiet and to themselves. While Ash focused on the task, on his pokemon, and meowth, he couldn't stop but wonder when this would end. A boundless forest reared its ugly head before them, and even in the morning light, the trees dimmed their sights. They walked in single file, against the horrible, uneven terrain, and strayed far away from the main trails. That way, if someone _was_ still looking, they wouldn't be found right away.

About an hour into their journey south bound through the forest below Saffron City, Misty finally grew tired of the silence as yet another twig tore into her legs.

"Where are we going?" She asked quietly in the _nicest_ way possible, but her voice was strained. Both Brock and Ash, who remained quiet like James and Jessie asked, watched her. It was a question they all wondered, but some curious part of them kept their mouths shut, but their minds alert.

"To Vermillion City." James answered while stepping past a line of brush that would bring their hike to an end.

Past the tree line, parked on the road only a few feet away, was a black jeep, marked with rust, scratch makes, and the occasional dent. Rummaging through his pocket, James removed jingling keys—ones that Misty realized right away had the handcuff keys—which on one wrist acted like a bracelete for each of the travelers. Where she thought to borrow the key, Ash spoke before her.

"Why to Vermillion City?" Ash inquired as he, and his friends approached the vehicle.

Jessie yanked open the drivers door, not bothering to help the young trainers inside. Passively, James tossed the keys to the maroon haired woman, and she slipped the key into the ignition. Meowth jumped in second, pawing at the front seat as any cat would, before sitting tiredly between the front and passenger seats. James, being the _gentleman_ that he was, gestured for the trio to follow after him and take a seat in the back, but they each moved sluggishly.

"And what happens once we get there?" Brock asked aloud, catching and eerie gaze from the female driving.

"We will tell you anything that you want to know." Jessie murmured confidently.

Vermillion City, by car, was a little under three hours away, but if the trio were lying, everything leading up to this point could have been a trap. Waiting for them at the Vermillion Coast could have been an army. Inside, Ash had a _need_ to flee; some deeply embedded distrust of the former-Team Rocket trio, but further than that, an unbreakable bond. It was the same feeling he had for Misty and Brock upon first meeting them; whether or not they realized it, Ash was attached to them emotionally—and to some degree, he trusted Jessie, James, and meowth. Even if he shouldn't have. After all, why save them if they were going to simply turn them over in the long run?

 _Waiting for you_. Ash's mind echoed meowth's sentiments, and exhaled—if nothing at all, he wanted to know how meowth, how _these three_ knew him in this world. No one else seemed to know; but they did? _How_? Ash glanced to his pokemon companions, togepi on his shoulder, and pikachu at his feet. With their silent support, Ash nodded to himself and made the decision.

Ash would have been the first to climb into the jeep had Misty not stopped him by firmly grabbing his shoulder.

"Wait." Misty said, watching her companions faces; observing the cuts, and bruises. Since they started this journey, it has been one roller coaster of accidents. Even if Ash and Brock were prepared to take this faithful leap; she wasn't. "We only agree to keep going if you can promise us you're not _bad_." she confront Jessie and James; the latter of which looked personally insulted.

Her grip tightened on Ash's shoulder, keeping him grounded as a reminder that spoke without words; Ash would only go with them if Jessie and James if they wouldn't hurt them. At this point, it was clear that there wasn't a lot that they could do to prevent them from simply taking him, but the sentiment was there. In support, she looked to Brock, who nodded; then stepped in front of the youngest companion, and then away from the jeep—much to Ash's surprise.

"...meoow." Meowth meowed from the front seat, pawing at his face. James looked down at the cat, then back up to Misty with gentle eyes.

"We can't tell you that we're not bad; because then we'd be lying." James mused, shortly after, Jessie chimed in.

"But, we don't want to _hurt you_ , if that's what you're asking."

Awestruck by his friend's devotion, Ash pat them both on the back with a fumbling, yet confident grin. "C'mon, guys. What have we got to lose? It's not like we have a lot of options right now." _This will have to be good enough_ , he added thoughtfully, watching Misty's green eyes, and Brock's onyx ones.

Though the two gym leaders still did not budge right away, slowly, they crumbled, and relaxed. With the decision made, they shuffled into the back of the vehicle, and James slammed the door shut before crawling in himself. Jumping the front passenger door, the jeep creaked and rattled, displaying its old age more than its appearance ever could, and the trio at the back questioned if this car could _make it_ to Vermillion City. It certainly didn't _feel_ safe.

"Buckle up!"Jessie suddenly shrieked, her calm voice rising to a pitch that seemed abnormal. A strong gust of wind ripped into them, and screams filled the crevices of the forests when Ash, Misty, and Brock held onto each for dear life at the sudden speed of the vehicle. At the front, Meowth and James seemed nonchalant, even offering the group some snacks to pass the time.

No, they did _not_ want snacks! They wanted off of this crazy ride!

 **XOXs**

 _They almost didn't make i_ t; was the dramatic sentiment that Ash felt described the short trip. Ash was convinced during several sharp turns they would all fly out and crash into a tree. Misty was concerned more for pikachu and togepi's sake; who were grasped in both Ash and Misty's arms tightly. Luckily, they had Brock, with his large, strong arms, which kept them settled in place for the majority of the ride—squeezing them to death in his own panic, he was a large, human seatbelt.

Personal space was apparently no longer a mindset that any of them cherished or cared about, because Misty, who sat in the middle, probably smelled more male armpits in the last three hours than she had her entire life. Not to mention the uneven, bumpy roads that threw them in every direction as if they were rag dolls.

When the car finally came to a stop at the edge of the city only a few hours before noon, Misty was _the first_ out of the jeep. Desperate to feel the steadiness of ground, she shoved Brock away, then jumped directly over Ash with togepi thrown over her head. _Sweet, ground_. She exhaled the very moment the soil crushed beneath her sneakers. Ash followed after her, collapsing alongside pikachu.

"Where...did you learn to drive?" Brock wheezed, frozen in place.

"We're all alive, aren't we?" Jessie sneered unapologetically.

Yes, but there was no excuse that a three hour drive was turned into two hours; especially on the dirt road. Every rock, bump and turn felt like they would flip. Clearly, Jessie was unfazed, and James and meowth were even less while they stared over the pier. For them, this was most likely a normal occurrence. Brock crawled out of the vehicle, and approached a tree just a few feet away, and exhaled; feeling his stomach churning uncomfortable while the team hummed.

"There's the one we discussed." James pointed to a small cruise ship, which to Ash, looked mostly unoccupied.

"Right, we should move out right away." Jessie spoke while collecting the trios pokebelts into a larger pack stored under James' feet.

"You said you would tell us everything when we got here!" Ash gasped suddenly, watching as they roped together some supplies in preparation to leave.

"Mewwowth." the cat spoke, crawling around Ash's legs on all fours before taking point beside Jessie in the vehicle once more.

"What do you mean this isn't the final destination?" Ash barked. "You said Vermillion City!"

After all of this, they were lying to them. Misty and Brock rose beside him, having his back with pikachu and togepi relaxing still. Clearly, they weren't disturbed that they had just been lied to! Brock was trying his best, but his features were still green.

"Pika, pikachu." The mouse offered in an attempt to calm his trainer; telling Ash to have a bit more patience—but he already had _patience,_ more than they deserved!  
"How do you know me!?" Ash snapped, though the former-evil-doers shrugged.

"Like we said, we'll answer all of your questions..." Jessie started, her voice low as if she was about to begin some motto.

"But first," James pointed to the ship again. "We're going to commandeer that ship." He explained, watching as the trio's face fell.

"No, you're not!" Misty squeaked. As if she had a choice in the matter. Jessie rolled her eyes.

"Mmmm, meow." Meowth pitched in, according to what Ash understood, was his way of saying _we're going to anyways, not like you can stop us._

"Then we'll leave." Brock suggested with a shrug, and both Ash and Misty agreed.

"Then I guess you'll never learn anything, huh? Besides, with those _goons_ after you, I'm sure you'll last a whole day." James mocked, flashing a peace sign as Jessie revved up the engine.

"Meet us on the pier at 8:00pm." She added, tossing a sophisticated wave as they sped off into the city, leaving the trio behind with more questions.

Shock covered all of their faces, Misty's eye twitched, Ash's mouth fell open, and Brock crossed his arms uncomfortably. Below them, the two pokemon felt sweat crawl down their necks as they looked to one another for support.

"Jerks!" Misty shouted after them, throwing the pine cone she collected from the ground earlier in their direction. Smoke and dust sprayed from their trail and Misty hissed. "What are we supposed to do now?" She wondered aloud while staring back at her companions.

Then, togepi said; "togebri! Togee!" flailing his arms as he danced at his trainer's feet alongside pikachu—telling them they should spend the extra time gathering some supplies, and getting cleaned up in preparation; keep _focusing_. A phrase Ash used during his time in Kalos. Proudly, Ash nodded his agreement with a tentative smile.

"Togepi has a point, we can use this time to prepare ourselves and get washed up."

 _Oh, that's right._ Misty looked to her male companions who were still covered in some forest mud, the stench of sewers, and of course the sweat of running for long hours; then looked down at herself. _She_ was a mess, _but_ they were also in a severe lack of supplies, and money! Jessie and James threw away their bags earlier! They didn't have money, or food, or clothes; _anything_.

"It's not a bad idea, but we _have no money_." Misty grimaced, rubbed her hand against her face, realizing that the situation just got harder.

"Guess that means our next stop is the ocean." Brock exclaimed, pointing to the sea. Misty groaned inwardly and outwardly; of course, the first time she would visit an ocean in _years_ and it was to _bath_ in it. So much for surfing, and fishing. However, at the thought of the Vermillion Beach, where she spent _more time_ than she cared to admit as a child, she snapped her fingers when a light bulb flickered on in her head. She all but squealed.

"They have free bath houses here!" Excitement quickly replaced the stress embedded in their bones.

"Do you think they have free food?" Ash asked anxiously, holding his belly; beside him, pikachu echoed his sentiments.

"Probably not, but we can find some fruit and berries on our way there and I'll throw something together!" Brock nodded to his companions, "It's not a lot, but it's a start. After we get set up, we can discuss what our next plan of action will be." then with rejuvenated invigoration, they started their march down the long, winding trail that lead to the Vermillion City coast.

"What do you mean our next plan of action, Brock? Aren't we following Jessie and James?" Ash questioned allowed, stepping behind the taller male while Misty manned the front of the group—clearly the most eager to breach a shower.

She was also the first to snarl. "You don't really trust them, do you? They _stole_ our pokemon." She reminded Ash candidly.

"Yeah, but they gave us back pikachu and togepi." Ash confirmed, patting their heads as he mentioned them.

"That doesn't change the fact that they're still thieves, Ash. We can't trust them." Brock elaborated on Misty's comment while taking a moment to pluck at some berries. "We should follow them long enough to figure out what's going on, and then separate. Whatever they were in your dreams, that's not who they are here."  
 _You don't know that_. Ash wanted to argue, but they were clearly up to their old tricks. Half-truths, and stealing. With a hopeful gleam in his eye, he looked onward at the horizon where he could see the point they spoke of earlier, and released a tired sigh.

 **XOXs**

The beach was packed by the noon hour; enough people of all ages and fashion rolled through that the trio was nothing more than another face in an endless crowd. As they planned, during their trek down the untidy, slippery trail, they found an assortment of wild berries to eat. Ash removed his jacket to use as a bag, and they were on their way to the ocean.

During their short adventure, they didn't talk much; there wasn't a lot that they wanted to talk about, even though there was a bunch of things that they needed to say. Occasionally Brock would make a comment about the nice weather, and the ease of berries here, but Misty was quiet, thoughtfuly, and introspective. Like she had been after the cabin, she remained untouchable. If Ash stepped near while Brock was collecting berries or rambling about a topic, Misty would quickly excuse herself and find something else to do. Therefore, even though there was a lot to say, and a lot of issues they needed to talk about before seeing Team Rocket again—if that was what they chose to do _after_ all-they talked about the weather instead. Misty gave Ash hell for acting like a child, but when it came to actually _talking_ about emotions, she shut down faster than a roller coaster with broken seat belt locks. Then again, she probably had a lot on her mind.

They all did.

Brock, in his best brotherly attempt, tried to rectify the situation by keeping the mood light, and talking about different foods. He tried to ask Misty what was on her mind, which she would grumble a simple _I'm fine_ and kick out the dirt in front of her. So, Brock spoke with Ash more about his dreams, and Ash told Brock about the time they were on the Saint Anne, which had actually sunk almost ten years ago because of a robbery attempt. Over hearing the conversation, Misty offhandedly remarked that she built a real-to-life model of the ship when she was a kid, and Ash snickered before relaying that's exactly what she said in his dream to Brock, but keeping it between the two of them since she seemed so distracted.

Once they arrived on the beach, aside from the many bodies around them; they tried to appear as normal as possible—hiding their handcuffs behind folded arms, and _attempting_ to mask their stench and dirty clothes.

The line that was waiting at the bath house slowly cleared as they approached and when at first they thought this was strange, they only had to share in the gust of the wind to remember that the repugnant, rancid smell was _them_. Since Misty was the only female, she was able to shower immediately, but Brock and Ash played rock-paper scissors to determine who guarded the food while the other showered. Ash lost. So Brock joined Misty in a gleeful skip to the bath house, and Ash collapsed into the warm sand after stripping off his tee-shirt.

Even though they didn't have clothes to change into, he still didn't want the only shirt he had to get covered in sand. If it was socially acceptable, he would have stripped down to his boxers and called it a day—after all they were _almost_ like swim trunks, right? Then again, if he looked as bad as he smelled, he was okay with burying himself in the sand.

Luckily for him, he had togepi and pikachu at his side, playing in sand and burying themselves like little children. Since the start of their journeys together, this was the first time they were able to enjoy the beach, even if it would only be for a few hours. Naturally, Ash would have joined in, if his mind wasn't being pulled a million different directions now that he was alone. Simplicity was the first feature he missed of his dream world; when he was there, he only had to worry about winning the next badge, but in the real world, the list kept pilling up. In the beginning, he thought his life would mellow out by this point but in three days, he was turning twenty-one, which would mark exactly one year awake after his coma, and everything was in more chaos now, than he ever thought possible.

It seemed that no matter how much he _attempted_ a normal life, he couldn't. First with his mother's rejection, followed shortly by the call of his pokemon, and then the direct internal conflict with Misty—and now _this._ _Everything_ else. Even in his wildest dreams, he never thought he would be fighting the _big bad_ , and being _heroic. I_ n this world he was _truly_ supposed to be normal; and yet, that escaped him.

With a heavy groan, Ash covered his eyes with the fold of his elbow and blocked the bright sun. For awhile now, Ash wondered how _normal_ and _simple_ this world _really_ was. When he first woke up, everything seemed dimmed by the perplexed realism of _life_ but now, whereas his dreams might have been 'crazy', this world was in true _chaos._ There was nothing simple about this place, clear down to the strange reflex of emotions he kept heaving up.

Slowly, his eyes opened, brown iris' twinkling in the summer sun as he placed his hands down into the warm sand, and inhaled. So, if Jessie and James could shed any light on the situation at all, it was worth the wait for; worth the effort. That _need_ , that _drive_ , he knew Misty and Brock could never understand. They were never separated from this world; and if for some reason Ash was connected to _more_ than just a coma, he _needed_ to know; even if the knowledge was nearly unobtainable, or unrealistic, or even, unhelpful. For once, he was about to get some answers, and he was willing to do anything to get them.

"Whoa, man." Brock's voice broke his train of thought while Ash propped himself up onto his elbows to look at him.

"That's a lot of scars." His voice was full of worry, eyebrows knit, and hand hovering above his eyes to block the sun. Ash could see that Brock used the fifteen minutes it took to shower to wash his clothes, because they were damp and wrung out.

Surprised, Ash glanced down at his torso, primarily his abdomen, which was decorated with surgical scars; and the nasty one from the harpoon that he almost forgot about. Not only that, but the bruises he gathered since the Indigo League fiasco and train incident were a deep purple on his otherwise tan chest. Instinct forced him to cover the former wound with his arm and he sat forward.

"Yeah, I had a couple of surgeries in the hospital." Ash explained, standing up.

"Do they hurt?"

Taken aback by the question, Ash blinked. "...No?" A question. "I mean, most of them were done years before I woke up, so, maybe they hurt back then?" Ash said while pulling his shirt back over his head.

Brock stared on, having never realized _how_ much Ash was effected by his coma—he _knew_ that Ash was in one prior to their meeting, but since he only knew Ash recently, since he was awake; sometimes he forgot what Ash went through. In reality, Ash had not been awake for even over a year; and yet it felt like he knew the younger male for much longer. The same sentiment that Misty told Brock she felt months ago when they first started meeting.

"I'm glad you woke up." Slipped from Brock's mouth when Ash's back was to him, successfully freezing the raven-haired boy in his tracks. The sound of the waves crashing broke between them, aired by the cry and cheer of children when Ash stared over his shoulder at Brock with wide eyes.

"...Thanks." Ash muttered awkwardly.

"Sorry if that was weird." Brock added, catching onto the tension.

"Ah, no, it's not that." Ash started, staring down at pikachu to avert his eyes. He was supposed to be happy, leading his friends with vigor and strength, protecting them from the world and helping them; yet, his heart twisted.

"Things are just really different, now, you know?" Ash breathed; trying to wrap his head around the last year. "So many things have happened to me, and _us_." He gestured back to the bath house where Misty still was, and then back to Brock.

"I feel like I'm still getting used to everything, and sometimes even I forget that I was _asleep_ for so long, you know?" Ash admit, his eyebrows furrowing.

"When I first woke up, it seemed like nothing was real and I was stuck in some kind of horrible nightmare—but now..." Ash stared up at Brock, eyes wide and brows furrowed. "...Everything feels the same? _Normal._ And I feel like it shouldn't be that way because everything is a mess; like I've given up a part of myself to this new, strange world and it's just..." Ash tried explaining, though Brock sent him a thoughtful, older brother look and placed a firm hand on Ash's shoulder.

"Try not to think about it too much, Ash. It'll take time. You've had a lot happening to you, and you're doing a great job." Brock complimented a nodding Ash.

"Thanks, Brock."

"Besides, if you slept forever, imagine where Misty and I would be right now?" Brock jested, trying to lighten the mood. "I mean, something _did_ happen between you two, right? Been avoidin' each other all day." elbows fell into Ash's side while he turned 180 degrees, flipped his hair back and waved at Brock.

"Bye, Brock." Ash tossed naturally, stepping towards the bath house while Brock threw up his arms.

"C'mon, don't leave me hanging! I'm missing all the juicy gossip!" Brock growled, stunned by Ash's nonchalant response—perhaps Misty was rubbing off on him; or perhaps, it was the lack of sleep and exhaustion.

A confident smile danced across Ash's lip, remembering that he still had good friends in this world, _too_. Regardless of the information that meowth promised, hopefully that fact wouldn't change. Meanwhile, Brock fell into the dirt beside pikachu and togepi, and started to compile, to the best of his ability, something edible out of wild fruit. Happily, pikachu popped onto Brock's shoulder in support, muttering a kind 'thank you', though Brock couldn't understand him, the feeling connected and he grinned. Ash Ketchum was many things, but he was still adapting to all of the changes after all. Brock only hoped Ash could see his own advancement as well as Misty and he could.

The kid was amazing.

 **XOXs**

Fed, washed, and less exhausted, the trio remained at the beach until two hours after noon. By that point, they realized donning handcuffs on a single wrist wasn't giving the proper message, and they left before drawing anymore attention to themselves. They circled the docks a few times, took perch on a bench, paced the ground and worried individually about their pokemon. Unlike their time spent on the train, they kept Ash undercover as much as possible, and avoided signs, and police. Central park held a free dinner every night, so they partook in that event before crawling back to the bustling docks.

Hours passed before the summer sun dried their hand-washed clothes, but that didn't effect how sticky and hot they felt. Misty was able to cut her pants off at the middle of her thigh, but the boys had to suffer in their long jeans and tee-shirts while they waited for Jessie, James, and Meowth to return. The humidity mixed with the heat resulted in a few hours lounging under park trees.

Finally, about an hour before 8:00pm when the sun began to die behind the horizon, Misty pipped in her thoughts.

"I think when they come back, we should be prepared for anything." Misty spoke, alerting Brock and Ash who were leaning against the railing while she paced along the sidewalk. "We don't know anything about them outside of what Ash knows in his dreams, and what was published about them once they went rogue. We don't know if this is a trap, of if they're actually helping us."

Looking at Brock, then at Ash with a brief hesitation, she inhaled. "I think we should have a back up plan. It's just the three of them, and unlike last time we're well rested."

"Don't be so paranoid, Misty, why would they help us if they were going to betray us?" Ash looked to Brock for backup, but the older man looked troubled himself.

"I think Misty's right." Brock said. "It's possible they could be bluffing about everything, and are trying to psych us out. I think we should be prepared to use force to get our pokemon back—you still have togepi and pikachu..."

"Pika!" The mouse denied, shaking his head. Togepi wiggled in his shell refusing to listen to Brock's options. After a pause, Ash inhaled.

"I won't. I'm sorry." Ash explained. "I know it's weird for you two, but I _need to know_ what they have to say. I don't care what they've done up until this point; if they have _any_ resembelnce to who I _think_ they are, then I know it'll be okay." He breathed. Beneath his ribcage, his heart pounded and he inhaled once more.

"It doesn't hurt just to have a back up plan." Misty uttered, though Ash shook his head stubbornly, and started towards the dock where they told them to meet. It would be 8:00pm soon, and Ash wouldn't be late.

Anxiously, Brock and Misty shared a sympathetic, yet nervous look before following after Ash, who stuffed his hands into his pockets and kept his head low.

At 8:00pm on the dot, a small rowboat broke the surface, down the last pier; and in the shade of twilight. Inside the plastic, blown up raft, Jessie and James waved to the trip with sunglasses on. Punctuality was an affirmative trait; even if their plans never worked in his dreams, they were always on time for their failure. For a moment, Ash let the fear seep in, what Brock and Misty warned him about, and then let it pass through him.

 _This was it_ , the choice that would either help them or ruin them.

"Hurry up and get in, don't make a scene!" Jessie hissed at them, keeping her head low and using the glistening sun to mask their appearances. To the untrained eye, they would appear as nothing more than a couple of friends taking a rowing trip. Ash slipped into the row boat first; followed by Misty, who he attempted to help, only to be awkwardly rejected the moment physical contact was offered. Brock stumbled in last—never the _biggest_ fan of water himself, he tucked into the center of the boat.

"Man, there's a reason I train rock pokemon, I'll have you know." He grumbled while Ash and Misty chuckled to one another, and then quickly looked away. _Teenagers_ , they were acting like _teenagers_ —or _children._ Though Brock wasn't going to tell them that, he was more focused on the dinky raft not deflating and them sinking.

Misty had the tendency to over react, and Ash had the tendency to flail. Brock didn't fancy going overboard for either reason; and so he kept him mouth shut, and allowed the two of them to work it out among themselves in complete silence. If they wanted to be awkward around each other in social situations, that was fine, so long as they didn't let that interfere with their battle situations; Brock would be _just_ fine. Watching the deep, shiny ocean below them, Brock swallowed hard, and kept his eyes trained on the sky. The blow-up raft was clearly missing the third member of Team Rocket's group; meowth; but given the air-raft, they probably didn't want to risk the cat accidentally popping it.

"Brock, I didn't know you were scared of water." Ash chuckled, while Brock shook his head.

"I'm _not_ scared of water, I'm scared of floor less seas and water I can't see in."

"It's not that bad." Misty mused, earning a death glare from Brock.

"Shut up you water-pokemon trainer." He warned her while she grinned playfully at him; then they all shouted when the boat jerked in one unsettling direction.

"Jessie, you're rowing the wrong way!" James bellowed, jerking his side so they shifted to the right. Ash's hand fell in sea water, and he shook his glove off, grumbling. Brock bit down hard on his lip, and Misty, who was around water most of her life, hardly noticed the jerking, uneven strokes of the duo at the front of the boat.

"You're the one rowing the wrong way! The boat is that way!" Jessie pointed, jerking them to the other side. This continued for a few moments, with Jessie and James off-key bickering about who was right and James whining until a queasy Brock cleared his throat.

"You're both right!" Brock exclaimed in the center. In front of him, he had two fully grown, well known-adults arguing about which way was right, and behind him, he had two young adults refusing to speak to one another; worst of all, every wrong turn increased the chance they would be bothered by sea creatures, or flipped over. He wanted _off_ of this damn raft!

"The boat is that way, you can eve see it!" He exclaimed pointing to the boat which was only a few yards away and groaning.

Misty laughed, "Man, I hope we don't look like that when we argue." Misty poised, pointing to Jessie and James while whispering to Ash, inches away from his face. In response, he jolted away from her, nearly capsizing the boat. And eliciting another shrill scream from Brock.

 **XOXs**

The group arrived at the boat ten minutes later, with a frazzled Brock clinging to the entry ladder for dear-life. He was the first one up, and then the rest followed slowly after. The fact that they were stepping onto a stolen ship was a fact they all chose to over look in favor of _not_ being stuck on a rocking raft anymore. Now that their clothes had finally dried, and the sun was done; the air on the coast was a bit chilly. As they stepped onto the slick surface of the boat, mentally, they all agreed that for once, they wanted things to run smoothly. While Jessie and James "rescue" still sat unwell with Brock and Misty, for Ash's sake, and because for the moment they were clear of the _real_ criminals, they gave them _some_ credit.

A cool meowth stared back at them from a perch on the upper deck, his tail flicking back and forth; pawing at his gem, and licking his fur. Breath held, they waited for Jessie and James to pull the raft back onto the ship and guide them inside to shield them from the dying light, before the questions rolled out.

"How did you find us?" Misty asked while Jessie took a seat at a desk in the dining area.

The ship was no luxury cruiser, but it could easily carry fifty men. The decks were a smooth steel, padded with heat resistant plastic, the hull had individual rooms, and where they were seated now, was clearly the dinning area: a large, open area with tables, a stage in distance, and chandlers. Apparently, Jessie, James and meowth liked to travel with style. How the Vermillion City coast guards wouldn't notice a ship such as this one missing was beyond them; but, Jessie and James weren't known as the greatest thieves in history for no reason. Before giving Misty an answer, Jessie first popped open a bottle of wine that was sitting on the white-table cloth of the table, and poured herself a glass.

"Easily enough." Jessie slurped from a wine glass. She offered to the young adults, but each variant rejected the offer. "We've been tracking _some_ of the twerp's movements since he left route twenty-five, but more recently, we've been following you two since Cerulean City." Jessie explained clear as day, surprising the trio. They thought, for more than one reason, that the group would beat around the bush.

Moments later, James took a seat beside Jessie, kicked back his heels onto the clean table, and took his own glass of wine that Jessie poured before setting the bottle back down. Meowth pattered in after his companions, kicked the door shut with his hind leg, and jumped onto the table where he took said bottle, and sipped it straight. Brock and misty were horrified—a pokemon drinking alcohol! But the incident seemed hardly shocked Ash, who expected such a reaction from meowth, who was unpleasantly quiet until he stared at Ash.

"Meeeow. Meowth." He grumbled apologetically, sighing while Ash turned at his friends, finally feeling comfortable enough to take a seat across from Team Rocket. Obviously, Brock and Misty awaited a translation from Ash, but it was James who cut them off.

"He says that he apologizes for not being able to speak to the three of you personally; since, well, you two don't understand him." James gestured to Misty and Brock, who's back stiffened. At the notion, Ash took a seat, eyes wide.

"You can understand them, too?" Ash gasped, looking between Jessie and James who nodded stoically.

"Pika! Pikachu pika!?" The mouse yelped, hopping onto the table; demanding to know why they didn't say something sooner.

"Eh, what's it matter?" Jessie groaned, slamming her fancy glass onto the table. "We're telling you now, like we promised." She extended her arms in a mocking way, and Brock and Misty looked to each other with wide eyes.

"How _do_ you understand them?" Misty voiced their question, mortified; it felt like she stepped into one of her sci-fi novels. "Are you born with the talent?"

Both shrugged. "We just noticed that we could. It's how James and I were paired up in the academy." Jessie elaborated.

"That great!" Ash exclaimed but Jessie shook her head.

"Not really. People will exploit the ability if given the chance." She scolded, keeping a sardonic expression. "Team Rocket exploited us for years; then," she paused, glanced to meowth, then met Ash's eyes, "we met meowth."

Now, Brock and Misty took a seat. Whether they were intrigued or awestruck to the point their legs wouldn't work, neither could understand.

"But what does that have to do with us?" Brock questioned. "More specifically, what does that have to do with Ash?"

"Bah, it's a long, _boring_ story. Can't we talk about the current events?" Jessie threw back her head, allowing her curled hair to fall behind the chair. Even as the day came to a long end, her make-up was flawless; down to the gleam of her green earrings.

"We'll wait." Misty mused eagerly, sitting forward; eyes wide open, mouth ajar. She knew Ash was _special_ in his own way, but outside of his pokemon she didn't know that... she glanced at Ash, who's mind was having the exact same thoughts. Eyes trained on meowth, he could barely contain himself.

"Do you remember everything from my dreams?!" He almost shouted, voice shaking and fingers clawed into his jeans.

A pause, then very slowly, meowth nodded his head, and the wind was knocked out of Ash. "Then do you two remember as well?" Ash asked, pointing to Jessie and James, who slowly shook their heads no.

"When we were first given meowth, his stories seemed ludicrous at first;" Jessie exhaled, blowing a strand of her hair. Her fingers were shaking, and it was clear to them now that the wine, _the alcoho_ l was to take the edge off. They were as uncomfortable speaking to Ash, Misty, and Brock, as the trio was to them.

"The fact that we could understand pokemon at all was widely shunned and expertly used to connive and steal. Team Rocket discovered us at a young age, and tried to use our talents to their gain..." James cleared his throat, and while meowth spoke, Ash's face scrunched up.

"They tried to use your dreams as a means to control legendary pokemon?" Ash wondered aloud, and the three of them nodded.

"When Giovanni discovered that meowth could see 'visions of strong pokemon' he paired the runt with us as his _personal_ detectives. We were sentenced to find legendary pokemon for him for years until we realized we were being used." Jessie spoke bitterly.

"At first, meowth's dreams were hazy, and sometimes inaccurate, but the longer he _experienced_ the world he shared with you, the more accurate they became." James added.

Ash shook his head frantically, squeezing pikachu who sat in his lap for comfort. "But that doesn't make any sense. I never owed meowth!"

"But you had a strong connection with him, didn't you?" James cut in, crossing his arms. At least _he_ seemed friendlier than Jessie.

"...I guess...?" Ash wondered, glancing at meowth who paced back and forth. Misty and Brock held their jaws, thunderstruck by the news.

"So why can't _people_ remember then?" Misty finally asked, earning a shrug around the table. Meowth turned to James with a snark expression, and explained his theory.

"He says pokemon are more connected spiritually. Humans detach themselves from the world, which prevents them from _truly_ understanding. More or less, humans don't want to connect to things they can't understand. Humans are selfish creatures-" James explained catching himself off guard with his words."Meowth, I'll remember that you called us _selfish_ the next time we've gone without food for a week and I give my share to you!" James yelped, flicking the gold medallion on his forehead; in return, meowth sparked his claws out.

Misty's rapid head shake drew their attention back to her. "So why does Ash remember? shouldn't he have forgotten everything the moment he woke up? He's human, too!" She shouted, but her cries were met with a shrug.

 _They didn't know_

Frustrated, Misty sat back in her chair, and Ash laughed at her nervously.

Brock clucked his tongue, skimming over the facts in his mind; somehow, meowth _knew_ Ash, which made sense. He was the only other pokemon that was around Ash for the whole ten years he was in a coma. "So meowth kept you two informed about Ash; why didn't you ever try to wake him up?"

An uncomfortable tension formed before meowth cleared his throat, and then paced the table again. _For the same reason pikachu could never wake Ash up, it was still Ash's dream_.

"Then how do you explain the accuracy? Pikachu slept most of the time Ash was asleep, how do you explain that?" Misty offered, trying to catch them on some well-concieved lie; but Ash had the answer to that.

"Meowth wasn't around me as much as pikachu."

"Does that mean when they, pokemon, or _people_ weren't in direct contact _with you; they were awake?_ " Misty shot to Ash, and while the idea of how dreams worked went over his head; Misty was flabbergasted.

Then, Jessie and James shrugged again, and this time Misty threw up her arms. "You said you had answers!" She shouted, but Jessie and James looked at one another with raised eyebrows.

"We do, about the attacks and chaos; we're sorry but we don't know about Ash's _dreams, or_ coma, if you will—we're thieves, not therapists." Jessie mocked the former redhead who slumped into her chair. Hearing this, Ash's own shoulders slumped—but it should have came as no surprise. How they were connected didn't matter after all; the dream world was long gone. The needed to focus on _now's_ problems.

Now, the real questions; Ash inhaled, clearing his head.

"Why did you attack the league? And me?" Ash managed.

"To save the people from being ambushed, of course." Jessie said matter-of fact.

"We attacked you because you threw a _snorlax_ at us, did you expect us to be okay with that?" James barked sarcastically, a rise in his voice.

"But why were we being ambushed?" Misty asked. "Why attack us _now_?"

"It wasn't about any of you; it was about the twerp. They were hoping to use the party as a means to kidnap the twerp, and get the rest of the information about the legendary pokemon. They were also planning on taking out anyone else plotting against them:" Jessie pointed at Misty. "You, the tall one, and a few other threats—the two from Sinnoh." Jessie recalled, taping her lips, calling none of them by names. Hearing _twerp_ roll of her lips naturally was a kind reminder for Ash, though, it sent fuzzy, warm feelings into his stomach that stopped in realization.

"Dawn?" Ash gasped. The two from _Sinnoh_. "Did something happen to Dawn?"  
"No, she's fine last we checked; since the attack was thwarted, her face has been everywhere; she's a thorn in their side that they can't get rid of." Jessie elaborated with a bit of a proud tone. Misty smirked at the comment and nodded affirmatively. That was Dawn alright.

"So who are you working for then, if not Team Rocket?" Brock assumed control of the conversation, keeping them on track, and they shrugged.

"We've been working solo for years now." James explained, blowing on his nails impressively. "Team Rocket changed when the boss went to prison; instead of actively causing mayhem, they seeded themselves into the roots of the country. The police, politics, the media; where they couldn't _join_ , they black mailed and manipulated people; imprisoned others who wouldn't obey them. It was a long time coming, but after years of waiting, Team Rocket infiltrated all of Kanto."

"So the Elite four _are_ being controlled?" Misty grimaced, tugging at her collar. James shook his head.

"Bribed. Champions were subdued early on and replaced by a figurehead—since Team Rocket is controlling the chief executives, they control everyone." Jessie added. "When you oppose them directly, you're silenced, if you're just trouble, then they slowly weed you out."

"When we were apart of Team Rocket, they were sloppy... now they've become something terrifying. Whatever the boss has planned, it isn't good." James noted, rubbing the back of his neck, then downing the rest of his wine with one gulp.

Ash inhaled, trying to take all of this information in—they were right, about everything; but it was worse. "So why were you following _me_? What did I do to be followed?"

"Mostly because Meowth wanted to, but also because everywhere you go, things change." James said hopefully, staring into Ash's eyes.

"So Giovanni _is_ behind the plots?" Brock elated, a slight rage ticking in his voice.  
"He did put himself in jail, after all." Jessie sighed. "It was part of the grand scheme when they took over Unova. They put up large smoke screens and mirrors, and Giovanni was free to control Team Rocket outside of the scrutiny of the media."

"So what about the microchips?" Brock wondered. "If they control everything, what do they need those for?"

"Well, because they _don't_ control everything. Team Rocket, while strong in Kanto, had to slowly wipe out the remaining opposition in the other regions. Flare, galactic, magma; to name a few." She held up her fingers.

"The Hoenn region is still feeling the effect of Team Rocket infiltrating their ranks, Sinnoh has stabilized, but only to an extent; Johto is practically under full watch, and Kalos, being so far away, is their manufacturer. Their fingers are in the other territories; but they're far from controlling them. Outside of Kanto and Unova, their control is slipping each time someone else comes into power." James explained with a nod, looking at each of their faces to deliver the message.

Meowth added; though the translation came from James: t _hey want to use the chips to control the pokemon in those regions, to create terror like they did in Kanto so they can deliver the final blow._

"But how can they control that many pokemon? Having more than two pokemon with a chip connected to a pokedex at one time was causing major trauma; how does he expect this to go any better than what he tried before?" Brock added hastily, sitting forward with a serious expression.  
"It's been perfected, obviously." Jessie said plainly. "Silph Co. manufactured the perfected chip during the last few years; that's the answer you wanted from them, right? They kidnapped the brightest minds and forced them to work on creating this chip."

"Kidnapped them?" Misty echoed, wondering who would work on such a heinous creation.

"But how do they plan on controlling that many pokemon at one time?" Ash questioned. "There can't be that many people apart of the organization."

A pause.

"We're not certain; we left the organization shortly before they attacked Unova; but Giovanni has a secret weapon. The pokemon we helped him recover after it broke out of it's cage nearly ten years ago..." James stopped, holding his mouth. "We were never given information about the pokemon, and before we could tally any information, our memories were..." James stroked his brow, and Ash felt the same shudder.

"By the time courts sentenced Giovanni to prison, he was already in full control." Jessie groaned. Feeling the worst of all of them, since they singlehandedly assisted in so much destruction.

At that moment, that flinch of distress, Brock and Misty realized that Jessie, James, and meowth were no different than them—pawns to a greater, evil plan, and the knew somewhere, the estranged group was _good_. Deep, deep down, but good. Slowly, they both relaxed and shared a knowing glance while Ash swallowed hard.

"That's great." Ash spoke. "But you haven't told us anything we don't already know; what do they want _now_? Why does any of that matter with me?" Ash asked.

"We don't know." Jessie admit, once again dodging why Ash was important.

Their faces scrunch up, Ash looks a little flustered; "Then what are we doing?"

"Going to Unova, of course!" James squealed, pouring himself another glass of wine.

"What?!" They all screech, but James shrugged.

"If we're going to stop them, we need to know their plans—our goal is to find out what Giovani is planning to use the legendary pokemon we so... _happily_ gave him, and what he intends to use the microchips for."

"We never agreed to this!" Misty shouted, and Brock slammed his hand on the table.  
"And at this point, what _else_ would you do?" Jessie asked in a snark tone. "You're clearly all in the same boat as us: running from the law, trying to fight for good and all that good stuff and restore balance-"

"Meooowth." The cat whined, glaring at his companions who were intentionally leaving out information. Jessie sat back, clearly unable to speak the words meowth was asking her to; so James cleared his throat and sat forward.

"...but, you're right, there _is_ more," he said, "As we said before, we spent years listening to those _dreadfully embarrassing_ stories from meowth, using them to our advantage, and increasing our success at thievery. While we assisted in great acts of _evil_ , we had to listen to meowth share stories about an imaginary world where good always won, bad people lost, and wars didn't exist; where we didn't have to steal to survive, where there was peace, and hope and..." James paused, staring at a glum Jessie with dark, sullen eyes before glancing away very slowly, almost sadly. "and _happiness._ " He finished.

"...Just before the professors were taken, we learned about As—the _twerp_." James cleared his throat, wiping his hands on his knees. "When the boss found out that there was, _maybe_ another person alive who could find the legendary pokemon, he ordered us to... _ehem_ , he wanted you out of the picture before the war started."

Misty paused for a long time, her ears twitching. "That's where I've heard your voices before." Misty exclaimed.

James continued. "By his order, we... infiltrated the hospital as doctors and..." James pupils dilated, turning glassy while Ash looked down at his knees, thinking about how that sentence was supposed to end.

Clearing his throat, James inhaled. "But, since you're still here, obviously we didn't go through with it."

"Why not?" Ash snapped suddenly, jarring all of them alert. The raven-haired boy looked at Misty, who used to visit him regularly, but she could only shrug. Clearly, she _remembered_ that moment, but not well enough to confirm anything-s _he didn't know_ , so then he looked at Jessie and James, awaiting an answer with wild eyes.

 _Besides having a conscious not to kill a teenage boy?_ Was what James wanted to say, but instead: "An older woman; with auburn hair walked in. Begged us not to." James finished, swiping at a stray tear.

Misty and Brock sat upright, the silence that crept in forced the gushing wind against the shudders to sound deafening in their ears.

Ash needed air, to breath _somewhere else_ and so he quickly got up from his seat, and excused himself before dashing away, leaving his friends, and his pokemon behind. Misty sat frozen while Jessie's nose crinkled.

"What's his problem?"

"It was his mom." Misty mused, before setting togepi on the table, and following after Ash. Brock sat flabbergasted, amazed at the turn of the conversation; then looked directly at the group.

"Why wouldn't you find him sooner?" Misty froze at the door to listen once Brock spoke.  
"We were stuck on route twenty-five during one of our attempts to flee the organization after returning from Viridian City. We were apart of the battalion that was to destroy Bill's lab, but we defected...and were stuck." Jessie explained. "There were also some of the _worst_ members there we wanted to keep an eye on."

"Since we left, the twerp has been his back up plan—Giovanni was waiting for him to wake up; planting all the necessary personnel to keep him under control; but then obviously, not everything worked out how it was supposed to. _Complications_ formed." To which she was clearly referencing Misty, Brock, and other relationships Ash developed over the year. "They lost control of him, and have since been trying to get it back."

Brock kept trying to think, about what little he knew about Delia; about Professor Oak, and about Ash's waking up in general—aside from what Ash told him earlier on the beach, it was hardly mentioned by Misty _or_ Ash outside of how difficult it was for him to grow. He did, however, know that shortly after leaving the nursing home, Ash spent a month with Misty at the Cerulean City gym—what stopped Giovanni from taking him then?

"Why would they let him go at all, if they planned on stealing him to begin with?"

Jessie shrugged, as did James; that was an answer they didn't have.

Finally, only one question remained; only, Misty didn't wait around to find out.

"...why would you be so willing to tell _us_?"

This time, James sat forward, setting his feet firmly against the floor and stared at Brock. "We like stealing, and we like breaking the rules; but right now, the world, politics, _everything_ around us is being threatened because _we-_ " he pointed at himself, then to Jessie and meowth, "used what should have been classified information to help an evil man take control of what _used_ to be a wonderful place." The emotion behind his voice filled Brock with a kind of invasive feeling. The strain on James face when he spoke, and the expression of grief over Jessie and meowth's who both _tried_ to look tough, spoke to Brock on another level.

He remembered what it was like _before_ the wars started, before the riots in the street. When trainers were eagerly setting out on pokemon journeys, collecting badges, and helping one another; a world set in a fairy-tale land that as he grew older, grew dimmer and dimmer. A world, that until a year ago, Ash was repeated on an endless cycle.

"...We'll help you." Brock said suddenly. "If we can." he added with an upturn of his lips that made James sniffle and grab him on the shoulder as they rose to meet with Misty and Ash outside.

 **XOXs**

Misty paced once she left the hull, took a step forward, then took a step back, then paced again. Ash stood at the railing, looking rather queasy in respect to the rest of the ocean. His tan features were pale in the moonlight, and his hands were shaking, white knuckled onto the bars. Or, it was the rhythm of the water below causing his body to vibrate; Misty couldn't be sure. However, the expression of sadness, confusion, and anger decorating his features was unforgettable, and unfortunately, one she was growing used to.

Finally, she stepped beside Ash slowly, though, he didn't turn or make a sound—an indication that he did not hear her approach until the palm of her hand was placed at the center of his back.

"Are you okay?" She asked worriedly, eyes narrowing to watch his face. Ash shot backwards from shock, trying to inhale; to keep his puffy, clearly bloodshot eyes from her view.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He lied rubbing his face with his fingers but then twisted his head to one side. "I mean, I just found out my mom _doesn't_ , or at least _didn't_ want me dead; regardless if she's being threatened or not; it kind of..puts things in perspective." he swallowed hard, inhaled, and tried to calm his nerves once more. "And that _I_ was supposed to be dead; and am likely the 'plan b'. If Jessie and James hadn't defected then..."

"It's just bad timing." Misty pat him several times, trying to jar lose the tension in his back which was terribly tense.

"But it's _not._ This was the life I was meant to have the very moment I woke up; I wasn't supposed to be normal, _ever_."

But he could have been, to some degree if Giovanni was never part of the picture—that horrible, faceless man.

"Did you want to be?" Misty asked, stunning Ash who's eyes narrowed. Misty's eyes darted back to the ocean, taking in the salty wind. "I mean, what's _normal_ anyways? I'm not normal—by _normal_ standards; neither is Brock." Misty explained, and glanced over her shoulder at Ash.

"I mean, it _was_ you, after all, who claimed to be some kind of _chosen one_ in your dreams only yesterday; you should be loving this attention. Especially now that we know _a little_ bit more about your dreams; right?" Misty suggested, though Ash could only gawk at her. Eyes wide.

Words wouldn't come, instead, he launched himself forward and hugged her, dipping his chin onto her neck, and brushing his lips accidentally against her ear. He squeezed her.

"What would I have done without you?" He muttered, then immediately blushed, following with: "And Brock, of course. And...Cole, and _err._ "

Then, in that motherly fashion that she only showed on rare occasion, she pat her shoulders in return, and nodded her head. "It's okay, Ash." she told him sweetly, letting him hug her without explanation, or words. For a moment, he buried the emotions into her body, and then finally exhaled loudly, and pulled away with a grateful, lopsided grin over his face.

"Feel better?" She asked oddly, her cheeks red, only to meet a wide grin while Brock emerged from beside them, and hugged them both.

"I don't know what I would have done without you two, either." He said, falsely sniffling while Misty growled.

"You ruined the moment." She grumbled at him, but then Ash started laughing, and it was okay.

Jessie, James, and meowth approached, arms crossed, un impressed and while James _pretended_ he didn't want to join in the festivity of a group hug, his face clearly told otherwise.

"We're not done yet, though." Jessie exclaimed. "We still have a lot left to fix before this is over; we don't have the first clue about where Giovanni is being kept, or what he intends to do, but from now on, we're not playing in the little leagues, we're doing this professionally."

"And how do you expect us to do that?" Ash asked, completely on board.

"As we said, we're going to infiltrate Unova, steal their plans, and sabotage them." James grinned, his teeth gleaming in the night.

They all shared a worried look. "And how are _you_ going to do that?"

"Us? Not _us_." Jessie grinned, then gestured to Ash who nodded his head in determination.

"We're going to attack them head on!" He declared, and Jessie and James sighed in unison. Meowth slammed his paw against his jewel.

"They said infiltration, stupid." Misty groaned, smacking her head. Ash frowned at her, wondering how she could go from being so nice, to so hurtful. He looked back at them.

"...so, _I'm_ infiltrating? Aren't you two the _best_ thieves in the world; why would you send in me?"

"Because we're wanted by the organization on many accounts; we would be recognized right away." Jessie paused. "Plus, I'm _not_ dying my hair."

"That's a terrible excuse!" Misty shrieked, thinking of her own hair.

"Well, Ash would be able to slip in like a recruit, unnoticed; most of Unova are rookies anyways. If a new face showed up; no one would bat an eye." James explained and Misty was shaking her head. She was still learning to trust them; this was moving way too fast! However, it wasn't up to her! Ash's chest burned; thinking of his last attempt at visiting Unova; what little he truly knew about it, and the warning signs...not only that, Cilan, Iris, and Trip—they were there _somewhere, right?_ It was _their home_ ; he had to see it. He had to know what happened to them, and everything else.

"I can do it." Ash said. "Besides, I want to see this for myself. No—I _need_ to see this for myself." _I need to know what Giovanni has_ done he added inwardly, with determination and fire in his eyes. Grinning, James handed back Ash's pokemon belt at the remark, and Ash fumbled to hold onto it.

"T-thanks." Ash said, wrapping the belt around him while the man surrounded Misty and Brock theirs.

"That's the spirit!" James cheered clapping Ash on the shoulder, but then Brock piped in.

"I said we would help, not throw Ash at the wolves. He _can't_ go in there alone. He gets lost going to the bathroom!" He shouted, and Misty rocketed in her agreement.

"He _barely_ knows how to work a phone; how do you think he'll fair using a _computer_ to get information _!_ " Misty gasped, and Jessie and James thought for awhile. Meowth, forgotten beside them, jumped up onto James back without warning, dug his claws in, nearly knocking him over as he explained to Jessie the change in plan.

"Well, we do have _two_ uniforms." Jessie said thoughtfully, then eyed Misty. "Though, it's a females..."

"I'm not doing it." Misty snapped, shaking her head. She was all for politics, and battles, and saving the world; but infiltration was not up her alley; she _also_ didn't feel like getting shot. "Weren't we just two minutes ago talking about how we didn't trust these guys? Don't you think it's suspicious that they're throwing us at a facility like this?" she gestured to Ash, a screech in her voice.

What could they think? Their options were limited, clearly, they were already on a boat moving towards Unova, and Ash was going regardless, he made that clear. She gnawed her lip, thankfully Brock was also worried.

"We don't eve know what we would be getting."

"We have time to go over all of that." Jessie assured her, glancing at Misty, who was _a bit_ smaller than Jessie was; she was sizing her up for the measurement.

"Technically new recruits _are_ given a female partner regardless, so it would make more sense." James thought aloud, and Brock's face darkened protectively.

"I'll go instead."

"You'll wear a skirt?" Jessie laughed, and strangled noise escaped Misty's lips.

Men and female were paired because it increased the range of thought; while men were typically more linear thinkers, females were creative thinkers. It made for the perfect balance of team. Ash shared an apologetic, slightly excited grin with Misty who groaned inwardly. This would be the last time she ever vocally worried about Ash's safety.

"How long until we reach Unova?" Brock asked.

"Three days, roughly." James answered.

"Then I suggest we make a plan. Do you guys have maps of the area? We should figure out where they need to go so they have the least amount of time in there—and something bullet proof." Brock started in on the details, and Misty huffed, letting her shoulders fall and her hand run through her hair; maybe if she had left it dark, this wouldn't have been a problem...

Meanwhile, Ash tried fanning Brock, who was pressing Jessie and James for any _and_ all questions.

"Calm down, Brock, it'll be fine." Ash tried, but Brock frantically shook his head.

Clearly, Ash did not understand what happened when Team Rocket played rough. To make matters worse, they were going from fleeing the enemy to entering enemy territory, all in under twenty-four hours! The people that only a few hours ago kidnapped them, held their pokemon hostage as a means of leverage, and then threw the horrible truth they were all dancing around at their feet like an animal; Brock was having a hard time _staying calm_.

"No." Brock said in a shockingly authoritative voice. " _Damn it_ , Ash, you're going to take this seriously." He warned him, his eyes reflecting horrible memories of his own. Ash's shoulders rose, then very slowly; he nodded.

" _As a heart attack_." Ash added in confidence and Misty sighed beside him and shook her head with the faintest of a smirk. This was _her_ life now.

 **Author's Note:**

I wasn't exactly sure how to crack the news about Jessie, James, and Meowth for a long time, but I was trying to think "realistically, how would this go down?". Maybe it was a bit anti-climatic to do a 'tell all', but, how would _you_ get those three on your good side at this point? Keep being mysterious and untrusting, or tell the truth? How would I ever get to point B, if I never got to point A? So anyways, after mulling it over, I decided to take this route.

I also changed this chapter a few times to garner some better flow. In the end, it's not my favorite chapter, but it'll do.

It's very important to note that Jessie calls Giovanni by name, but James still refers to him as "the boss", as reflection of their personalities. Jessie is strong willed and stubborn, and James is a bit of a noodle. Rocketshipping minor hinnntts. ;w; -dies- (it only took 40 chapters -shot-)

Unfortunately, I don't think Team Rocket is bad. I don't think they're bad in the anime; and outside of a 'stint' in B&W, their characters have always been _good_ at their core. James, is the emotional one; Jessie acts tough ad snobbish but is very caring (at least to her friends), and meowth is a grubby little money grubber, but he loves his companions, and they all _really care_ about the world: Case and point: _all of the movies ever._ Their antics, while 'random' in the show, are the most common and fleeting moment in the anime that has remained consistent, and while some people may not agree with this, I almost view Jessie, James, meowth, and Ash as this weird 'family'. If they weren't around each other, giving each other a goal; they would feel a piece of them missing. I'm honestly very excited to bring more of Jessie, James and meowth into the story, and I hope you aren't disappointed with this 'revelation'/confession. Still more to come.

I've been planning to throw Ash in because he wants to see it for himself; but in the original draft he goes in alone until I realized that Ash, until this point, can do two things: Blow things up and light things on fire. Not very beneficial for information grabbing.

I was going to say Brock could go; and even played with the idea of Jessie, James, Ash going in; BUT, Jessie and James were former team Rocket members; _well known_ members at that. I can't think of how they wouldn't be noticed. Then, I was talking with my roommate who said that sending two men in doesn't make sense, since the anime has always paired men and women as teams.

So, Misty's joining the 'nope' train.

...cheers?

NINT


	41. Chapter 41: The plan pt 2

**Locked Away, Chapter 41**

The next three days aboard the stolen ship were reflective of what Ash would imagine was the military; a debriefing of everything from how a Team Rocket member walked, to what was okay to speak about, and what wasn't. _The crash course to how to be evil_. More important than how they acted, was their mission; their goal. They were to find information about Giovanni, the microchips, and whatever else they could get their hands on.

Ash had never been in school before, outside of the reading he did in the hospital and at the Cerulean City gym, he never took an interest in school; most things he knew, he figured he could learn by experience. In this case, he was stuck at a desk, reviewing key points until he was having _dreams_ of 'the mission'.

 _Better safe than sorry_. Brock kept telling him, and as if to rub salt in the wound, Misty was like a parrot. _Pay attention Ash, take this seriously, Ash._

Ash _was_ trying to take the situation seriously, to pay attention, to be safe. But that made these events too real, and as a result, he was up all night; tossing and turning. When he slept, all he could see were the remastered versions of his original trip to Unova, and the results of that. Dreaming was always difficult since he woke up, quite simply, he didn't dream on most occasions. When he did, they were usually nightmares, some intense, buried fear that he was stuck in limbo-but that wasn't what kept him up. The stress of never waking up again kept him in fits when tension was high, and hours before infiltrating the Team Rocket Unova base, Ash couldn't sleep.

The last time he was here, charizard was shot out of the sky, his wing was damaged to the point of disrepair. Ash wasn't even sure if the pokemon was able to fly again. Since he was stuck _here_ , he hadn't been in contact with his other pokemon, and that was the most frustrating of situations. Not only was charizard injured, Ash nearly drowned; was attacked by a fleet of gyarados; was saved by blind luck; suffered from a major injury; landed himself in the hospital; and now he was going back.

Of course, he couldn't tell anyone this. Brock, his only confidant about the situation only knew _half_ , and Ash was petrified of what Misty would say. Surely, if he spoke to anyone, they would end the operation before it started. No, instead, Ash kept it bottled up, made inappropriate jokes, and landed himself on the deck at 6:00am, watching the sun rise.

Beside him sat pikachu, togepi, greninja, and monferno. Snorlax would have joined them, but the pokemon was much too large to fit safely on the boat—least, that was Ash's thoughts on the matter.

Today was the day. Unova stared back at him in the distance; surrounded by the morning fog and a glistening ocean. Today would mark the first time he would see the continent in the light of day, and the first time in his life he would see it. A small part of him knew this was a bad idea; it was not only risky, but he was bringing Misty along with him. He didn't want to go alone, but he didn't want _her_ to go, either. Or Brock, for that matter; or _anyone_.

If it was possible to see without being there physically, he would have taken the option. Since the island came into view as a spec on the horizon last night, a pit formed where confidence was rooted. The balistas pegged charizard out of the sky flying close to fifty miles per hour; he didn't want to think what it could do to a stationary boat, drifting in the ocean. Swallowing hard, he looked at the faces of each of his pokemon. Greninja stood bravely at the railing with his arms folded in front of him. Monferno rocked back and forth on the balls of his heels, rocking a sleepy togepi in his arms. Resting on the railing itself, where Ash leaned the brunt of his forearms, pikachu perched himself proudly, watching the island with determined, dark eyes, and raised fur.

 _They were back._

 _Couldn't sleep?_ "Meowwww?" behind him, meowth approached, stretching his limbs confidently while he paced the area beside Ash, sizing up greninja and monferno, who still did not trust the cat. The ape, who watched the cat's teammates beat Ash up, rose in defense, standing as high as Ash's waist, while puffing out his chest bravely.

"It's alright monferno." Ash mused, patting the pokemon's head while mewoth quirked imaginary eyebrows, and climbed up to the railing above.

 _I've never liked water_ , meowth meowed, pacing the distance between Ash's arms and pikachu.

When Ash didn't reply, rather, stared mutely into the distance, the cat sighed once more.

 _You shouldn't worry so much, kid._ The cat meowed, jumping down from the railing. _We're going to start soon._

Ash grit his teeth behind closed lips, and rose slowly until his back was straight, and his he looked back at meowth, who looked playfully mischievous.

 _You can do this._ The cat meowed, leaving the tired Ash standing alone on the deck, blinking concerned eyes into the distance.

"Pika." pikachu added his verification while looking confidently ahead, followed by the solace of his fellow pokemon, who crowded Ash much like they did in his dream world. In an awkward, lopsided embrace, Ash finally exhaled, relieving the tension in his chest.

"Thanks, guys. Let's do this."

 **XOXs**

The plan was simple.

...or it was supposed to be.

"You'll just have to leave him here, it's not safe to bring a non-water type pokemon with you." James offered, crossing his arms as he watched Ash shake out what little he had left of his belongings; two important objects were missing: togepi's pokeball, and pikachu's. Actually, he wasn't even sure he _ever_ had pikachu's pokeball to begin with. He had the gift Agatha gave him attached to his belt where togepi's ball should have been, and pikachu's ball was probably lost _years_ ago.

Still, he looked for it.

"I'm not going without pikachu," Ash argued, while togepi threw up a complaint. "I'm sorry togepi, you're just too young." Ash offered sweetly, taking time out of his frantic search to rub the pokemon's head. It sighed in frustration while Ash recounted his pokeballs. Greninja, monferno, and snorlax; but the rest were history.

"We'll just have to give him a rebreather." Ash suggested in a panicked voice while slipping pikachu inside of his shirt.

Since noon that day, Ash's _uniform_ was finished. Now, the sun was setting behind the horizon, and the time was lost to Ash, who walked through most of it in a fog. James hemmed the old uniform to not only fit Ash, but to resemble the most current Team Rocket gear. Ash wore a black beret over the top of his messy black hair. The faint scars left on his cheeks years ago were smudged with some kind of water-proof concealer that Jessie had on her person, and he wore all black. _All black_ , so in the sun, should have been boiling hot, but the uniform was made to breath, to fit comfortably. On his right shoulder was a small, red "R", and his shirt was tucked into a belt. He wore slim, dark commando boots that prior to trying to stash pikachu, he wasn't trying to fit into a scuba-diving suit.

"Just leave him _here_." James tried again, growing frustrated with Ash's incompetency. "Rebreathers aren't _made_ for pokemon _._ " _And the island was a good ten miles away still._

Lighting struck through Ash's eyes when he looked sternly at James, who spent the last three days politely bossing Ash around. "I am _not_ going without pikachu." Ash reconfirmed, ending the discussion.

"Ash, be reasonable." Brock managed. "You can't swim the whole way there with a pokemon that can't _breath_ under water. There are too many possible complications."

"Pika-chu!" Pikachu shouted in disagreement, emerging from Ash's shirt.

"Maybe I can just try recapturing him again.." Ash mumbled pathetically, though it would be the seventh time he tried capturing his old friend that morning. Clearly, the pokeball existed _somewhere_ still, because capturing pikachu again was not an option. Ash held the mouse in front of him, a disoriented expression over his face while the yellow creature sighed his frustrations.

 _Not only_ did Ash simply not feel comfortable going without pikachu, they promised to never be separated again. Pikachu was _always_ there when Ash needed him; he couldn't fathom being without the pokemon, and to make matters worse, perhaps a small part of him _still_ didn't trust Team Rocket. What if this was some huge ploy to get Ash to leave them pikachu? Ash's bottom lip quivered dangerously at the thoughts, and as if pikachu read his mind, the mouse hopped out of his hands and sat stubbornly on Ash's shoulders. He was going no where.

Outside of the clear frustration and determination; Ash looked in every way the part of a Team Rocket grunt, though Brock and James were at their wits end with the trainer.

"You know, Ash, if you don't feel comfortable going, you don't have to. We can still back out of this." Brock suggested, but it was James, scowling like a dog, who butted in.

"We _cannot_ back out now!" he gasped, gravely insulted by such an idea. "We've spent far too long on this moment to have you chicken out because of a pokemon—you have three more, what good would _one more_ do for you?" James almost squealed, his voice pained.

Ash snapped.

"We're a team!" Ash bellowed, silencing James. "Besides, we don't even know this is going to work; I don't want to be in there unprepared!" Ash shouted, clearing the air about his sudden dislike of the plan.

"It _will work_ if you follow the plan; you shouldn't run into patrols." James argued, glaring down at Ash, who was a few inches shorter.

"Guys, guys, calm down." Brock attempted to mediate, separating the two men before a brawl broke out. Tensions were high.

"Ash, are you sure you're ready for this?" Brock asked again, looking worriedly at the sleep deprived trainer. Backing away and turning back to the island which wasn't any closer than this morning.

"I'm fine Brock. I need to see this for myself." Ash said, though his confidence was dimming in frustration.

"Tell me how this is practical." Misty's voice cut into the stiff air, bringing the boys attention to her and Jessie who stepped out of the ship's door.

If they were worried about her being discovered, they shouldn't have been. To put it in the nicest way possible, Misty, who was proudly one of the most color-blind, bright haired, fair skinned woman Ash had ever seen in his life, was as plain as any female Ash saw on the street. Nothing about her stuck out aside from her cerulean-green eyes. Thanks to the new darkened hair, and flushing make up, she looked like anyone else; only, in a mini-skirt with gray tights beneath it and long black boots that ended at the middle of her thighs. Her black, high collared, long sleeved shirt was cut off below the breast, and below that she wore a gray shirt, tucked in beneath her skirt. Like Ash's, she had a red "R" engraved on her shoulder, and seeing her in that, while _it wasn't bad_ , was painful.

Thoughts elsewhere, mind spiraling, Ash said the first coherent phrase that came to his mind.

"Mist..." Ash breathed, awestruck. "You a _ctually_ look like a girl." Ash finally muttered, to which a scowling Misty's evil-glare turned from one of frustration, to utter detestation.

"Ash, that is the third time you have said that to me. I told you if you said that again I would-"

"Misty! The black hair was a great idea after all!" Brock cut in, swooping in front of Ash to save his younger companion from his foot-in-mouth syndrome. "I hardly notice you! I guess we don't have to worry about people recognizing you _after all_." Brock chuckled nervously, wrapping a protective arm around her shoulder while she stared up at him.

"That's great." Misty mocked, her eyes turning back to Jessie who was discussing something quietly with James while the _children_ were distracted. "But why do _I_ have to wear a skirt? Ash gets pants." Misty exclaimed pointing to Ash who laughed awkwardly.

"You're about to infiltrate one of the most evil organizations in the world; and you're worried about your attire?" Jessie quizzed, quirking angry eyebrows—it wasn't like _she_ was the one who designed the uniforms, after all! "Besides, it's because some adversaries feel that women are a weaker species, so while they're showing mercy, we can gain the upper hand in a fight." Jessie elaborated quickly, flicking her long, maroon hair over her shoulder. Unlike the previous days, her hair was flat, flowing tirelessly behind her.

Brock, who was always awestruck by pretty woman, stroked his chin and nodded approvingly. "That's actually not a bad idea." He said, suddenly urging Misty to remove his draped arm, and approach Ash, who instinctively took an unsteady step backwards.

"Did you find pikachu's pokeball?" She asked suddenly, watching his face. He stared into her eyes, gulped, shook his head clear of thoughts then shifted his eyes back to James; who he was arguing with only moments ago.

"No." he said flatly. "I was thinking about just using a rebreather for pikachu, too." Ash offered while the mouse nodded confidently.

"Does it work like that?" Misty questioned in a worried tone while watching James who shook his head. Regardless, unlike James, Misty understood Ash's sentiments, and didn't once argue with him while she stepped to the scuba-diving suit she would be wearing and awkwardly pulled it on over her clothes.

"We can just put him into a bag until we reach shore. That way, he doesn't have to move under water." Misty suggested, looking over her shoulder while Ash nodded his approval.

"You can't take a bag on the island with you, it's against protoco-" James, the _control freak_ , was silenced by meowth, who finally grew tired of the constant bickering between the trainer and former thief. The cat stuck a single claw into the back of James' leg to silence him, and the older male groaned in silent pain while the cat grunted unpleasantly.

"Meooow-meowth." The pokemon muttered, _just keep him out of sight when you get there_. Ash nodded quickly while gathering together his supplies, slipping pikachu into a black, mostly water-proof bag provided by the contents of the boat that they raided, and slipped pikachu the small rebreather before dressing himself in a scuba-suit that matched Misty's. The suits belonged to the cruise line, and in terms of getting to the island, staying _undercover_ seemed to be safer than a paddle boat—which was their _other_ option. Thanks to new-age technology, the rebreathers created by Silph Co. a few years ago offered the ability to breath easily under water for a few hours; their plan was swimming. _Staying out of sight_.

Before Ash zipped up the hood of the suit, he looked at James, uncertain now that the sun was fading. "...You're sure that the balistas aren't going to shoot us underwater, _and_ they can't see us from here?" Ash asked skeptically, though it was Jessie who sighed.

"We already told you, we're in their blind spot. They won't see you leaving the boat." She assured him while taking a few steps back. "Besides, they can't shoot at what they can't see." Jessie added, and while Ash and Misty stared into the ocean; it was Misty who took the first calming breath.

Misty could do water. It was her element, her voice, her soul. Of all the ideas they've had, this was going to be the easiest for _her_. Shaking down the stress in her shoulders to her hands, she cracked her neck. Even though her pokemon would be doing the majority of the work tonight she still _wanted_ to be prepared.

"Toge-brriii." The egg echoed quietly to Ash and Misty who both turned to see the sad pokemon gazing back at them on the verge of uncomfortable tears. Already, the pokemon _hated_ looking weak in front of his trainers, but just this once, it sniffled at the thought of being left behind. While it sat in Brock's arms, Misty and Ash stroked his outer shell, and together shared a silent promise.

They would come back. They always did.

Shaking, Brock shot forward, grabbing his two short-time companions into a hug and squeezing them tightly.

"You two better be safe." He warned them while looking at each of them in the eye. Both nodded confidently, and Misty took another step back. She didn't bother to look at Jessie and James, since they arrived on the ship, it was clear that she _never_ trusted them completely; but earning Misty's trust required more than telling a few truths.

Ash wasn't as disloyal, he smiled at the long-time criminals who offered a small smile in return. Meowth waved a paw, standing up with his best ability on his hind legs, and waved very slowly at the trainer who looked down from where he was prepared to jump off the railing, then back at Brock who was standing alone with togepi. The water rushed behind him, piercing his ears with a splash the moment Misty bit down onto her rebreather, and dived into the dark, unsafe abyss.

 _Too risky_ flashed in Ash's mind. Limbs shaking, a lump formed in Ash's chest, rising up into his throat before he shouldered the backpack he had pikachu in and tossed it back at Brock, who caught it with surprise.

"Pika!" The mouse cried in accord, clawing at the bag while Ash made a bold decision.

"I love you, buddy, but I can't risk you getting hurt. Stay here with Brock!" Ash shouted painfully then clipped on his goggles and threw himself into the water without a second glance.

 _He wanted to look back_ , every nerve in his body screamed at him not to leave pikachu; but the chances of mistake were too great, and he wasn't going to put himself, Misty, pikachu, and their pokemon at risk because he was unsteady. Pikachu wasn't a water pokemon, and even if they made it to the island safely; what then? He couldn't hide pikachu in his shirt, and there was no safe way to guarantee the mouse wouldn't be spotted.

"PIKA!" The mouse screamed, utterly betrayed and hurt by his trainer for leaving him standing at the railing where Brock held him back from jumping in after Ash. Below the water, Ash could hear the pokemon cry to him and his heart nearly shattered until Misty's strong grasp found his shoulder, and she pointed to kindgra, and starmie who were prepared to take them now.

With one last look, Ash let out a mental sigh, begging for forgiveness before allowing the water pokemon to carry them.

On the boat, a greatly disturbed, tearful pikachu clawed at Brock's arm and wriggled against him.

Soothingly, Brock whispered: "Pikachu, settle down."

"Pika! Pikachu!" The terror and scream in his voice tugged at Brock while he tried to reason with the pokemon.

"If something happened, you're not a water pokemon—what if you had to go up for air, they're not going to be able to; when they get to that five mile marker, they _can't be seen_ pikachu. It's too dangerous." Brock reassured the pokemon, patting its head earnestly while togepi attempted to help. Very slowly, pikachu fell limp in Brock's arm, its age showing in the wrinkles below its eyes while Brock sniffled.

"We'll help out some more when they get back, alright? For now, we need to stay calm, see what we can do from here."  
"...cha..." The mouse croaked, and a few feet away, Jessie and James shared a knowing, cold gaze while Brock, who knelt on the smooth deck finally came to a short realization.

"...Why would they place rookies on the largest Team Rocket compound in the world?" When the non-accusatory question slipped from Brock's lips, Jessie, James and meowth shared a shifty glance, and pursed their lips.

 **XOXs**

Over the last three days, Misty was the _only one_ who questioned Jessie and James for more information. Each time she would bring up the subject, Ash would remind her what they said to Brock; Jessie, James, and meowth were pawns to Team Rocket, they wanted the organization to end as much as _they_ did. But some how, Misty couldn't believe it. Even if it was _true_ , she couldn't believe that was everything.

Had they been swimming on their own, the trip would have taken them roughly three hours, but with the wave of the ocean on their side, and Misty's pokemon pulling them through the worst of the friction, they arrived on the island shortly after an hour. Even with the rebreather, Ash felt it was difficult to breath under such pressure. Misty, who was used to swimming in water had an easier time with it; and pat Ash to keep his spirits up.

When they passed the five mile marker, a huge wave of relief passed through them when they realized they weren't spotted, and the balistas never fired off. The tricky part was the shore; they couldn't be on there for longer than a few seconds, which meant the very moment their tired bodies touched solid ground, they better be running.

An act easier said than done in wet suits.

Misty returned kingdra and starmie when the sand below them could be touched with their knees, and without words, Misty and Ash dug their feet into the sand to prepare their leap. They would come in with the tide like Jessie and James told them, and they would use the dark of the night to sprint into the treeline which was only a yard away.

Taking the last inhalation of the rebreather, Misty spit hers out, and ran on the count of three with Ash. Water struck the rocks to the right of them and the very moment their bodies sprung out of the water, they bolted for the trees. Under the cover of darkness, they looked like ants moving against the dark shores, and thanks to the crashing waves behind them, the struggle was silent, _mostly_.

Either way, they made it to the tree line without being seen, and both heaved heavily, hands on their knees. Misty threw her head back, resting it against tree bark while listening for any indication they were spotted. When after a few minutes of silence she heard none, she slowly unzipped the neck of the suit down to her belly, and began to peel of the _mostly_ water proof suit.

"Agh, my shirt his wet." Misty muttered in the dark while Ash ruffled his hair and replaced his cap onto his head. He glanced at Misty in the dark; her silhouette was the most he could see of her.

"That's okay, we still have an hour to find that stupid tunnel, which gives us time to dry off." Ash assured her, shaking off the wet suit and peeling down into his uniform. The sun was hidden now behind the ocean; as if its presence never existed, and like Jessie and James told them, the boat couldn't be seen from shore. Someday, he would have liked to ask them how they knew that would work so well, but it would have to wait.

By the time they were in their uniforms, and their suits were discarded, Misty held onto her necklace, to remind herself that it was there, and then tucked it underneath her shirt, and attached kingdra and starmie's pokeballs back onto her belt. Ash followed suit, but felt oddly bare without pikachu and togepi; almost naked. He shrugged his shoulders several times in attempt to get used to their absence, but when nothing came, he glanced over at Misty who almost disappeared on him.

"Did you bring a flashlight?" Ash asked calmly, and whether or not she shook her head, he couldn't tell. The former red-head stopped, keeping quiet. She still breathed heavily form the trip, though Ash had mostly recovered. Her harrowed breathing came from nerves; fumbling with the pocket on her skirt, she revealed a very small, very dim light, and held it up to flash Ash.

"Ouch!" he hissed quietly, rubbing his eyes.

"Sorry." She grimaced, patting him on the shoulder.

"Do you have everything?" She asked while they used the small source of light to tuck their suits beside a tree which was located beside a large rock; a place they would remember to look. She removed the rebreather which was tied around her neck simultaneously with Ash, and they dropped them on top of the suits before heading into the forest. The very dark, eerie forest.

Ash knew Unova well from its lush forests in his dreams, but knowing that they hadn't been inhabited for awhile only made his skin crawl at what could be lurking around the corner. Each time he took his eye off of Misty to investigate a crack a short distance away, he recalled the snake incident in route eight, and walked closer to her until he was practically walking over.

"Could you back up?" She hissed, tension high.

"Sorry," Ash muttered, stepping away while she grunted beneath her breath. Ash followed after her, "Maybe we should hold onto each other, you know, just in case?" Ash offered, though it was Misty whose hand snapped from her side to his wrist instantly at the invitation.

Misty wouldn't show it, she would more than likely _die_ first, but if there was anything she disliked more than bug pokemon, it was the fear that they could be surrounding her, in a dark forest in the middle of nowhere. She heard the crackles, the hoots, and the whistles around them; but she forced them to the back of her mind while following the directions Jessie and James gave them _exactly_ as they reiterated it over and over again. Ash was no good with directions, so he let Misty drag him along and let his mind drift back to pikachu.

 **XOXS**

Standing on the railing with high ears, and a raised tail, pikachu watched the quiet island in the distance. Beside him, a loyal togepi rested, reflecting pikachu's own determination in his eyes. Then, as if the two of them wasn't enough, an anxious Brock stood beside them, waiting. If they got into trouble, _surely_ he would see it before anything else; _hear it_ if nothing else. Yet, it remained calm for an hour, then two.

"They're going to be okay." Brock told the pokemon, who refused to move. Especially pikachu, who was deeply offended by Ash.

"Toge." The egg whined, glancing at Brock who rubbed the pokemon's shell, particularly over the crack that it received the first time Ash met Brock.

"You worry too much for a baby pokemon." He offered, though the glare made the egg's frustration known without words.

Laughing nervously, Brock corrected himself. "You're right. You're almost all grown up now. I'm sorry." Brock apologized, recalling the baby egg that he first encountered, compared to the pokemon that stood toe-to-toe with pikachu in a battle if Ash asked him to.

A small grin formed over Brock's lips while he sighed. "You got your mother's glare though." Brock joked, returning his eyes to the shore line.

In this moment, he understood the pokemon's frustration more than anyone. The three of them were supposed to be a team, like Ash and pikachu were—and now, they were separated because of a silly plan, and he wished he could do _more_.

 **XOXs**

After an hours walk, an awkward, stumble through the even darker forest, the escape tunnel Jessie and James described was exactly where they said it would be. _Once you reach a tall, rock wall, head east until you find metal pipes._ And here it was. Over grown, littered with cobwebs that could have belonged to any assortment of insects, and bursting vines from years of disuse.

"I'm not going in there." Misty said objectively, taking a few steps back while Ash squinted into the darkness.

"It's...not that bad." he said, thought his voice wasn't confident. Watching as a large _something_ crawled away from the light that Misty shined into the tunnel, he offered her a shaking grin.

"C'mon Misty; _be a man_." Ash gestured her forward with a smug grin, but the nervous Elite Four member shook her head several times, refused to move, and even took a few steps away.

Sighing, Ash grabbed her wrist and tugged her forward into the tunnel, ignoring the painful, strangled noise that escaped her lips.

"It's just a few pokemon, Misty." Ash tried to reassure her, taking the light from her shaking fingers and shining it ahead of them. Misty clung to his arm tighter without control of the light and the ability to see.

"You have, what, a _gyarados_? What's the worst that could happen?" Ash tried to reason with her but she squirmed beneath her skin.

"They can inject poison that paralyzes you and then they eat you while you're still alive after wrapping you in a cocoon!" Misty explained with a shaking voice. Ash abruptly stopped, forcing the nervous Misty to stumble into him, but he remained firm and glanced over his shoulder at her.

"We're about to walk into one of the most dangerous complexes in the world; and you're scared of bug pokemon more than you are of them?" he inquired jokingly, cocking one eyebrow while she pressed her lips into a flat, not amused line.

"I have priorities, Ash!" She hissed at him in a whisper. "I'd rather die getting shot at than a slow, painful death in some webbing!" Misty added, pressing forward and dragging Ash with her; she wasn't going to stand in a bug infested tunnel any long than she _had_ to, and the reaction made him chuckle sincerely.

"You know they don't do that, right? Most of them eat grass, or, you know, other insects." Ash mused playfully but she shook her head, refusing to listen. _Apparently_ she had seen one too many horror films on the subject, and it warped her mind.

Still, he went a long with it and let the frantic woman lead the way; they cleared the tunnel much faster than they would have with Ash leading nervously. Nothing moved faster than a fearful Misty. At the end of the tunnel, right before the sewer cut off, the ladder that lead up into the _old_ facility Jessie and James told them to use as a basis of entering the new facility was rusted, and missing the bottom half.

"Great." Misty murmured, shining the light up to see the sealed manhole at the top. On her tip toes, she could almost reach the first rung, but unfortunately was unable to grab it. Ash looked behind them, watching for any movement before turning back to Misty, and giving his best attempt.

"Well, this isn't any good."

Their height difference became very apparent the moment Ash reached up, and could only brush his fingers against the first rung. Misty snickered in response to his best attempt, which was quickly followed by a poor attempt to _jump,_ but he only ended up slamming his fist against solid concrete, and breaking off another piece of the ladder. Clanking echoed down the previously silent tunnel, which was met with the sound of creepy, crawling shuffles that forced Misty to shake her head.

"Just give me a boost." She gestured to Ash who pointed at himself.

Then, without warning, she jolted and Ash's breath stilled. Unprepared for her to suddenly leap at him, he clumsily grabbed at her waist, and squeezed her to prevent himself from falling, rather than lifting her up. He blinked into her face, which stared pessimistically back at him, and he swallowed hard. During the exchange, Ash dropped the light, causing her face to glow slightly in the darkness, and his mouth opened and closed while an awkward sensation bubbled up from his chest at their sudden closeness.

Clearly frustrated, she blew a strand of black hair from her face. "Let's try that again."  
Flustered, Ash dropped her. "Well, don't just run at me. Give me _some_ warning." He gasped, shaking his head furiously. _Concentrate,_ Ash told himself while nodding to his companion who took a few steps backwards while Ash intertwined his fingers and nodded to her.

Misty sprung forward on the balls of her feet, and stepped into Ash's folded hands where he _properly_ lifted her. Her knee found perch on his shoulder, her right boot pressed painfully into his palms, and while Ash stabilized the wobbly approach, she grabbed the last available rung, and exhaled.

"I got it."

" _Great._ " Ash muttered, turning his face away from her body while she holstered herself up a few rungs, and found her footing. Ash looked up at her while scooping the light from the floor and narrowing his eyes.

"Can you get the grate open?" He wondered aloud, worried that she wouldn't be able to. As he spoke, a loud creak followed, and he questioned _why_ he ever wondered in the first place. Misty was probably as strong as he was, if they were going to compare.

"I'll find something to throw down." Misty assured him while she crawled up into the dark room, Ash exhaled worriedly.

"Maybe you-" Then a rope dropped at his feet, and he mentally scolded himself once more while her bright eyes made an appearance once more at the top of the hole.

"Hurry up." She smiled down at him while he tucked the light between his teeth, and grabbed the _hopefully_ secured rope, and found his way up the small tunnel. Once his feet reached the first rung, he released the rope, and crawled step by step until his hand pressed against cold, concrete surface of the old building, and his left was met with Misty's soft, gloved hand where she proceeded to help him up. When he finally stared up at her, his heart raced and stopped at the same time and forced himself to breath, clutching at her fingers.

Misty turned away, and glanced around the room while Ash spit out the light to look around.

"I...should have asked sooner, but are you okay?" Misty asked in grievance to pikachu's departure. Ash stilled, and nodded.

"I couldn't risk taking him." Ash explained, though he still felt guilty. "It's better this way." Carefully, she pat him on the shoulder, and nodded at him.

"As of now, we're no longer playing around. We're in dangerous territory. If we get caught, they will more than likely shoot on the spot." Misty explained, looking into his eyes to convey the feeling. Ash had been told a million times before coming here. Team Rocket was ruthless, thieving, killers; _he knew that_. Slowly, he nodded and exhaled.

"I know. Just means we shouldn't get caught." Ash smiled, while she wilted and dusted off his shoulders in the dark.

"It'll be okay." She told him, speaking more to herself while she turned and mentally prepared herself for the next step.

The adventure into the new facility.

 **XOXs**

It wasn't any brighter in the open warehouse than it was in the tunnel; and for _good_ reason. While passing through the loading dock of a rusting warehouse, they heard _snores_ , loud, metal rattling snores that echoed from each corner of the facility. At first, Ash and Misty were on their feet, prepared to take on some kind of monster, until they realized that whatever was creating those sounds, was locked into one of many large, metal crates. Huge pokemon were inside, fortunate for them, none of them were awake.

"What are these..?" Ash asked, counting the dozens of boxes. Misty shrugged, flashing the light at Ash.

"...Dragon pokemon?" Misty suggested, since it made the most sense. Unova was known for them, and they were large, dastardly creatures; the sounds made sense if it was coming from a dragon. While Ash slowly stepped away from the metal boxes to follow after Misty who was only interested in reaching the exit door, Ash inhaled.

"...But I don't get it, kingdra is a water and dragon pokemon—noivern is part dragon; why aren't _they_ bigger?" Ash gestured to the crates behind them, and Misty gnawed on her lip.

"Well," She whispered trying her best not to disturb the sleeping dragons with her voice, "I'm not a pokemon professor, but from what I understand, primary dragon types are very different than secondary dragon types, _stronger_ you could say because they're generally much _older_. Where as a secondary type is only _partially_ a dragon, a primary is a dragon first, and then whatever comes after that. Their genes are different which makes their sizes different." Misty tried explaining, though it was clearly not her forte. In his best attempt to calm her down, he smiled.

"Oh, okay." he said, making a mental note to call Gary later, and ask.

"If they're still using the old facility to keep pokemon—maybe that tunnel isn't as unknown as we thought?" Ash suggested, trying to clear the air; though, Misty was clearly frustrated with his attempts. He didn't understand _be quiet_.

As they passed the final crate, and budged against the entrance to the new facility Misty raised her eyebrows.

"It doesn't matter because we're already here." said the former redhead. While nodding to him to turn off the light, she continued, "I would say it looked pretty unused though, so we don't need to worry."

"Alright, if you say so." he said, watching her face brighten in confidence. "Ready?" He asked after, and Misty nodded with confidence, and pushed open the door into the bright, new hallway.

They both covered their fragile eyes when their pupils dilated at the sheer, blinding light. Their eyes had finally adjusted to the dark, and now seeing the brightness, they felt _truly blind_. Jessie and James swore that the inside would be manageable, quick to navigate—but the silver, clean, metal walls without dents and turns made their mouths hang open.

Apparently, more had changed than they thought.

"This doesn't look anything like they said it would." Ash voiced his concern while pushing Misty forward so they wouldn't be caught loitering.

"I _know_." she replied concerned. "Do you think the layout is the same?"

"I'm not sure." Ash announced, remembering Jessie and James telling them to take their first _left_ , only, the longer they walked down the winding corridor, they less likely a left turn was plausible.

"Oh no." Misty thought aloud, wondering how they would find the overseers office in this mess. Ash looked around, and while gnawing on his own lips, he pointed to what he thought was an over pass. A _bridge_.

Their strides were trained while they stepped eagerly from the corridor onto the bridge with a glass dome. Lights flickered in all directions, and below them, they saw cranes; large ones lifting and maintaining several large crates like they saw in the old facility, and separating them beyond the safety of a large shutter. Countless pokemon existed in boxes below them crying like starved animals while members of the facility organized the creatures into areas. Ash's breath froze, and Misty's eyes went wide.

More than that, _weapons_ of all kinds sprawled the metal surface below; missiles, tanks, powerful electronics and Misty's face turned pale. _An army_ , they were preparing _an army_.

"...I don't think this facility is for training rookies, Ash." She muttered to him while he made the connection himself. Jessie and James weren't informed after all. They didn't _know_.

"Hey, what are you doing?" A voice boomed from the end of the hallway where another pair, a male and female, approached Ash and Misty who were still mindlessly gawking at the scene below them. Like Misty and Ash, their features were plain, their hair was dark, their faces sullen and their uniforms matched theirs perfectly.

"Heading back to work." Misty elaborated quickly with a forced smile. In a split second she could turn off her mind, and switch on her 'gym leader' mode, even if her hands were shaking.

The woman smacked her lips, her brown hair falling in front of her eyes. "From where?"

"The transferring docks." Misty replied to the woman quickly while she sized the two of them up. "We're still new here; we just transferred from the Kanto Region branch; could you point us in the direction of the overseer? We need to finish up our paper work." Misty snapped, her tone cold.

"At this hour?" She snickered and Ash stiffened.

"Look, we just has a really long day..." Misty huffed, hoping to convey that they were just another hard working, tired employees like the rest of them; but it was the man who recognized their wrinkles clothes, their disheveled faces, and then snorted.

" _Oh, I see_." He scoffed, crossing his arms and nodding to them. Unsure of what to with with himself, Ash forced a partial smile, and the man nodded.

" _Sneaking off_ , huh? That's okay, we've all been there."

Misty's face flushed red, though Ash didn't understand the innuendo the woman laughed. " _Ohhh_." She said. "That's alright. We get it." She added, and then pointed behind her. "The overseer's room is the last door to your right after reaching the main floor. Don't _get lost again_." She snickered while pressing forward without another comment.

A gawking Ash turned at them, then spun back to Misty with a questioning gaze. She raised her hand to silence him.

"...Don't even ask." She suggested, and then they pressed forward without another word.

"Oh, the overseer isn't back until tomorrow, so maybe just leave a note on his door!" The woman shouted honestly, her voice more relaxed now that Ash and Misty were passed off as just _other workers_.

"Thanks." Misty called backed to her, throwing her hand up before shoving Ash into the stairs which they began to climb. While the suspicious duo watched Ash and Misty leave quickly, the woman crossed her arms, and pursed her lips.

"Wasn't the Kanto Sector dissolved months ago?" The woman asked, and her partner raised questioning eyebrows before staring back at Ash and Misty.

"Hmm. Looks like we might have some trouble." A sinister grin spread over his cheeks, and they very slowly followed after the rushing duo.

 **XOX**

Surprisingly, it was Ash who realized they were being followed. Not because he saw them, but because he heard them. Their boots scuffing against the ground were a lot heavier than Ash or Misty's, so when they would turn a corner to spy on the duo, their noise level wasn't exactly _stealthy_.

Ash nudged Misty on the arm and smacked his lips. "We're being followed." he muttered quietly, and Misty's eyes fell on him, but she didn't look over her shoulder—she didn't want to blow their cover, if they still had one.

"Are you sure?" She whispered, and Ash nodded.

"Pretty sure." He responded while they stopped at the stairs that would take them into the overseer's hallway.

"They must be onto us, then." Misty whispered. "What should we do?" She asked, and Ash paused for a long time.

Trying to match his odds in a fight wasn't an option. He and Misty weren't trained; his last fight with a team rocket member ended with a black eye and a busted lip—that was thankfully almost healed now. _Fighting_ wasn't their best option, but, they did have one of the best strategist in all of Kanto, and the most reckless individual in the world.

Ash took her hand, and gestured to the top of the stairs.

"Follow me." Ash nudged her, and like clock work, the duo behind them followed to the end of the stairs when Ash and Misty reached the top.

"We can't make any noise." Misty whispered, inches away from Ash's ear while Ash rubbed his finger around greninja's pokeball, and curved off to the side, grabbing Misty.

"Walk ahead." Ash told her, opening greninjas ball. Misty clued in quickly, and then while clicking her heels, she very loudly _walked away_ from the stairs. At the wall beside the stairs, Ash held his breath, awaiting the duo who followed them this far. Like clockwork, when Misty reached the split in the hall, the group from previously followed up the stairs, only, when they saw Misty standing alone; alarms went off in their heads.

Unfortunately for them, greninja was about stealth; it was the majority of his ability, and the two of them were out cold before they turned to see Ash. The pokemon stared down at the grunts who fell limp onto the metal surface and Ash crossed his arms gleefully.

"Nice work." Misty complimented, flashing him a toothy grin and a thumbs up; if all of these goons were as simple as these two, then this was going to be easy!

"Here, help me with them." Ash gestured to the closet at the corner of the hallway, and together, they lifted, and transferred the bodies with the help of greninja, then locked them inside.

"That should give us a few minutes, right?" Ash offered and Misty quirked an eyebrow.

"That was pretty quick thinking." She added earnestly, silently applausing greninja who bowed in respect.  
Ash laughed. "You do the talking, I'll do the grunt work." Ash assured her, marching past her with greninja at his heels. "Sorry buddy, you stick out too much. I'll call you again if I need you, thanks." Ash told the pokemon who nodded proudly to his trainer. They had come a long way, and Misty smiled gratefully, appreciative that it didn't turn into a fist fight.

Looking down, Misty pressed her glove up to see the watch beneath and her nose scrunched up.

"We need to hurry." She urged while they ran up through the center of the hall.

At some point, past the many, bursting windows staring down into different sectors of the military warehouse below, and matching metal surroundings, Misty and Ash stopped at what was labeled _Overseer_ and inhaled.

"Alright, now it's time for you to work your magic." he told her while Misty fished a metal wire out of her boot.

"Yeah, _magic_." Misty mocked. "They said there weren't supposed to be any alarms, but they were wrong about the facility; so maybe they were wrong about that, too.. Keep an eye out, would ya'?" Misty asked while kneeling at the door, she flicked open a few swatches, and kneaded the metal wires into the crevices of the keyhole while Ash followed her request, and folded his arms, watching the hallways in both directions.

When her silent patter echoed through the hallway, and bored Ash was left to watch the minutes click by on his watch—he thought to complain. Already, he felt like their cover was blown. If those people woke up any time soon, Ash and Misty were done for. This was taking _too long_. Before Misty could shimmy the door open, Ash stepped close to her and inhaled at the sound of foot steps. He crouched beside her and watched her fingers move.

"We have company."

"I almost got it." A sigh filtered through her lips when Ash tugged gently at her black sleeve.

"We'll come back, c'mon." Ash urged her, but her brow had a sweat on it, and she shook stubbornly seconds before the latch gave way and she was left with a loud smirk. No alarm rang, and Misty stood, pushed Ash inside, and followed behind. She quietly shut the door before a loud set of voices carried over where they had been sitting previously.

Normal people, talking about normal events, and normal tasks throughout their day to day job. It was unsettling how _normal_ Team Rocket employees were. Ash and misty listened for a few minutes, how they talked about their kids, about family gatherings and while she was disturbed that the face of evil had real, living _people; they where both_ sure that the moment the stakes were high, the switch turned off, and those _normal people_ turned into the ruthless killers they always knew.

"Do you think they'll find-" Misty slapped her hand against Ash's lips, silencing his question as to not give away their position.

"Shh!" She hissed, waiting for the foot steps disappear outside the door before she released Ash, who gawked at her with blinking eyes. It was still dark in the room, and she rubbed her eyes in her best attempt to see in the dark. Knowing it was safe, at least for a little while, she pawed around the wall beside the door frame for the light.

From the far end of the room, the warehouse below could be seen from a round window that Misty raced to close to prevent their position being discovered from the workers below. _He's out for the day_ that woman told her. However, the brief glimpse into the warehouse was a painful reminder that this was not a training ground; this place wasn't for rookies. Then again, she should have known better than to believe that the most renown, undiscovered facilities was for _rookies_.

"Do you think they intentionally sent us into a fully developed base?" She asked Ash, who didn't have time to think about it.

"Why would they do that?" Ash countered, looking up and over his shoulder at her. "Hurry up, we don't have a lot of time to go through this stuff." his tone was demanding, and Misty pursed her lips, unused to Ash telling _her_ to stay focused.

Still, she did what she was told to do, she approached the computer, sat at the chair and clicked on the screen to see nothing more than the password screen she expected. While Misty may have been a lot of things, a hacker wasn't one of them.

"Find me a password." She mused, standing up to shuffle through papers that sat around the desk.

Meanwhile, Ash opened a file drawer that had a key placed inside of it. Sweat trickled down their necks, they only had a few minutes, if that duo woke up, their time could be less. Even if they were tied up, it was only a matter of time before someone realized they were missing, right? And surely people would hear them in that small closet. Ash whipped through the files, thumbing passed documents until finally settling on one: Delia Ketchum. These weren't just random files—they were a collection of peronal files.

"What..."

Misty's head reeled. "Did you find something?" looking over his shoulder at the same compartment of files. Seeing them didn't come as a shock as much as it had been for Ash, who slowly removed the documents one at a time.

"What are you doing? We're not here for those?" Misty muttered; they already knew Team Rocket had tabs on them, on his mother—on her family. Their fingers were in everything, that much was established. What they needed was information they didn't have: what the microchips were going to be used for, who that pokemon Jessie and James told them about was, what they wanted Ash for! Misty wracked her brain while Ash paused, licked his lips; then looked up at her.

"Aren't you curious?" asked Ash while opening one that was labeled "Delia Ketchum".

"They even have a file on my mom." When he cracked the document open, it had a list of her normal identifications, her battle record history and family. At the top was written _contained i_ n bold red letters. While Ash flipped through the document, his head spun.

Misty thumbed through some materials on top of the desk, through sticky notes, note pads; anything someone would scribble a password onto while Ash placed the document on the floor, and snatched the next one greedily. _Ash Ketchum_ , it was labeled, and he plucked it out. The label was much longer than Delia's, but unlike his mothers, most of his information was left blank. He had no battle records until recently, with the most recent one being from his time outside of the league party before he shut his pokedex off. With information as old as the day he electrocuted himself, and as odd as the amount of scars on his torso, and incident reports—hospital files. Listening to Misty scramble about, frustrated, Ash's mind slowly broke.

He ripped through the next set of documents until he found one titled _Samuel Oak_ , and upon reaching for it, the first, bold lettering on the inside of the manila folder were the red, angry letters "TERMINATED"

The file slipped from his fingers, scattered along the floor, and caused Misty to jump.

"What are you dong?" She hissed, and Ash shook his head slowly, and started ripping at the files without answering her. Misty looked around the room, shocked by his absurd behavior, and slowly approached him.

"...Ash?" Misty questioned once more, worry decorating her former hostile tone, approaching him with her head tilted down.

He tossed one document after another; _Gary Oak "Under observation", Flint Harrison "Terminated", Dawn Matthews "Under observation", Brock Harrison, "Under observation", Regard Shinji "Terminated",_ Ash skipped a few names, throwing them out over his shoulder, forcing Misty in her best attempt to dodge them. Then finally, _Iris Avonu "Contained"_ , next, _Cilan Measters "Contained"._ For a moment, hope threatened to pour into his heart, dance across his icy chest and breath life into what should have been the best news in the world while he thumbed the two documents out of the file drawer, when his finger slipped through the next two documents, and his eyebrows knit slowly.

 _Cole Oak "Contained", Misty Waterflower "Contained"._

Finally, words found his throat again, "They have documents on everyone here... As recent as last week." Ash motioned, holding up Misty's file to her, which was no laughing matter. It was as thick as Ash's was. Misty snatched it from his fingers, clearly unsettled by the information, and finally looked inside, though they didn't have time for this. She _knew_ Team Rocket was watching them, Jessie and James told them at _least_ that much...but...

"What does contained mean?"

"I don't know, they marked my mother contained, and, _and_ Iris and Cilan." Ash fumbled, gathering the two documents and placing them on the table. "And...others were terminated _;_ Dawn's is _under observation_." Ash elaborated, looking up at Misty. He flipped through the pages of his long-lost companions, Iris and Cilan, very, very slowly, looking for any information about their whereabouts—if they were even still around. Unlike the rest of the documents, their statistics weren't on display, and they weren't being actively updated. Not since five years ago.

His heart burst when Misty finally pursed her lips, displeased with what she was reading in the most recent update.

"They _handed me_ the Elite Four position." Misty expressed with a loud, drawn sigh. "To _control me_." Misty added, then with one very angry lunge she threw, and scattered the file across the room. Papers fell in all direction while Ash's eyes remained wide. He looked down at the rest of the files. Names he knew, some he didn't, then followed by her example, and scattered them onto the floor aggressively.

"What are you doing?" Misty gasped, watching Ash frantically disorganize and ruin thousands of papers.

"I thought we were throwing them out?"

Misty's mouth opened, then closed and she let out a soft noise of agreement.

"But let's get what we came for first okay?" Misty said, keeping them on task was very important, especially if time was thin. While the two of them turned back to the consecration at had, a bubbling, joyous feeling formed in Ash's chest. There was _no reason_ to be as happy as he was, but he could feel the burning trickle of hope. A sticky, uncertain hope, but he inhaled happily.  
"They have my mom after all." Ash announced suddenly, very eagerly. "Maybe it was just..."

"I know." Misty interrupted.

"And Iris and Cilan's papers were..." Then Misty grabbed the dazed man's shoulder, squeezed his arm and while he tumbled through his mind, his chocolate gaze met hers. Misty breathed.

"I _know._ " She told him in a sweet tone, but nudged the computer. "But we can celebrate about all of that _after_ we do this."

"Right." Ash said, nodding his head obediently while he circled the computer with Misty. The latter took a seat in the rolling black chair and stared quietly into the password box. _Of course_ Team Rocket wasn't going to leave their password sitting out; so it had to be something that they knew.

"Anything come to mind?" She questioned Ash, who was a box of wonder sometimes.

"No." Ash murmured behind her, looking once more over the area of the monitor. Her fingers clicked slowly on the keyboard while she thought of some _occasional_ passwords; but in fear of setting off some kind of alarm, she merely stared.

"Why wouldn't they tell us it had a password?" Misty mused while Ash looked down thoughtfully. He rocked on the heels of his feet, and crooked his neck.

"Maybe we already know it?"

A sigh escaped her lips. "How?"

A shrug followed, while a shifty eyed Ash looked around the room, reiterating a very _familiar_ speech in his head. Misty watched him pace back and forth, and pursed her lips while he muttered to himself.

"Do...you want to share with the group?" Misty mocked, eyes slanted while she glanced at the clock.

"Shh!" Ash shushed her, holding up his hand to his forehead. "Try... Blasts off at the speed of light?" He grunted, a small blush covering his cheeks while Misty gave him an expired look, then turned back to the computer.

"It doesn't fit."

"Then try..." _What was it_ that they used to say all the time? "Prepare for trouble?"

Misty snorted. "Are you going to tell me to make it double or something?"

His mouth hung open at her expression and then closed in a delight while he smiled down at her. Inaccurate connections to his dreams were reoccurring themes in their conversations; whether she was aware or not.

"You think that's really it?" She questioned and Ash shrugged.

"I...think so?"

Against her better judgment, she pressed enter. At first, silence hung while the cogs in the computer's mainframe decided if that was the correct answer or not. While the clock ticked away in the corner of the room and the computer hummed loudly, Ash's mouth moved beside her ear.

"Can...we talk?"

"About what?" Misty questioned staring determinedly at the computer screen, willing it to accept the password.

"Uhm.." Ash cleared his throat. "About us?"

Her head snapped at his, eyes were narrowed, brows furrowed and lip at a perfect, Misty frown. "Is now the time for that?"

He shrugged slowly, peering at the closed window. "Well," He started by clearing his throat, glancing as far away from her harsh gaze. " _When is_ the time?"

"I don't know, sometime when we're not in enemy territory?" She gaped, mortified that he would pick now of all times to talk about..to...Her face flushed a deep red and she shook it off, retraining her thoughts to the task at hand, though Ash wasn't as serious as she was, apparently. Now was the perfect time, they weren't in dire straits, no one else was around, and what _else_ was there to talk about?

"You're just avoiding because you're-" Ash tried with his lips pursed, but a strangled noise interrupted him while Misty turned away from him in a huff.

"I am _not_ avoiding anything." She denied clearly, though the way she pointed away from him, coiled her fingers around her arms and frowned; her body language said otherwise.

"Uh-huh." Ash offered. "Now's as good of a time as any..." Ash started but Misty looked up at him, frantically.

"Now is _not_ a good time." She urged. "Why couldn't you have said something, oh, _I don't know_ , when you were at my house _kissing_ me when I was asleep?"

His face turned bright red. "You knew about that?"

"Of _course_ I knew about that!" _So she did know,_ did she know about _everything_? Before the party, after returning to... his face burned darker—it would certainly explain a few things.

"Then why didn't _you_ say-"

 _Brrrrrrriinnnggg_. The alarm sounded off above their heads, ending the conversation where Brock would have, if he had been present.

"That's not..."

Ash laughed. "...no, it couldn't be." he offered dryly, then glanced over at the computer which had flashed"Access Denied" across the screen and Ash nodded slowly, painfully.

"Who designs a computer that sets off an alarm when ever the wrong password is used?"

Misty cursed, numbing Ash's senses to the words. Of course this would happen! Ash picked the worst times to talk about _anything_ , and she let him get under her skin. They crowded the screen while Misty frantically typed in words, receiving an error message one after another.

"What are you putting in there?" The loud alarm sounded again and Ash looked up at the door. It was locked, but that wouldn't do much if they were caught.

"I don't know. Usual passwords." Misty explained and Ash stared down at her.

"Let me try.

"No! You're the reason I was too distracted to press cancel!"

"Hey—don't." He glared at her with a heavy huff. "Don't argue with me. I know Team Rocket better than you, and I can get into this stupid computer." Ash borderline ordered while pushing her rolling chair across the tile floor, away from him, and squat at the desk. His fingers fumbled over the keys, pecking at the buttons like a novice, _at best_. At this moment, Ash realized he never _used_ a computer before.

However, when he finally managed to press the keys and enter the password, the screen lighted green, and Misty breathed. "How in the world did you-" She started and shook her head. While Ash reeled backwards with a cheeky grin, Misty gently pushed him out of the way while clicking open the file documents that Jessie and James told them to open.

...only...

 _they were empty._ There was nothing there. All that work to get in here, to blend in, to hide among what was already here and it was... empty.

"What's wrong?" Ash watched her pale face turn _even_ paler while listening to foot steps outside the door.

"There's nothing here." her tone was flat, then suddenly anger boiled at the pit of her stomach. "They tricked us! There's nothing here, Ash!" She screamed and Ash turned around to see the files for himself; Misty clicked through them, and she was right, the entire history was wiped clear. Perhaps a fault of setting off the alarms?

...Then again, it did make sense that the greatest evil organization in the world wouldn't hold all of their information in a tiny box where any curious foot soldier could stumble across the password, and find their files.

Ash looked around the room, and then finally back to Misty who was seething.

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted them!" She screamed, and Ash felt his understanding buckle, and his belief crushed a little—and then suddenly.

"Brock's still with them." Ash said anger starting at his chest. "And togepi and pikachu!"

"Shit!" Misty cursed. "We need to get out of here." She quickly grabbed Ash's arm while moving to the door where they heard someone struggling with the locked door knob.

Their hearts stilled, and Misty looked at Ash who looked back at her, guilt ridden eyes—something she hadn't seen since his time at the nursing home. Then, Ash crammed them behind the door when it swung open; hidden away. A man walked in, and then touched his walkie upon seeing the destruction strewn about the room. Documents thrown everywhere.

"I've found-" Misty was silent, watching with wide eyes when Ash stepped forward and dropped a heavy brief case over the man's head. The man fell with a loud thud before his message was delivered, and he collapsed to the floor. Heart skipping, Misty exhaled.

"Good job." She urged, took Ash's hand tightly, and pulled him out the door of which they came. She turned a sharp right, past the undisturbed closet, and gnawed heavily on her lips while Ash stumbled behind her. They took so many stairs, she wasn't sure where they came in from. The loud ringing in their ears only intensified the need to run, and Misty groaned tirelessly.

"If we can get back to that old facility, we can go back the way we came." Misty told Ash, though, he watched shutters fall over unlocked door; he wasn't sure _that_ escape route was going to be the case.

"Hey, what are you two doing? We're going to the warehouse unit! Get back in line!"A man barked at them from across the bridge where they stood earlier that day. Misty could see from the corner of her eye the multitude of units pouring from corner to corner into the warehouse from several elevators and looked up at the man with wide, deer-like eyes.

"Isn't there an elevator this way?" Misty awkwardly asked, butt he man scowled, believing her question to be stupid.

"Get moving!" He shouted, as he pressed a switch that shut a large, metal shutter across from the bridge; exactly the way Ash and Misty needed to go.

"...Ash." Misty mused, blinking a few times when her lips cracked. "...Can we have that talk now?"

"Now?!" Ash gasped, looking at Misty who turned to him.

For a few seconds, the padding of feet, the rush of men around them, and the blaring alarm fell quiet.

"I might not get another chance to say this-" she announced, staring _directly_ at him.

 _At all of him_. The healing bruise over his right eye, the small cut on his lower lip, the way his tanned skin flushed when he ran, or the mess his hair became under the sweaty cap on his head. When he leaned forward slightly, listening to what she had to say, watching her eyes intently from his three inches height over her. For once, her sea-green eyes, which only a few months ago were always full of overwhelming, glowing confidence and determination, were riddled with confusion, and fear. Long lost were the doe-eyes of Ash, his chocolate gaze permanently scarred by the events around him; yet most important of all, were still kind, and trusting.

"I-" her voice cracked.

"Get a move on!" The same Rocket member screamed, cutting Misty from her sullen stupor, she looked up at the speaker, eyes sparkling while she prepared to move thoughtlessly.

Without skipping a beat of his thundering heart, Ash hooked his hand around her's, a jolt of energy forged through his nerves, up his arm and through his heart when he pulled Misty into him. Her questioning eyes gazed up at him when their bodies met, but before a question was formed, his lips collided with hers in a fierce, passionate kiss.

 **Author's Note** :

My Open Office (I'm too poor for microsoft) kept crashing, so I spent the whole day reinstalling/re-updating it so I could open up this stupid file! Apparently, you're supposed to update it when it _first_ gets updates to avoid this. Who cares if I missed like sixteen updates... ehem.

I almost split this chapter up, but decided against it. Ergh, sorry guys; you wanted easy answers? -cries with you-

Yep, I went with the 'kiss' in the middle of danger cliché. I DID IT. I DON'T REGRET IT. Also, yep, I'ma leave ya' hanging there for awhile. -leaves-

I changed up pokemon speak a little. I decided that for private scenes with Ash and meowth, I would do kind of a 'thoughts' method of writing? That way the translation is easier. Rebreathers with CO2 tanks are good for up to six hours under water, in case you were wondering about the accuracy of that. (Except in this case they didn't have a tank, screw you logic!)

I think I need to come back and edit this again sooner rather than later, but for now...

NINT


	42. Chapter 42: The plan pt3

**Locked Away Chapter 42:**

It was a long time coming: _a kiss_ between the two of them. It wasn't quite as romantic as Misty had imagined it would be. She never imagined being kissed while staring down the possible end of her life, but it happened.

His hands clutched her upper arms, keeping her still and the sensation of being held was more terrifying than the situation they found themselves in. The kiss wasn't even _good_ , or at least Ash didn't think so; the two of them were high on adrenaline, and their nerves were shot. When their lips touched, Ash's were a little too dry, and her face was a little too hot. He pushed too hard, she, who was awestruck, hardly pushed at all. Their lips were unevenly pressed, and their eyes refused to break contact, so they stared at each other awkwardly until the realization of _what was_ happening reached their brains. Among the tension pulling at each of them, they eased into the moment.

Padded by the sound of their racing hearts, Ash inhaled, and finally managed a much calmer approach. His hands cupped her face while she leaned into him and their bodies fell in line, ignoring the rest of the chaos. Eagerly, their eyes closed, and her lips parted once her hands latched around his torso. The blaring alarm, and pure chaos fell into unwarranted back ground noise when they connected and his arms slipped to her waist. When she didn't pull away, he _knew_ he did _something right._

Somewhere in the distance, while their mouths moved unwarranted against one another, a team rocket member continued yelling at the two of them; but fell onto deaf ears. When their inexperienced lungs demanded air, Ash pulled away.

Even as they begrudgingly parted, he looked down at her blinking, half-shut eyes, and a grin tugged at his lips. Timidly, Misty licked her lips, and her cheeks were no doubt as flushed as his own, yet, in spite of the situation, he felt giddy—too happy to be normal.

"I thought you said no confessions in a life threatening situation?" He mocked her, lips only a breath away. A smirk pulled at the corner of her lips, and she might have replied with her own jubilee, had she been given the chance.

"I said _move_!" The Rocket member to left of them shouted, finally bursting the bubble that formed around them with his impenetrable yell.

Flinching, Misty sprung from Ash's arms, suddenly winded and looking at the red faced man. He watched the two of them with a heated expression then turned unpleasantly with the flick of his wrist and urged Ash and Misty forward.

Without a passing glance, or a shared word, Ash and Misty fell back into line, following the man while he locked down the area they were standing in prior. Soon enough, from the remaining hallways, the last of the Team Rocket grunts filled into the space around them as they maneuvered to the elevator that would lower them into the warehouse unit. Legs moving mindlessly, Ash swallowed against the forming lump in his throat and glanced at Misty beside him. Her face was turned away from him, focused instead on the area below, with its large cranes, and even larger tanks and military items.

Right, they were still in danger, and while it took Ash's brain a few minutes to catch up, several emotions hit him at once: _he_ kissed Misty, doltish, Ash Ketchum made the first move. His fingers twitched, brushing subconsciously against her arm to assure himself that she was real. Secondly, _she_ kissed him back, which meant all those awkward moments of flustered feelings wondering if she felt the same were _unnecessary_ after all. Then finally, the crawling, knee shaking, mind numbing fear associated with their march to their uncertain destiny following that very moment.

Ash wasn't known to show fear, in fact, he more often than not caused a great deal of his ludicrous, dangerous situations; only _now_ , he didn't feel fear just for himself; but for Misty as well. An odd, terrifying sensation that forced his feet to stop immediately. Grunts groaned as they passed him, muttering about _false alarms_ while Ash snagged her fingers and kept the pretty raven-haired woman rooted.

"What are you doin _g_?" She hissed low, glaring back at him with confusion in her sea-green eyes. Ash inhaled then closed his mouth slowly.

Words didn't follow, apparently, _that_ part of his mind was still playing catch up, so when she jerked him forward after clasping his hand tightly, he let her. After all, they didn't want to appear _suspicious_. If they still had a chance to get out of here unnoticed, it would be with the hopes of remaining under cover as long as possible.

Still, her nonchalant reflection of the situation was frustrating! More than that, Ash was frustrated that he couldn't focus on _more_ than her underwhelming reaction. _They just kissed_! That meant something, didn't it?

"Mist.." Ash started only inches away from her cheek as the burrowed into the crowded elevator, only to be silenced by a sharp ' _shh!_ ' from the former gym leader, and his shoulders wilted.

"We _will_ talk about it when we get out of here, _okay_?" She mused quietly, looking ahead of herself, eyes wildly darting in all directions, taking in each item on each members belts, and how many people were in the elevator with them. At her response, Ash's relaxed when she squeezed his hand in confidence, looking through the metal grates of the elevator as it fell into a slow descent.

Around them, voices boomed about unnecessary tactics and protocol; so Ash used the blaring sound to his advantage.

"There's an open shutter just to the right of the elevator."

"I saw." Misty hummed quietly, Ash's eyebrows knit together.

Shutter or not, there was no _humanly_ possible way to escape without appearing suspicious, and to make matters worse, they were not only surrounded by experiences hand-to-hand combatants, they were also donning weapons; some with guard sticks, others with guns, and tazers. Trained soldiers. They were far from the _rookies_ that Jessie and James promised there would be, and so his eyes snaked over the situation once more. His mind raced; he must have been missing something. A way out of here that wouldn't land them in a morgue, or _worse_ a Team Rocket prison some where.

From where he was standing, he could see the upper rinks of the facility, decorated with several sectors of cells and former patrol units and he wondered to himself how they were going to get out of this. With each second the elevator fell, the chance to escape grew thinner, and their time to think of a plan grew smaller.

Misty's voice found her throat again when she looked over her shoulder at Ash as they neared the bottom of the elevator. It wouldn't take them long to root out the infiltrators. Ash and Misty, while trained to look the part, knew next to nothing about the facility or about Team Rocket procedure. Now that they knew the facility wasn't what they prepared for, they knew _even less_ than they should have.

" _Hold onto me._ " Misty whispered bravely into Ash's ear, earning a concerned glance as her hand wrapped around her back, and clasped a pokeball. Her breath stilled as she inhaled, and her focus fell on the man at the front of the elevator, just before them who was dressed in medals and cords. Unlike Jessie and James, these members of Team Rocket were lethal, and prepared; so what ever plan they had, it needed to be fast, and shocking.

Like Ash, she observed her surroundings a million times, skipping over Ash, who made her head fuzzy, and glared into the open shutter. She had no clue as to what waited for them on the other side, but right now, she couldn't care. _Anywhere else_ would be better than being shot at by a hundred troops.

With silent reservation, Misty closed her eyes and inhaled sharply.

"Hey—these grunts have pokemo-" A grunt behind them started, but was quickly, and rapidly silenced when the elevator doors opened, providing Misty and Ash with the exact moment to spring forward following the appearance of a suddenly enraged gyarados, who snapped the rest of the cables and metal frame from inside.

The duo landed on top of the leader with a loud thud, digging their knees into his back by accident and scrambling back to their feet while gyarados thrashed through the metal wiring, and crushed and mangled what ever was left inside. Ash watched in discrete horror; mouth ajar and face pale while Misty yanked him up, and then away from the sudden panic that erupted into the room. What was noisy, playful banter moments ago, was now an all out war as members drew their guns to rectify the situation by ending the monstrous pokemon with flying bullets. Though, the very moment the first bullet landed, then fell to the ground, leaving only a dent in the pseudo-dragon's scales, Misty shoved Ash toward the shutter and watched as gyarados let out a terrifying roar, followed by an intense fire.

"What in the h-!" Ash started watching the mayhem unfold, though he was answered with a kick to the shin to roll beneath the shutter that was followed quickly by Misty, who poked out her arm before anymore shots were fired in the midst of the situation and called to the frantically confused gyarados.

"Return!" She shouted, pulling the pokemon back into the safety of its pokeball only seconds before the _real_ arsenal rained down on him. A few bullets here and there the pokemon could handle, but if they hit his stomach rather than his scales; it was as fatal as any normal gunshot.

All eyes fell on Misty who was still ducked below the shutter in the darkness of the next room when Ash sprung to his feet. Where he wasn't used to Misty acting dangerously, his natural survival instincts kicked in, and he jumped for the switch and forced the shutter closed. Banging, followed by heavy ringing and pitched noises followed immediately after—the sound of bullets hitting, then reflecting off the metal shutter.

Quietly, Ash looked at Misty who exhaled, placed her head on the metal floor and stared up at Ash, who used the silent opportunity to rip the wires out of the panel to give them a few more minutes; hopefully.

His heart was racing when he watched her: what did he just witness? Gyarados didn't just injure those people, he... "Misty what were you thinking?"

"Survival?" She breathed, taking a moment to cover her face with her hands. She didn't have time for a plan, and she _was not_ going to risk standing in a line, being questioned. They wouldn't last—and what she said at the first step of entering this facility stood true. _They would shoot on sight_.

"Okay," Ash pressed his lips together, observing the dark warehouse. Like the old facility, it was adorned with heavy, large crates, and his noise scrunched up, emphasizing: "But _what were you thinking_?"  
"I was thinking about what the easiest way to get out of there was—we were going to get caught regardless, it's better if _we_ have to upper hand for a little while.

"But now they know what we look like, we couldn't have tried a stealthy escape?"

"This coming from you? You're the master of destruction!" She exclaimed, throwing her hand up to gesture at him while she curled up to her knees to catch her breath. Ash pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes at her baffling, alarming accusation and rolled his eyes. _It was true_ , only, he never imagined Misty would take a page out of _Ash's destruction_ booklet.

"Let's get out of here." She said as a loud boom echoed from the other side of the shutters. In disbelief, Misty scoffed and held her head back with her hands.

"Man, we weren't even in here five minutes before being discovered!" Misty expressed with a heavy sigh. Ash pulled her to her feet while brushing off her shoulder; discreetly checking for injury.

"Well...it's been longer than that, technically.." He mumbled, flinching at a rather piercing shot against the metal door.

"No, Ash, we were literally caught five minutes in here; from that duo—remember? We were set up to fail. There is no way this is a training ground for rookies—it's more like..." While she spoke, Ash's head turned from her to the area past them, where the distant sound of wailing caught his firm attention.

Her eyes followed Ash's who fell onto the massive crates in the room, situated like large prison cells for even larger pokemon. Most of them looked fearful, and war ridden: _tired_. Ash's mouth opened, watching each expression on the silent dragons' faces, and then he started in. The best way to avoid team rocket members with guns? Surround Misty and himself with dragons... his eyes narrowed while stepping beyond a lip on the ground and tugging Misty with him.

"...Maybe we were supposed to fail?" Ash suggested darting forward having forgotten their predicament in the moment.

"Ash, where are you going?" Misty yelped, following after him; "And what does that mean: we were supposed to fail?"  
"I don't know!" Ash snapped, curving around a large crate where the contents behind steel frames peered down at him from ten feet above. "I just don't think Jessie and James would intentionally want to harm us."

"They're bad people!" Misty shrieked quietly, "Why wouldn't they want to harm us?"

"Misty!" Ash bellowed accidentally, turning around to face her in the darkness. His mouth opened, then closed, and then he grabbed her shoulders and squeezed. "They were with me from the beginning. While they were always there, they _never_ succeeded, and when _they did_ they helped me out in the end. They _can't_ be bad people."

"But that was just in your-" Ash cut in without hesitation, eyes on fire.

"You're the one who said my dreams have been accurate. Do you really think I'm wrong now?" the question poised in the air, dangling in front of her while her eyes shifted from him to the sealed pokemon around them. His voice echoed a fair distance, and she finally huffed.

"...No." She muttered quietly urging him to be quiet as well, it was just _easier_ to blame someone. "But that doesn't give them an excuse not to tell us what was really here— _if_ they weren't intentionally trying to screw us over."

Ash grinned at her edged response and turned from her once more, following a feeling. "No, it doesn't. But we need to focus on other things..." With that, he took her hand and lead her forward through a series of closely knit metal boxes.

The wailing of the dragons was only the beginning, however; soon, the sound of a loud creaking formed, and the pit at the center of Misty's stomach grew. They had no idea where the exit was, and Ash was leading them through a maze of pokemon!

"Where are we going?" She finally whispered while Ash squeezed her hand, then turned abruptly with squared shoulders.

"...here." Ash stopped, looking up at a large crate that practically _called_ to him.

"What's...here?" Misty paused, looking up at the _monster_ inside of the crate. Four sizes larger than Ash, a tearful giant with milky white and lavender skin cried behind the metal bars of the the cage it was in. Staring up at the creature, Ash's mouth fell ajar in surprise, and his brown eyes filled with bittersweet joy.

"...Goodra?" Ash called to the pokemon, earning an exasperated look from Misty. He knew pokemon even here! More than that, they seemed to call from him from the abyss of darkness, and Ash heard them.

"It's me, do you remember?" He questioned, though the dragon's defeated expression only darkened, and it exhaled bitterly. As could hardly believe his eyes. Goodra, here; they must have taken him with the other dragon pokemon.

Tiredly, the monster sniveled while turning large, lime eyes down at Ash through the bars, and hung its head. Its claws were ripped from its paws, tucked bitterly into its sides. The long horns which at one time stood proudly were lowered, and most, if not all of its tail was trimmed down to prevent _external_ damages to those who had control of it. Ash's hands shook as he raced to the metal bars, touching one only for his hand to fly off from static electricity.

"What did they do to you?" His voice cracked while he whined, trying to touch the bars once more, only to have his hand reefed back by Misty.

"Ash, is this one of your pokemon?"

"Yes! From Kalos." Ash explained. "I couldn't find any of my—They were—we need to get her out!" Ash bellowed, taking a few steps back in determination. The dragon didn't answer to Ash's call; it only sniveled more, its slim shoulders rising, then falling with each weep.

Though, the very moment he took his stance to smash the crate, behind them, the shutters swung open.

Misty inhaled, her voice sharp, her lungs tightening. "Ash." She called to him, but his mind was already made up—he removed snorlax's ball from his belt, and threw it forward, creating a light that indicated _exactly_ where they were.

"We don't have-"

"I'll make time!" Ash shouted and threw up his hand. "Snorlax, use mega punch on that lock!"

The large pokemon, while shy in comparison to the dragons around him, lunged forward at the massive crate, following Ash's orders, and slammed a glowing fist into the lock. Sparks flew, and its fist bounced off. The first blow did nothing, and while the ascending footsteps approached them; Misty weighed her options. Gyarados was only bullet-proof so long as his stomach wasn't targeted. She and Ash were sitting ducks; and they were _stationary_. Sure, she couldn't blame Ash for wanting to save his pokemon—she would, _too_ , but if it was _that_ easy to break a dragon out of its masterfully created cages, they would have done so ages ago, wouldn't they? Misty's shoulders dropped, and she latched onto Ash's arm.

"Ash, these pokemon probably aren't stable. They look like they've been tortured for-"

"Again!" Ash shouted interrupting her—he _knew that_. Which was only more of a reason to get them out of here! How could he live with himself knowing he left goodra in the hands of Team Rocket; in fact, how could he leave any of these pokemon here?! They hadn't done anything wrong.

 _There they are_! Echoed from across the room and Misty's guts hit the floor while she spun around, thumbing gyarados' pokeball while snorlax landed another painlessly fruitless punch to the lock. Around them, as members of team rocket filled the room and the once peaceful silence and moans was heavily disrupted by the cries of pokemon; the dragons began to thrash in their cages, one at a time.

All _except_ for goodra.

"C'mon buddy!" Ash yelled, watching as snorlax wailed against the crate. "Don't just give up!" He cried to the pokemon, though by the time he spoke, it was already too late.

"Hands up!" one of the members called to the duo, forcing snorlax to freeze alongside Ash and Misty.

"That was a lot faster than I thought they would..." Ash mumbled below his breath, but as Misty's hand rose, before the gun could cock, she dropped gyarados' pokeball, and once more, the pseudo dragon shot forward from its pokeball like a breath of white lightning, and the shock wave threw the three of them back, including snorlax who hit the cage and was fully electrified by the static field protecting goodra.

"That trick won't work twice!" The grunt screamed clamoring back to his feet in preparation to take them out. Before the gun rose, gyarados' natural battle cry was suddenly rivaled by the screech and hum of several hundred dragons in the room. Ash covered his ears, but they were ringing, and his head split down the center in pain. Before the ringing stopped, in the cage beside the two of them, where a defeated goodra once sat, bile, a clear secretion foamed from the dragon's leathery skin that leaked down into the cages, onto the floor and _burned_ through the metal, followed by the ground itself.

Steam rolled from the cage, and while Ash could barely hear; the vibrations in his body threw him forward to grab Misty.

"Call back gyarados!" Ash screamed while returning the electrified snorlax, though Misty missed the chance because when she dropped gyarados's ball, it was a few feet away from her, and they were still _technically_ being held at gun point! The option to grab the ball didn't arrive and unfortunately, she didn't move fast enough.

From behind the caged dragon's cell, a mixture of red and white blasted from goodra's mouth; ripping through the cage like a knife through butter, the very fabric of the cell corroded from the toxic dragon's breath. From the ground below, with the sudden rage increase along side his fellow dragons; the lime-green eyes turned blood-red as a tremendous, deafening roar silenced and stilled the grunts on their way to apprehend Ash and Misty.

Around them, goodra's clear secretion burned acidic holes into the fabric of their clothes, through the metal ground, and most importantly, weakened the cages of the dragons around them.

"Oh-oh _god_!" The Team Rocket member screamed the fluid from below the cage hitting his arm. Whereas during the excitement he didn't notice, the sudden burning sensation was immense, and he panicked, flinging off his gloves and shirt to protect his skin. Ash felt the same burning sensation decorate his own flesh, and he tore his sleeve off completely, followed by his right glove where he was splashed within proximity. Misty, who was right beside him and clearly under the same effect didn't care; _what she did_ care about was the attack that landed against gyarados' back scales and her fingers dug into the metal ground.

"Gyarados use hydropump!" She screamed, watching as the injured, burning pokemon shrieked then with one pained turret, shot a weak hydro pump that nullified the acid around them, and the splash back cleared their skin while also knocking Ash and Misty back into the Team Rocket grunt.

Seeing gyarados' attack as a challenge, an awakened goodra screeched and ripped open its cage while Misty crawled forward to grab the pokeball that washed beside them. Above them, the two large creatures were about to attack; gyarados' back still smoked from the dragon's breath, and so when Misty recalled him, the grunt beside them stammered.

"What—what did you _do_?" he screeched, returning Ash's attention to the man. He was short, dressed in military fatigues; but still a Team Rocket member. When Ash punched him and then grabbed Misty; _he felt a little_ guilty.

With gyarados gone, goodra's attention was split, and it let out another dragon's breath, spraying its hatred through the top of the room; desecrating the remaining cages.

"We need to get out of here!" Misty screamed to Ash, who violently shook his head.

"I can't leave without goodra!" He shouted, shaking his sore hand. "She needs help!"

As the words left his mouth, angry, betrayed, red eyes faced Ash and Misty. Goodra watched them with hateful, dark eyes, full of anger. Unlike charizard, there was no hope, no light in the pokemon's eyes. _No reason_. Just darkness, followed by a terrifying growl.

Ash's shoulders slumped at goodra's reaction, temporarily folding his need to escape by utter defeat and desperation. What was wrong? Why wouldn't it let Ash help her? It was not only left alone, it was tortured and kept in a cage—what did they.. Ash felt sick, but luckily, Misty was beside him to reel him back into reality by grabbing his arm and jerking him away from the creature before it lunged forward. Crushing the space where they once stood.

"Goodra, it's me!" Ash bellowed. "Don't you recognize me?!" he whined, but his questions were only met with a longer hiss, a louder cry, and it lunged at them once more.

For once, if bullets didn't whiz past them, they could have been dead. Misty's heart stopped and her feet rooted to the ground when she watched the terrifying dragon fall to the ground following a loud crack from above. At first, she was convinced she was dead; goodra was only a foot away from crushing them when Team Rocket shot through its scalp. Misty couldn't hear their commands anymore; the warehouse echoed with battle cries of the contained, possibly burned dragons, and her ears were permanently ringing.

"No!" Ash's voice broke her sudden shock and her breath caught back up with her while she looked at the limp body of the dragon.

"What did you do!?" Ash screamed, turning angrily at the soldiers, there were dozens of them; worst of all, they hadn't put their weapons down yet.

Instinctively, Ash wanted to throw out a pokemon; protect his friends and Misty—but with that arsenal, he would only be _killing_ his pokemon. Misty reflected the sentiments—her greatest ally already injured _twice_ in a great escape—their only option was to pray they could run faster than a bullet.

In the stillness of the moment, sweat rolled down the back of Ash's neck, down his back; Misty's pulse in his right hand suddenly felt too fast, too heavy to carry, and he wondered how exactly they got into this mess after all.

They say the moment before someone dies, their life is supposed to flash before their eyes; but Ash could only see and hear the gun cock backwards, the shell of the bullet that shot goodra hit the floor, and the sudden urge to throw himself and Misty out of danger. Yet, his feet wouldn't move; his heart barely beat, and in seconds, it wouldn't matter.

Calmly, he swallowed, thinking of _any solution_ to get out of here; but was faced with nothing but acceptance.

 _This was it_.

 **XOX**

From the complex resting at the edge of Unova, the lights were blinding. Brock couldn't have missed them if he was submerged hundreds of feet under water. The turning red beams, the bright, yellow spot lights, and _of course_ the arming balistas sitting at the coast, prepared to attack anyone and anything approaching. At the start of it, when the blaring alarms echoed from the seashore to the oceans where they drifted haplessly, Brock wasn't sure what to do. _Or think._ Ash _and_ Misty were both inside of that facility, still, and here he was, unable to help them.

"Pika pi! Pikachu!" The mouse tried urging Brock from his stupor, shaking his arm violently along side togepi who flailed his small arms out to the ocean and hoped upside down.

 _Do something, do something!_ Brock didn't have to understand them to know what they wanted. Unfortunately, they were helpless. The moment they neared that island, the same balistas that shot Ash out of the sky would sink their boat in seconds; then they would be worse off than they were already!  
Gritting his teeth, Brock turned to face the trio who stood in relative silence behind him.

"We have to do something!" Brock cried, throwing his arms up.

"Don't worry. If they stick to the plan, they should be okay." Jessie managed weakly looking at the island, away from Brock.

"Okay!? The entire island is lit up like a fire; how are they supposed to get out of there undetected!?" Brock whined, while pikachu sprung from his arms, fighting with meowth who dodged the mouse by stepping around James legs.

It took Brock a minute, but while he watched the trio, their underwhelming reaction, lack of shock, their justifiable response that _it would be okay_ even though they knew how horrible a situation like this would turn. Jessie refused to look at Brock, meowth wouldn't speak even though he was usually _constantly_ mewling; James was the break Brock needed. His expression was calculated at first, then worried, then buried under a gusto memorabilia; unsure of himself, he looked to Jessie who looked onward confidently, and then finally gulped and stared back down at his feet.

 _Something_ was off, their reactions were all wrong. A light popped on in Brock's head. It made sense, after all. How prepared they were, with uniforms, and scuba sets; they were probably preparing for this for months...

"Wait a second..." Brock paused, taking a full step back, then away from the trio as realization washed over his face. "They...weren't..." as the stumbling words fell from his lips, a sympathetic Jessie finally looked at Brock with a scowl, and James looked shamefully to his feet.

"Meoowth-" The pokemon at their feet started, but rage boiled deep down into Brock's chest, and he lunged forward, grabbing at James collar.

"You planned this, didn't you!?" Brock screamed into his face. "I knew we shouldn't have trusted you! This was a trap!"

"Now wait a minut-" James attempted with a stutter, raising his arms to grab Brock's large hands. On most occasions, Brock was calm, the most collected of the three of his friends, and valued patience and respect over reaction and anger; however, his blood boiled when he violently shook James like a rag doll and bellowed.

"Their lives are in danger!"

"We gave them everything they need to survive." Jessie mused, glaring at Brock and forcing his hands away from James' collar with surprising strength. "Besides, you wouldn't have gone if we suggested sabotage."

"So the plan was to have them get caught from the very beginning!? They could die!" Brock screamed, reaching instinctively for his pokemon at his belt while togepi and pikachu jumped to his feet; propped in front. Togepi's eyes were dark, void trespasses into the anger buried deep into its core; but it was pikachu whose fur rose in all directions, cheeks sparked with terrifying electrical current, and eyes narrowed dangerously. The rodents small, sharp nails dug into the metal deck of the boat while Jessie, James and meowth took one step backwards, with their hands up.

"Pika!" The mouse screamed, listening to the alarm sound off once more.

"We had a reason!" James broke, looking to each pokemon and at Brock.

Luckily, he was the most reasonable, as well. Had Misty or Ash been there to decide, an all out battle would have already sufficed. Of course, if they _were_ here, they wouldn't be in this situation; and the realization only made the gym leader angrier, yet, he paused.

"Well?" Brock's ton was edgy: if he didn't like the answer; he would end them by any means possible.

"We did it because Giovanni won't make a move until he's forced to. Right now he's off at some unknown prison, untouchable; when he finds out his precious facility has fallen under attack by none other than _Ash_ , he will come out of hiding and we can beat him at his own game!" James urged, getting a sharp nudge from Jessie to remain quiet.

James shook his head, negating her wishes. Now wasn't the time to keep secrets.

"Why would you lie about that?" Brock questioned, glaring at James who nodded willingly, and took an inching step closer, arms out in defense.

"We were a pawn before." He urged, voice cracking. "That's why we _had_ to do this. If Jessie and I went in there, Giovanni would have known what we were up to; but if _Ash_ did it, than it's different."

Brock's nose scrunched up, and he shook his head aggressively. "What's so different?"

Seeing Brock's willingness to listen, Jessie butt in. "We already told you, after we left the organization, that twerp was supposed to be Giovanni's back up plan—only, things haven't been going the way he's wanted them to. The heist placed on the league was his most recent attempt; that's way they're chasing you. He wants the _rest_ of the legendaries and that twerp knows where to find them; he's more easily malleable than us-" She paused, glanced at James, then slowly smacked her lips. "Well, as we said; he'll be forced to make a move now."

The urge to call them out on their stupidity stung him in his chest; he hunched forward, pinched the bridge of his nose and threw his arms up. _The rest of the legendaries._ Meaning they already had some.

"You're going to tell me that there are _living_ , _breathing_ legendaries inside that facility with them?" Brock asked, earning a nod from the three of them. Togepi and pikachu relaxed at Brock's feet, still glaring at the trio before them.

Brock turned away from them, stared up at the glaring facility. From all angles, the facility was alive, a glowing scar in the middle of an endless darkness, calling out them as a frustrated reminder that his friends were in danger; regardless of the reason.

"You were never _stuck_ on route twenty-five, were you?" Brock questioned, turning at them with a terrifying glare.

"No." James said cordially, inhaling bravely. "We've been trying to track down which legendary pokemon he has captured already thanks to us...and..." James stammered, then after releasing the breath he was holding, regained his confidence. "We made a quick decision; it was only a matter of time before he was able to gain control of the three of you. We did what we needed to do."

"You could have told us the truth!" Brock yelled, throwing his arms up in frustration, demanding the harrowing silence that followed. The ocean's waves lapped against the boats, filling the night air with nothing more than the reminder of their failures.

"...we didn't..." James started, choking back his words, though meowth and Jessie had both cocked their heads to one side. "We're sorry." James urged.

"We did what we thought we had to do, and if we told you what was _really_ there...then."

"They wouldn't have gone!?" Brock barked. "You don't know that! We want to save the world, too, you know!" He added spitefully.

Discontentment was written across James' face, as well as an overwhelming urgency of guilt plastered in his green eyes; Jessie wouldn't show it, but her shoulders slumped tiredly, and mewoth's tail tucked tightly around his body.

Infiltration, thievery, _lying_. These were the principles that Team Rocket raised; they were the only ones Jessie and James knew. _Of course_ they didn't trust them; they did what they thought would get the results they wanted. Tiredly, Brock inhaled, and pointed up at the top of the ship. For now details didn't matter; the situation could be handled later.

"If there is any ounce of decency left in you; you're going to help me save my friends." Brock barked at them, earning a determined nod from James, who bound after Brock as they climbed the stairs to the wheel of the boat.

"There's another blind spot just east of here; if we can get close enough perhaps we can take out one of those balistas." James said while following closely behind Brock; while he rose up the stairs an eager pikachu jumped up onto his shoulders while Brock handled togepi.

"Pika." The mouse warned James while the lavender haired man spared a glance back to meowth at Jessie.

"I know."

"What kind of place is this _really_?" Brock asked, storming into the captains quarters to set new coordinates. It obviously wasn't _just_ a new place for recruits. That idea seemed too good to be true, after all.

James swallowed against a lump in his throat and exhaled. "A prison."

 **XOX**

Ash squeezed Misty's hand, not surprised to feel the circulation in his fingers had already been cut off by her firm grip when he winced; waiting to die.

Only, the bullets never came, and as fate would have him, he slowly peeled open one eye to see the leader of the platoon speaking into microphone, verifying information; and then raising the gun once more—only not at him.

"Wait!" Ash started, but is voice was cut off by a terrifying yowl to the left of him, followed by earth vibrating motions that forced Ash and Misty to their knees. Their entire bodies shook when goodra leaped forward from where he was collapsed previously, bleeding from the scalp, and ripping into the members that stood above Ash and Misty. Hey should have figured a single shot wasn't enough to take out a dragon pokemon.

While the duo recovered from the first shock wave, they didn't see the carnage—didn't _want to_. The smell of iron fitted their noies and Misty felt sick, holding her stomach while Ash grabbed her and yanked her to her feet.

"Now we run." urged Ash, pushing her forward, but her brain was still catching up with her feet; her body was in shock, and so was his. They stumbled through the section of crates, listening to the cries of Team Rocket soldiers behind them, to the deafening sound of bullets whizzing through the air, and pressed forward; gaining confidence with each step.

Ash never thought his stomach could churn so much, his heart could twist in so many ways until he listened to the sound behind him. He grabbed Misty for support, and for direction; unfortunately, they couldn't see anything, and thanks to their escapade, they had a very angry and violent dragon released, causing mayhem.

"I can't leave her, Misty." Ash muttered under his breath, though his confidence in his words simply wasn't there. Staring into goodra's eyes was like staring into the abyss. It was terrifying. Misty shook her head determinedly.

"Not right now." she demanded. "Not for awhile." She added again, pulling him behind her.

Shambling like drunkards in the middle of the night, they thought they finally caught a break when they saw a door at the end of the warehouse, decorated by a small light. Finally, they could leave the roaring dragons, blaring alarms, and complete and utter chaos where it belonged: behind them.

"Mist..." Ash tried to argue, thinking of goodra. Maybe he could help her? She just lost her way is all. Pokemon do that sometimes...

The universe loved to prove Ash wrong, this was his thoughts when goodra landed in a heap of heavy limbs in front of them, cutting off direct access to the exit. It might have been crazed, but at least it had a connection to Ash. _Just not the right one_. It's skin was covered in rustic browns, its secreting fluid deepened to a dark yellow and it snarled with large jowls.

Naturally, Ash tugged Misty backwards since she was leading, and stood his ground. Battling it was out of the question; there wasn't enough room; _they didn't have the time_ that platoon was only _one_ group, there was bound to be more. Ash swallowed hard, prepared to make a speech _anything_ to reach into the pokemon's darkness and rescue her, but before words left his mouth; it shrieked and lunged at the both of them once more.

"Why is it so pissed off!?" Misty screamed, shoving Ash to the ground to avoid the first attack. It smashed through a set of bars upon landing, cracking a portion of the floor when it turned back at them.

Instincts leading, Misty grabbed Ash and ran for the door at the end of the hall while he tossed a mindless glance over his shoulder. They wouldn't make it to the door, so using the leverage of their heavy steps, he jerked Misty right, and tumbled backwards onto the floor while the insane dragon stomped and yelled angrily. Unlike normal pokemon; he couldn't _understand_ anything goodra was saying; it was like some kind of terrifying white noise, masked by absolute pain and it ripped at Ash's stomach.

"Stop!" Ash finally yelled, rolling over to sit beside Misty and face the approaching pokemon—to think his _own_ pokemon would be more trouble than team rocket was horrifying, more so because Team Rocket were the ones that did this to her.

From one of the nearby cages, another dragon erupted a fire blast, separating Ash and Misty from goodra with dancing flames. From the darkness, a smaller dragon jumped from a ruptured cage in the darkness and stood at Ash's feet proudly.

His head was still spinning from the ringing in his ears and the noise; but he focused _just_ long enough to see a lumbering, angry garchomp standing bravely before the psuedo-legendary.

"...Gible?" Ash voiced, though it didn't carry loud enough for the dragon to hear. Misty yanked him to his feet, stumbling to her own while grasping at his arm to draw him near the door for escape. His head hurt, his vision was cloudy, but he saw the shark-like dragon's jaw unhinge to face goodra and Ash felt sick to his stomach.

They had _both_ of his pokemon here.

"Gible! Come with me!" He whined while Misty thoughtfully pulled him forward, away from the attack and terror. Above them, at the balcony of the shutter entrance, Team Rocket silenced the alarms and frantically tried to reestablish control of the situation while shutters went up, and the evolution of gible wrangled goodra to the floor when it leaped at him.

While Ash paused, the Sinnoh pokemon whined, glowering at Ash with positive, grateful, and thoughtful eyes, leaving Ash with a nod before the _real_ battle started. _Get out, run away_. It urged Ash through a glance, and he would have shook his head, refused to leave the two of them there if Misty hadn't man-handled him into the door.

"You're not good to either of them dead!" Misty screamed, throwing Ash inside of the small, square room.

 _An elevator._

Before the doors shut, Ash saw garchomp fire off one last blast, forcing open several other containers and he swallowed nervously. Misty slammed the only button available while Ash leaned against the back wall, pressing his hands onto his chest to contain his excitement. An unearthed silence filtered between the two of them while his heart raced and his breath fell out in raged lapse. He had no idea how much his hands were shaking until _now_ and his entire body felt _wrong_. The ringing in his ears subsided very little while the elevator moved downward.

"Are you alright?" Misty finally managed through a cracked, shaking voice while placing a strong hand on his bare arm. No acid had touched his skin at the time, but he still managed to nod, collecting his disorganized thoughts.

"Yeah..." he offered, swallowing against the lump in his throat. "Are you..?" He breathed looking at her torn uniform. Gyarados' spray of water diluted the concentrated acid, but not before it sunk into her sleeve and shirt. Ash's face scrunched up uncomfortably upon realization and she huffed.

"Yes. I'm fine." She assured him, gently slapping his hand away from her arm so he wouldn't touch the sore tissue. "I'll be better once I can get gyarados to a pokemon center and we get out of this place." She complained, sounding more like herself.

Ash smiled weakly at her, trying to wrap his head around what they saw while the single unit elevator craned on.

"What was that place?" his voice was weak, and his eyes were nearly defeated when he looked into her exhausted green ones. _Why dragon pokemon_ made sense; unlike normal pokemon, they grew stronger with age; and army of dragons would be nearly impossible to stop.

"...Some kind of facility or prison for pokemon? The missiles are probably if they get out of hand... like now... Did you see how many-" Misty looked up as the sound of the running elevator came to a boiling stop, and the red emergency light flicked on. Ash groaned outwardly, his first physical reaction to the terrible situations they were placed under, and Misty swallowed hard.

"That wasn't the power, was it?" She questioned, and Ash sighed. _Of course_ it was the power, he wanted to tell her; but her voice was shrouded in disbelief; she didn't want an actual answer.

"What are we going to do now?" She pressed her hands together worriedly, though Ash had no immediate answer for her while he looked around his surroundings.

They were in the middle of _no where_ in an elevator that they had _no idea_ where it was going, and _now_ it wasn't working. The only thing left was for Team Rocket to snap the cables and they would fall to a very sudden and tragic death!

She didn't voice any of these concerns because she didn't have to. Ash pointed up.

"The elevator shaft. We can just...climb the rest of the way, or something." Ash mumbled worriedly while she groaned.

"Of all the places..." She hummed, watching Ash squat down to give her a boost like he had in the tunnel.

She came to him automatically, placing her boot in his hands, her knee on his shoulder and pushed her arms up to remove the grate. Whereas before when the sudden closeness of her body pressed against his flesh sent flutters of butterfree into his stomach; now he had zubats, and a _bunch_ of them. The situation kept getting worse. Not only were they being chased by Team Rocket, but he managed to not _only_ release all the dragon pokemon, but _now_ the power was out. If nothing, it served as a great distraction; but how many bad scenarios were there supposed to be for one _good_ scenario?

"When we get out of here, I suggest a vacation to some tropical island far, far, _far_ away." Misty whined finally getting a crack from Ash, who grinned in response to her criticism. She punched out the grate at the top of the elevator, and then grabbed the sides before hoisting herself up with Ash's help.

"You and me both." He chuckled, watching her while she pulled herself through the hole, and sat at the top of the metal elevator.

Immediately, Misty laid with her belly against the metallic rungs of the roof and extended her reach to Ash. He grabbed a hold of her wrists, to where she tried her best to pull him up, but the angle was wrong, and she didn't have the upper body strength to wrangle the aged Ash to the top.

"I miss when you were small; and frail...and... _ten_." She groaned, dropping him.

"Sorry, I'll keep that in mind if I almost die again any time soon." He joked, though his lips pursed in frustration while she disappeared from sight.

When she returned she was only wearing the midriff top, having removed the gray, long sleeved under shirt, and gestured for Ash's.

"Give me your over shirt." She demanded with grabby hands. He flinched away from her, awkwardly rolled his eyes, then peeled off his black over shirt, leaving him in a gray tank top that was beneath his uniform. He handed the black top up to Misty who tied the two of them together, and then knotted it around the elevator cables.

"Smart." he complimented awkwardly while grabbing the the fabric and pulling himself up the distance that Misty couldn't before. Once his hands reached the top of the roof; he pulled himself forward and exhaled, leaving his feet dangling inside the elevator. He tried not to look at her; and luckily, his good Samaritan senses over-took his hormones, and he saw the burns on her arm long before her revealing abdomen.

"Thanks; Brock said you did something along the lines at the party." She sighed, untying her shirt so she could throw it back over herself. Ash didn't bother with his, it was already ruined, however, thinking it may be of use again later, he stuffed the torn fabric into his back pocket and smiled at Misty. If she wouldn't mention the burns, he wasn't going to.

"And you said I wouldn't rub off on you." Ash chuckled, wiping his nose while she shook her head stoically and struggled to her feet. Every muscle in her body ached.

Still the silence above was worrisome. They stood for awhile, gathering their thoughts in an attempt to find a solution. They thought that if Team Rocket was the culprit of the power outage, then they would have already snapped the cables; since such an event didn't occur—the only other option was that the dragons were making more confusion than Ash and Misty could have imagined: Maybe, their escape would work out for them in the end.

"Wherever this elevator leads; it has to be down." Misty pointed below them, and Ash blinked and titled his head.

"But how are we going to get down?" He questioned while watching her stand. She helped him to his feet, then eagerly trudged to the metal slits of the wall and wedged herself and Ash against them.

"We'll cut the cable, then climb the rest of the way down."

Ash blinked once, then twice and finally tilted his head. "What if there's nothing down there?"

"Then we have to climb up anyways, so we might as well..." Misty drew a pokeball out of her belt, but Ash raised his hand.

"I got it." Ash said while clicking a button. Red light engulfed the shaft, and standing before him was monferno, holding his fists up in preparation.

"Hey." Ash greeted. In return, monferno looked around him, then at Ash and Misty whose appearances screamed they _both_ had seen better days, and it exhaled. The mission must have gone all wrong! The pokemon was about to make a case when Ash put his hands up.

"It's okay. We just need you to burn up this cable here; can you do that?" Ash asked, pointing to one of the two cables. Without complaint, monferno nodded to Ash, then while the duo stepped back to watch the ape blast the cable with a concentrated fire; Ash exhaled.

"So we're going deeper underground. What if there's not a way out down there?" Ash questioned while Misty exhaled.

"Then we will find one." She urged digging her nails into the metal walls in preparation. Once the cable snapped, it wouldn't take long for the elevator to fall. Ash eyed her suspiciously.

"You're oddly optimistic." He accused her, eyebrows raised while she glared back at him and smacked her lips.

"Is that a problem?" She questioned with an odd blush covering her cheeks and Ash smiled at her gleefully. He might have even pressed the issue had the creaking elevator not fallen abruptly. Monferno was quick to jump from the platform, latching onto the shaft walls and gleamed proudly up at Ash, who would have clapped if he wasn't holding on tightly.

"You'll just have to stay out of your ball until we get down there, 'kay, buddy?" Ash spoke while twisting a few unsteady steps. The elevator definitely _landed_ , but it was still far enough down that they couldn't see.

Making himself useful, monferno squeaked at his companions, then darted down with athletic, inhuman skill to the bottom of the shaft where his flame grew brighter, illuminating the path for Ash and Misty.

"Thank you!" Misty called down to the pokemon happily, releasing a pleasant sigh while they climbed down much easier with light than they would have in the dark.

Thankfully both trainers were active in most cases of the word; otherwise, they both would have been stuck. Holding onto elevator shaft walls wasn't their idea of fun, but they completed the task without complaint, and found their way to the rubble at the bottom. Ash landed first, dusting his sore hands against his pants, before assisting Misty with her landing—not that she needed it, but touching her was reassuring.

Pointing at the closed doors, monferno jumped onto the scaffolding of the vertical tunnel, and squawked at the two of them.

"We should be able to pry it open between the two of us, right?" Misty questioned while stepping over a few metal pieces. Ash followed her movements.

"If not, we have greninja, poliwrath and monferno who can help, right?" Ash grinned up at the ape who shot him a classy thumbs up while Misty took point at the right of the door, and Ash took the left side.

"On three." Misty inhaled, tucking her fingers into the door. Ash nodded.

 _One._ Her sore muscles craned around the door; pulling on it with her strength. _Two_ Ash held his breath and while monferno jumped below, between their feet to help both sides; Misty breathed.

"Three!" She shouted, pulling on the doors hard enough that a crack formed.

"One more time!" Ash hissed, and they repeated the process until eventually, a crack wide enough for them to slip through one at a time was created. Monferno slipped between the doors first, scouting the exit out before Misty and Ash ducked into the room.

Even in the darkness thanks to the power outage, the white; perfectly pristine walls were still maintained and recognizable. While the upper floor was a gritty, metal cage and warehouse—steel, gray hallways and walls, cages and crates—This are was pure, untouched.

"...What is this place.." Misty muttered, pointing at the large capsules lining the walls. Ash's face scrunched up while monferno's tail light increased, bringing light to the otherwise dark room.

The room was expansive and enormous. From where they stood, they could see they were on the ground level of something _very large_ , and up above behind large windows. She could see the observation deck. The other half of the facility—she assumed. Luckily, most areas were likely still abandoned, which _finally_ gave them some time to find a way out.

"Look," Misty pointed to an exit sign. The glowing red light across the floor was out because of the power outage, but she would take it. "There's a door. That might take us to some underground passage." She urged, tagging Ash's hand; but he stalled under some form of nostalgia.

"Do you feel that?"

"Feel what?" Misty asked, her heart elating. "because if you're referring to the soul crushing fear; then _yes_ , I feel that." She joked in spite of their situation; but Ash put on the brakes, his chest tightening.

"No...I mean..." Ash released her hand, staring up at one of the massive capsules—whatever was inside them was hidden behind metal frames; no cracks, no way to breath—it was a clean, professional capture; unlike the dragons.

"Eek." The ape at his side pointed to a plaque at the bottom of the capsule and Ash approached it, much to Misty's disagreement. While Ash was otherwise distracted, _she_ could still hear the _excitement_ of the warehouse pounding above their heads. It was faint, and weak, but their roars were still terrifying, and she wanted to be no where near this place when they started wrapping up their vengeance clause.

Yet, Ash pressed forward until he was kneeling, reading the words inscribed while Misty paced with her hands on her hips nervously.

There was something here, _something important_ , he knew it; somehow, he _felt_ it without any explanation, and monferno could as well. Ash recalled meowth's words on the boat. _Humans detach themselves from the world, which prevents them from truly understanding._

When the words Ash was reading finally made connection to his brain; he jolted backwards. His fingers burned from the touch and Misty stared at him wide eyed, prepared to attack once more.

"What's wrong?" She gasped, watching as his face paled.

The engraving _Moltress_ read back to him from the plaque, and he exhaled slowly.

"...We can't leave yet." He muttered, finally understanding why Jessie and James sent him here.

 **Author's Note:**

 **Okay guys,** I got a _new_ second job recently, so my hours of operation (writing lol) changed again. Bare with me while I adjust. (hopefully this one will turn into full time, so I'll have a normal, steady job for once, then in January I start what I went to school for. Hahah)

Kissing scenes and, well, intimate scenes in general are really awkward for me to write (I have no idea why) So they may seem a bit detached. I need to do research, and I'll try to do better. ;w;

Goodra is a pseudo-legendary. It is also a dragon pokemon. It also has this weird fluid always hanging off of it; and in my brain I rationalized that each 'pseudo-legendary' pokemon would have a tick, and I thought that fluid had to mean something; what better than some kind of corrosive acid when the pokemon is pissed off? -throws up arms-

Don't worry. We'll see them again! :D


	43. Chapter 43: The Plan pt 4

**Locked Away, Chapter 43**

"You mean to tell me they sent you here because they knew you would destroy everything?" Misty questioned while she watched Ash scamper about, checking each plate, each engraving, and search for a way to unlock them. His hands glided across every surface, against every rung as he ran back and forth down the long, open room. Aside from the darkness, the light monferno cast off illuminated the area well enough for Ash to see; while Misty's eyes slowly became accustom to the darkness.

While she muttered under her breath, Ash wouldn't answer her _again_ ; the answer was _yes._ Jessie and James were so insanely specific with orders that were completely wrong, that it _must_ have been their intention for things to go wrong from the start—and Ash, being who he is—who they _know_ him to be, knew he would be fine. It was a bit unorthodox, and he still felt like punching them in the face; but Ash would handle one situation at a time. He was meant to be here—it was the same reason he felt so strongly about going to Unova in the first place. Ash _knew_ there was something here; now he finally had the opportunity to make something of it—what information was more important than simply _releasing_ the legendary pokemon?

With the power out, _unlocking_ them technologically seemed out of the question—but more than that, the steel was something stronger than Ash ever witnessed before. When he touched it, it didn't ring like normal steel frames. Whatever was inside, it wasn't hollow.

"It sounds like a tank full of water." Misty muttered as he drew near once more. Having spent her entire life around them at the Cerulean City gym, she would be the one to know. Ash looked back at her with wide eyes.

"I thought you didn't want to help?" He pursed his lips unhappily staring at her with a mock tone, causing Misty to sigh.

"Well, I _can't_ leave without you." She approached him, placed a hand on his shoulder, while knocking against the capsule, he listened while she ran her nails across the surface and took a few knowing steps away.

"That thumping sound; it's the sound of fluid inside the tank." She elaborated, checking the sign at the bottom; then looking up. _If_ the legendary pokemon were as large as their tanks; she would feel _much_ safer miles away. Yet, excitement drilled into her chest where fear rooted itself previously. Misty had never seen a legendary pokemon before! At least, not in person; she saw a plethora of different pictures, unlike Ash, who apparently came into contact with nearly every legendary in existence.

"Fluid?" Ash questioned. "What good would that do? Drowning them?"  
"Maybe it's a holding fluid? I don't know." Misty stammered, checking each sign. They stood at the front of Moltres, where monferno sat, staring at the tank with a questioning gaze. The pokemon was adamant that the fire bird was inside; and as a fire type pokemon, it was drawn to the birds power. Hands on her hips, Misty kicked out the heel of her foot and cocked her jaw to one side.

"Well, Ash; how do you suggest opening them?" She questioned, crossing her arms with a strong exhale. Ash's mind shook; they didn't have long to begin with. The situation with the dragon pokemon wouldn't last forever, and _surely_ they would send someone after them before long. The time frame for such curiosity was dwindling, and he was pressed to use his fall back quota.

"Well. We have one of two options..." He cleared his throat. "We break _it...oooorrr_ we break it." She nodded, then exhaled.

"Yep. _Two options_." She mocked him with a coy grin and nudged his shoulder. "I'm sure these won't be easy to break into. Maybe we should find a switch or something... There might be some kind of emergency evacuation in case of a power outage...or something."

"That's a long shot., and sounds insanely convenient." Ash chuckled while scratching the back of his head. Misty shrugged her shoulders and offered a weak smile—she was only thinking; though based on Ash's observations previously, there was no such button.

"We _do_ need to hurry though." Misty pressed her fingers together, cracking them.

"Then the first plan is the best plan."

"It'll make too much noise..." the tone of her voice echoed her concerns. "and besides, what if the legendary comes out, is super pissed off and chases us like goodra did? Also, we could be wasting time on empty capsules; we have no evidence that there are real pokemon inside of these." She offered a reasonable, logical explanation while monferno glared over his shoulders and then heaved a heavy sigh while glaring up at the tank once more.

"Monferno is sure that there's a pokemon inside; so...even if its not a legendary, maybe it's still worth releasing? It does say Moltres on there, after all." Ash gestured to the plate as a reminder and then took a few breaths wile Misty rolled her eyes.

"What about the _rest_ of what I said? We don't even know how long until we're chased down and shot at again—not to mention, we still don't have a clear escape route." She grumbled and Ash gnawed on his bottom lip.

"Well, hopefully that won't be the case this time." He countered, then bravely shot her an optimistic smile. "So, are you going to help out?"

Misty looked around them, reassessing the situation they were in, glancing at the exit which was only a few feet away and sighed. "Alright, but I can't use gyarados."

"That's alright."

"Well decide on a point to hit it; probably at the base. If it's full of water, the pressure will be the strongest at the bottom—so we'll aim there." Misty pointed to the base of the metal, recounting how long it would take to break through the metal, if they even could. Water pokemon were at a clear type disadvantage-they were brute damage, not slashing damage, and steel was impervious to blasting attacks—at least, it should have been.

She clicked the buttons of three of her pokeballs and inhaled.

"Well, ladies first." Ash nudged, looking at her silently while she tossed out three of her pokemon: poliwrath, golduck, and quagsire. Ash stared on at the team of pokemon, mentally impressed, but given no time to make a statement.

"Hopefully we just need to dent it enough that the internal pressure will do the rest of the work." Misty observed, eyebrows raised; for a glimmer, a second; Misty disappeared, replaced with the gym leader that he came to adore from afar and Ash exhaled.

"Alright." Ash grimaced, tossing greninja out of his pokeball. When the ninja frog emerged, he looked up at Misty's assortment of pokemon; poliwrath stood at Misty's height easily, golduck ended at her waist, and quagsire was big, goofy, nearly as tall as Misty, but lean and wobbly.

Greninja looked away from them, at first believing he was in a battling situation until Ash pointed at the tank. "We're going to break that."

If possible, the pokemon's eyes twitched, and he released a sigh through its nose, and placed a paw on its head. He stole a glance at monferno, who jumped away from the tank, away from the water pokemon and used his tail to light up the area.

Both trainers inhaled simultaneously, and then threw their hands forward.

 **XOX**

Brock dropped the anchor, using togepi and pikachu as his guides, he followed after James, who tore through old machinery on the boat, forming what Brock would lovingly call: _explosives_.

"How did you learn to make those?" Brock wondered aloud while he and pikachu tucked the items into a bag. They were ten miles off the coast, idling in a blind spot, thankfully ignored by the massive break-down of the prison. The spotlights were still awry, red flickers of lights traced the outer rim of the facility and Brock moved with harrowing speed.

Time was short, especially if Ash and Misty were caught; they couldn't get to the island—they didn't have the water pokemon, or the swimming gear, but they could still help. Thanks to James knack for creating _something_ out of nothing, they pulled together just enough to equipment to create a single line explosive that could take out the heavy equipment on the shore.

The launching part was up to Brock, however. As he arrived back on the deck; Jessie and meowth sprung to their feet.

"How can we help?" Jessie finally managed, biting her own stubborn tongue; Brock watched her, then shooed the two of them.

"Make some room." Brock said confidently. Togepi and pikachu jumped from his shoulders, onto the railing of the boat and inhaled deep while Brock prepared for the assault.

"For...?" Jessie questioned, watching Brock pull a pokeball from his belt, and in preparation to throw it, she freaked out, and grabbed his arm with the help of meowth.

"What are you doing!? You're a rock type trainer, any pokemon you summon will weigh the boat _down_!" She yelped, though Brock gave her an insidious look and jerked his hand away from her while meowth mumbled in pokemon talk.

"I'm not _stupid, you know._ " Brock rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to _launch_ this at the island." Brock wiggled the back and grinned.

Jessie and meowth looked at one another while James poked his head out of the observation deck's door.

"Alright, whenever you're ready." James called down to the gym leader who pursed his lips and finished throwing his pokeball.

Ash and Misty weren't the _only_ trainers to have exceptional skill; and the very moment red lightning cracked from the pokeball to reveal a squealing aerodactyl, Jessie and meowth reeled backwards.

"No way, that's a fossil pokemon!"

"One of the first; as a rock type trainer who _did_ reinvent how we look at pokemon food, I was awarded by the league some years ago." Brock grinned, stroking his chin while the pokemon above circled the boat.

"Aerodactyl, come down here. I have a job for you!" Brock shouted to the pokemon who looked down with red eyes and landed very gently on the deck of the boat. Unlike other rock pokemon, the flying type was not as heavy as its type proclaimed. He held the bag out for the pokemon who scooped it into his large jaws and flapped his wings.

"I need you to drop these on those balistas protecting the shore; can you do that?" Brock questioned, though the pokemon nodded immediately. _Of course_ he could. Without a spare thought, aerodactyl kicked off from the deck, and soared quickly into the sky before setting off for the coast.

"You think they won't see him?" Jessie translated for meowth, crossing her arms while she watched the lavender pokemon zip through the sky.

"No. Aerodactyl is twice as fast as a charizard; even if _they do_ see him coming, it's not likely they will hit him." Not only that, but while Brock explained his reasoning, above them, two fire works were set off; drawing the balistas to the sudden change in the sky, and released looming harpoons that cut through the night air. James emerged from the observation deck carrying another bag and watching with wide eyes as aerodactyl reached the shore with no problems, then dropped the first bag of bombs onto an unsuspecting target; erupting it in a basket of flames.

"Perfect!" Brock exclaimed.

"Pika!" The mouse squeaked, though it wasn't from excitement; while they celebrated a _single_ victory, something much worse was happening at the facility—all the lights went out; and from the roof of the very eerie facility, fire and lightning crossed at the heavens from the crevice of the detention facility; and barreling from the rubble emerged two large, very _angry_ pokemon.

Brock's naturally narrowed eyes grew wide at the sudden changes and he cupped his hands.

"Aerodactyl, come back!" He called, though the rock type pokemon veered heavily away from the attacks, it didn't take long before the rest of the released pokemon poured from the facility in leaps. They weren't _friendly,_ they were attacking anything that moved; mostly each other.

"Was this apart of the plan, too!?" Brock screamed, looking up at James who shook his head.

"No!" His face paled and his guts hurt. "This is worse than I imagined. Maybe we should go to shore?" he suggested, but as the words left his mouth, a destructive, red hyper beam cut through the shore, and ripped through one of the active, defensive balistas. Shortly after, a large, shadowed creature perched itself on top of the broken machinery, and then began ripping out it's metal parts.

"...or not." James uttered quietly, a bit scared, Brock thought.

"What can we do? We have to do something!" Brock tried as aerodactyl managed a fleeing escape from a rather persistent dragon by diving below water, and emerging at the boat while the dragon took its pent up frustration out on the next moving creature; a smaller dragon.

"Anything..." Brock added weakly while pikachu's ears lowered, and his shoulders slumped sadly, crying out to the pokemon on the island; for Ash, and Misty, and the rest of his friends. What could they do? Going to shore while such violence reigned above was suicidal; but sitting on his hands was out of the question. He looked over at Jessie, James, and meowth whose guilt ridden faces stared back at the island.

"I don't remember this many pokemon being here, James..." Jessie finally cracked, looking down and stroking her hair with a shaking hand. James pat her shoulder comfortingly; but had no advice to give her.

Throwing two inexperienced children at this might not have been such a _grand_ plan after all.

 **XOXs**

Misty placed her hand on her knees, watching as poliwrath slammed a heavy fist into the tank after _another_ subsequent arsenal of hydro pumps. Their pokemon were weakening with each powerful attack, and there wasn't even a _dent_ in the metal.

"This isn't working." Misty proclaimed, wiping her brow and exhaling. Ash looked to her, then back at greninja.

"Maybe we should change tactics?" He thought aloud while watching poliwrath slump his shoulders. At this point, it wasn't just a repetitive use of hydropump; they tried special attacks; physical attacks, ground, electric, _fire_. Nothing could dent this thing. Whatever material it was of, it was clearly impervious to natural attacks and Misty shook her head. The air conditioning was turned off, and so far being under ground meant that the natural oxygen reserves were short, so breathing was becoming a problem. Even a few hints of smoke rolled in from the ventilation and Misty shook her head.

"Ash." She urged him. "I don't think we can do it this time." She wasn't being pessimistic, or irrational; it was the truth; they did everything but throw themselves, gyarados or snorlax at the tank and _nothing happened_!

"That can't be it!" Ash pressed, throwing his fist into the tank. A loud crack surfaced and he remained there for a second, then slowly peeled his hand away, trying to hide his pain by biting down on the inside of his cheek and turning away from Misty in a fit of depression. He looked at greninja and monferno who watched Ash respectfully and sat with their trainer. Looking at their tired, long faces; he wished pikachu was here.

Misty sighed, waving goodbye to her pokemon, thanking them; and then returning them before pressing onward to face Ash.

"C'mon, Ash." Misty nudged him. "Maybe we can come back, or get the power turned back on."

He didn't move. Instead, he squat low with his right hand tucked between his legs and his stomach and gripped his shoulder with the other. Ash couldn't give up; if they left, who _knew_ when they would be here next. Yet, he wasn't willing to risk going back up into the main floor to turn the power back on, either. He wanted to save the world as much as anyone did; if not more, but he wasn't going to get himself, or Misty shot in the process. The idea made his hairs stand on end.

"Misty I..." He grunted, trying to collect his thoughts.

Back and forth he reminded himself that he couldn't _leave_ , not yet, but an even greater part of him wanted Misty and his pokemon far, _far_ away from here while he figured a way around the invincible tank! It was almost like he needed some kind of corrosive material, a giant, angry...

Misty placed her hand on Ash's, having long discarded her ruined gloves. Once more, he saw the scorch marks decorating her sleeves, and he looked up at her with a slow drawl, then launched to his feet; forgetting the pain on his bruised knuckles while he grabbed her shoulders.

"That's it!" He exclaimed and Misty reeled backwards, narrowing her eyes.

"...What's _it_?" She questioned while Ash motioned for greninja and monferno to follow him back to the destroyed elevator shaft.

"If we can get goodra down here, we can get that tank open." Ash exclaimed, barreling at high speends.

Misty's face drew to a flat line and she ran after him. "No!" She yelled, grabbing his arm and jerking him back. He pulled away from her angrily.

Ash snapped; "Well do you have any better ideas?"

"Power. Switch; _safety_! Anything else!" She pleaded with a strained voice.

"At least if we face goodra we can battle her! I can't battle a _bullet_ Misty!" Ash yelled back at her, his voice echoing off the walls. Misty took a step back, watching intense fear wash through his eyes while he turned from her and ran back to the elevator. So Ash didn't like guns, but really, who did? While her gut feeling told her she needed to beat sense into Ash and drag him from the facility kicking and screaming, another part of her wanted to help: see this _mission_ through until the end. In the end, the urge to help overcame the mind numbing fear; and she nodded slowly.

"What do we do?" Misty asked while Ash peered back up the elevator shaft where he could still hear the distant cry of the dragon's battling above them.

"Greninja is going to lure her down here; where monferno and I will be standing at that tank. More than likely it will attack us, so I'll return greninja, and we'll run away."

"Okay, and what am I doing?"

"Standing at the exit, as far away as possible." Misty's face fell and she blinked unpleasantly at him while greninja already started up the elevator shaft.

"No way!" She gasped. "What if something goes wrong?"

Ash's face flushed. "Well...then you can use one of your pokemon to attack goodra if we're put into a sticky situation. Water seems to neutralize that acid she puts out so..."

Misty nodded, agreeing with that plan _much_ more while she listened to the clanking and clamoring of greninja breaking the door down upstairs.

Ash pushed Misty gently into position and took off down the isle of heavy capsules. "Get ready!" He shouted at her, turning to the elevator that provided temporary safety that they were _intentionally_ blowing up for the sake of releasing _one_ pokemon. He only hoped this was worth it, and _maybe_ that garchomp was with goodra still.

Glancing over at Misty who inhaled and called out kingdra—her fall back pokemon next to gyarados—Ash steeled his expression. Ash _praye_ dthat if a pokemon could break open a legendary holding fish tank; it would be goodra.

An uncomfortable silence sprayed while he listened for greninja upstairs; faint echoes bounced from the steel walls occasionally, forcing labored breaths from Ash's lungs. Should he have said something? Told Misty that it would be okay? Brought up the predicament they were in earlier before they made this life threatening decision? Instead, his tongue curled and he swore to himself that he _couldn't_ and _wouldn't_ do that. Where Misty's philosophy on confessions made little sense when she told him before; he understood now. Even the thought of not going back made his chest hurt; pikachu and togepi were depending on him—he _promised_ that he would return. Then there was Brock; and now this _thing_ with Misty. He had no time to fret over if they would make it or not. He could only focus on the current, mind-numbing task.

Greninja ripped out of the elevator shaft with its long, scarfed tongue flapping behind him, burning from the same acid that sprayed gyarados earlier.

"Kingdra, spray a mist over greninja!" Misty shouted as the sea dragon jumped upwards and glistened water over greninja, who thankfully applauded the pokemon for putting out the flame on his tongue.

From the elevator, following a loud thump and yawn from the metal breaking above, a shrill cry, and vapid aggression bellowed loudly into the room while a much too large goodra forced itself down the hatch—only upon realizing that it wouldn't fit, a large, searing red hole formed at the center of the wall, and the dragon burst from the wall enraged. It's skin was tainted with crimson from the battle above, its body was adorned with red lines; open wounds, and more power than Ash or Misty could have ever imagined.

More importantly, the yellow bile it protruded from its skin splashed from the hole in the wall.

"Kindgra use waterfall!" Misty shouted as the pokemon spun dangerously, and with one rippling wave of water, knocked the dangerous acid from the sky, and replaced it with a shower of water; only further angering the dragon that tore into the room at a blazing speed.

Not at Ash though; its new challenger was Misty, not greninja, or Ash, or monferno, and for a second his heart stopped. Goodra was supposed to attack _him_ and he was supposed to move away so its attack would hit the tank their pokemon reefed on the last few minutes, not Misty. Yet, Misty bravely held her ground, this time clenching her fists and gritting her teeth. She stared down goodra's evil eyes, and exhaled.

"Kingdra, use dragon pulse!" Misty shouted at the large sea dragon. The poemon which stood easily at a quarter of Misty's height, and only a fraction of goodra's, bounced forward, and a large, purple, fiery beam shot from its snout, landing at the center of goodra's torso. Goodra flew backwards into the wall and Misty's fuzzy mind cleared while she chanted inwardly to herself.

"It's still a pokemon, Ash." Misty cited, "It may be a dragon type, but it _can_ be defeated!" She added rushing to Ash's side to keep with the plan as much as possible. Again, admiration formed where fear had been and he silently reminded himself that against the notion of fear and running; they _were_ still trainers.

New determination filled Ash's eyes. "New plan then." Ash inhaled as goodra rose angrily from the slump it was forced into and screeched a deafening roar that left Ash's hands trembling with excitement.

"Monferno," Ash called to his pokemon while they took point at the front of kingdra. "Use flare blitz!" Ash cried throwing his hand up while the ape wheeled forward. Fire engulfed its entire body as it swung a lethal attack against the scalp of the dragon, and Ash stepped forward confidently. Misty watched him, then stared up at the tank while monferno bounced back with the grace of a ballerina.

"Kingdra, use dragon rage!" She shouted suddenly, while the pokemon's aura oozed a dark purple. From the depths of its lungs, the pokemon screamed loudly, mirroring the same cr as the dragons above and Ash almost covered his ears. Dragon rage's cry effected all dragons in the area, and so after the attack was called; Ash returned monferno back to the safety of its pokeball, followed closely by greninja while taking Misty's hand in preparation.

Like clock work, goodra rose from its daze with a snarl, its eyes flashed red once more and while Ash wanted to question the pokemon, _defend her_ ; beg it to stop; he needed _one good_ dragon's breath before that. A red beam charged at the base of goodra's mouth, and while it aimed for the two of them, Misty returned kingdra.

The blast was fired, leaving Ash only seconds to yank a stunned Misty behind the large tank. As they imagined, the pulse had the same corrosive effect as in the room above. When the attack first landed; they were both sure luring the crazed pokemon down was for naught until they looked up from their flinched positions to see a staggering seepage of yellowish fluid leaking from the bottom of the tank.

"It wasn't enough." Misty pressed, staring at the bottom of the tank while goodra let out another cry of frustration.

"Then plan B!" Ash shouted, running out in front of the angered pokemon and leaving Misty behind. "We capture goodra!" Ash shouted at the dragon, extending a confident finger while he listened above to the cry of the dragons ripping the facility apart piece by piece.

The crack in the metal tank ticked more as goodra stared down Ash. It was blind with rage, but its body was exhausted, its limbs were weak and even its breath was labored as it shrieked at Ash. With dragon's rage ending once more, its eyes returned to their comfortable lime green. And while anger still existed there, harbored deep where trust and good faith should have been, Ash thought he saw a glimmer of something _good_. Goodra's gimped tail swished against the ground, reminding itself of the pain it was caused, and it yelled again. The vibrations echoed through the ground, but unlike last time; Ash didn't lose his balance, he didn't fall to his knees. He stood rooted glaring, at _his_ pokemon.

"I'm not leaving without you and garchomp!" Ash yelled back at the pokemon which breathed smoke from its nose in direct defiance.

Misty's eyebrows knit together uncomfortably while she forced herself from her hiding corner, to Ash's side. She _knew_ there was more to his plan than breaking out the legendary pokemon; Ash wanted two birds with one stone.

Before Misty had time to speak, to interrupt the battle of glares, the crack at the surface of the metal tank increased, crawling up the tank to the very top; and she grabbed Ash's arm so they wouldn't get separated. Ash's eyes darted from the pseudo-legendary before him, and to the ruptured capsule beside him which demanded their attention.

Off-white water burst from the bottom of the container, flooding Ash and Misty to the waist with fluid, as well as goodra who jumped up in attempt to stay clear of the water. With each crack growing, the wash grew stronger, and eventually pushed them from their feet, and down the steam while the area filled with water. They rolled over one another, limbs sprayed in every directions as their bodies mangled to the exit door. Ash was up first, his head bumped several times against the metal surfaces of the facility, and he struggling to his feet, soaked in some kind of chemical.

Misty was on her feet a second later, using the wall for support while she coughed up the liquid.

In the clearing created by the broken tank, what _looked_ like the skeleton of a massive bird, three times the size of goodra spanned the distance of the floor. Limp and unconscious. Even goodra, the panicked dragon froze at the realization of what it was looking down upon. Slowly its eyes turned a painful color of green as it let out a frustrated cry, and retreated with one strong jump, back the way it came.

"Wait, goodra!" Ash called after it, listening to the whine of the pokemon as it fled.

"Ash." Misty called to him, directing his attention back to the decaying bird. Its red eyes moved back and forth, while the rest of its damp body remained stoic and limp. Huge, terrifying and _dying_. It was defeated before it was imprisoned; or perhaps, it was dying _because_ it was imprisoned. Ash shook his hands down, calling after goodra once more; and the red eyes of Moltres finally penetrated the surface of the stilling water to glare daggers at Ash.

"Shh!" Misty clasped her hand over his mouth, earning a look of deep frustration while he glared at lifeless bird.

It wasn't anger, _or rage_ reflected in its dying red eyes; but something else. Pride? _Shame_? When it looked to Ash and Misty, he looked less like a legendary, and more like a giant, weeping carcass.

"...that isn't...This can't be right." A shocked Ash mouthed. He was under the belief that the legendary pokemon were invincible, how could this happen?

Slowly, with one bent wing and a small, attacked reptilian claw at the base, Moltress lifted its body one inch at a time until it sat upright. It's claws tapped against the water while the span of his wings stretched all the way to Ash and Misty, who both shrunk backwards while the bird groomed itself. With a sharp, black beak, it pecked at its wings, then its torso, and finally as its red eyes fell back on _the Team Rocket_ members who captured it.

A moment passed as it gazed upon the weary infiltrators, then a second moment, and as the cogs turned in its brain; fire returned to the majestic bird's eyes.

Dragon's were loud. Combined, their roars were deafening; however, Moltress's cry was somewhere in between deafening, and demanding respect. As the battle cry faded, Ash and Misty couldn't look away from the bird as its burnt body ignited under heavy, molten hot flames, and an unearthed yellow glow formed around the rest of its body.

"I don't think its dead." Ash squeaked, drawing the pokemon's attention to him once more.

At first, it didn't react, Instead, Moltress twitched its bird head side to side, adjusting to the weight of the air once more before it finally drew back a sudden breath, and with one cry; a dazzling, bright flamethrower danced from its mouth, hitting the observation deck window, the tops of the remaining eleven capsules. Dread filled Ash and Misty's chests as they gazed on at the fire that melted the very metal they couldn't put a dent in. A metal that a pseudo-legendary, dragon pokemon could only manage a crack; crumbled under the heat of the massive bird. Having displayed its absolute power, it inched mockingly at Ash and Misty stooping low to twitch its pristine head to one side while glaring down at Ash and Misty.

"Err..." Ash started, swallowing down the all encapsulating fear. "Hi, Moltress..?" He offered though an evil looked turned through the creatures eye, and Misty shoved him.

"Run!" Misty yelped pushing Ash through the exit doors while Moltress' beak opened up, and fire reigned. They turned a corner as the blaze tunneled down the hallway, scorching the clean metals.

"Still think it was a good idea?!" Misty chanted, turning sharp corner into another room.

To catch a break would have been too much to ask, because as they turned, Ash grabbed her waist into a screeching halt as the metal door swung closed behind them. Below ground, hiding from the same dragons they were originally, was a platoon of soldiers, guards, _anyone_ available who were willing to prepare a counter strike when Ash and Misty burst through a set of metal doors at the tip of a bridge connecting the underground with the _laboratory. T_ hey were in a sewer system much like the one below Saffron City, only the area was wider, and _open_ with them standing over rushing sludge of water.

Surprised, even Team Rocket hesitated while they looked at the beaten and bruised trainers.

"That's them! The intruders!" Someone finally shouted and Misty's heart stopped in her lungs. Behind them, they had an angry, legendary pokemon on the loose; more than likely releasing the rest of even more pissed of legendary pokemon, and now they faced immediate death.

It was quite a drop from the bridge they were standing on to the stream of water below—but the alternatives were... She could hear Moltress cry behind them, earning a shudder around the room while their active leader raised his arm. Ash's body froze at the sight of the many weapons pointed at him, and so when Misty grabbed him and jumped over the ledge of the bridge with one heavy thrust; he screamed much louder than he should have.

 **XOX**

She was bleeding, grazed by a stray bullet; she had no idea how bad the injury was, but it stund below the surface of the water. If she thought they it was possible to smell worse than they had a few days ago, she was mistaken, and so very _wrong_. Ash kept his head above water against the rush of the stench and clung to Misty for dear life. His right shoulder ached where he landed against the concrete at the bottom of the stream. Where they fell into the system wasn't nearly as deep or rapid as where they washed out, and he struggled for footing, and refused to open his mouth. The water was a sludgy mixture of browns and he fought the urge to vomit while Misty prayed that it was dirt from the structure of a new facility; not _remains_.

Misty was the one who grabbed a hold of one of the ladders, primarily because she was the stronger swimmer. Her hand clasped the bottom rung, but struggled to remain there while holding Ash. He wrapped around, using her body as leverage to fling himself against the wall to make it easier to hold onto the ladder. Then, with what little strength they had left, they struggled through the rapid water, and climbed to the top of the concrete.

When they were upstairs, their minds were enveloped by the constant buzzing of warefare, the reminder they were on enemy territory, but _now_ it was quiet, too, quiet.

They didn't speak to each other for the first few moments. Once they were out of the water, Ash could clearly feel that his shoulder was out of place from their obscure landing, but they were alive; hopefully not being chased, and _on their way out_. Safety, _at last_. Then, the harboring guilt.

"Gible-" Ash gasped. "And goodra, they're still in there."  
Misty couldn't express how insane Ash was being; how she wanted to both slap him silly and applaud him for his astounding devotion when she turned to him and ripped off her tattered long sleeved shirt, leaving only her crop-top. The less she had to smell from the sewer, the better.

"And they will find you. They saw you; they _know_ you're here." Misty assured him, grabbing his shoulder and fighting the puke at the back of her throat. "But we need to leave now. No more plans, no more missions." She shook her head, silencing his immediate questions with a glare.

"No more, Ash." She added, swallowing down her bile and climbing to her feet. Ash followed her slowly, limping slightly while he walked beside her, and wrapped an arm up and around her shoulder and back.

It was a long night, and neither could stand on their own two feet anymore as they traveled down the winding sewer system. After the excitement that was had between them, they thought for sure they would be chased, or attacked—but perhaps Moltress put an end to that platoon beneath the facility. The legendary bird of fire was _terrifying_ , flames that could melt through nearly indestructible steel, she couldn't imagine what the _rest_ of them were like, or which ones were released. What they would do during their escape. Chills ran down her spine for more reasons than one, so when she put her head against Ash's and exhaled as the darkness of the island and fresh air breathed life into the tunnel; Ash wasn't surprised.

"We made it." He muttered quietly, pulling her along with a bit more invigoration.

They arrived at the end of the sewer pipe, where the drain released the less toxic water back into the ocean, and Ash and Misty shambled to the forest floor, collapsing in exhaustion. They had no idea how far away they were now; where they were, and for a few painful moments; neither one of them cared.

" _We made it_." Misty echoed, breathing while she sat up on her knees to look up at the dark sky. Her fears amplified when she saw the sight above her—pokemon of all sizes circled the island and she put her head back down and groaned.

"Wow..." Ash mused. "I guess...that means we win?" Ash questioned aloud and Misty stared at him with puffy eyes and shook her head before climbing back to her feet.

"Let's get back to our boat, then we'll decide if we won or not." Misty urged, helping Ash to his feet with his good arm. Her thigh still leaked small red lines, but she ignored it until they reached the edge of the coast, where a strangled noise escaped Misty's lips.

The balistas they watched in fear only a few hours ago were all destroyed, smaller dragon pokemon gnawed on the wooden legs, ripped apart the metal rafters and ran up and down the shore. Misty shook her head, she was too tired to deal with this, her feet barely moved on their own anymore, so Ash pulled her.

"If those balistas are gone; we don't need that stuff for diving, we can swim back to the boat...c'mon, Misty." His words fit the night sky while they slipped onto the shore, the cold wind fleshing goosebumps against their skin the very moment their tired feet touched the waves.

Misty muttered under her breath while she summoned kingdra and starmie; the two looked at the reeking, destroyed trainers before them and kept their comments to themselves before turning away and sinking into the water. Ash and Misty both collapsed onto their selected pokemon, Misty with kingdra, Ash with starmie, and exhaled.

Over their shoulders, they could see the burning fire mixed with crazed roars and lightning. The facility was done for—while Team Rocket _might_ have eventually regained control over the dragon pokemon...recapturing the legendaries would be a harrowing task: _impossible._ As their eyes turned back to the ocean and the pokemon turned to find the boat located east of the shore where they were previously; Ash watched her while she dipped under water several times to wash the filth of whatever was in the sewer system from her body; traces of her red hair flaking out of the black hair dye, and Ash did the same before resting his head against starmie, and ignoring the pain in his arm.

He tried to speak on occasion, but no words formed. An apology for almost getting her killed several times felt _right_ , but his brain couldn't find the words to express his gratitude for her coming with him in the first place. Surely, he could have managed on his own, but Misty was a wonderful crutch; she and her pokemon were amazing assets to any team, and he smiled.

"I think if the whole league wasn't corrupted, you could have been named an Elite Four member years ago." Ash murmured against the ocean tide, facing her in the darkness. She couldn't return the glance since kingdra moved through the water a bit faster than starmie, but he could see the fragment of a smile at the corners of her lips.

"Thanks, Ash." She mused pleasantly, glancing over her shoulder to see him. "Also." Misty started, offering him a sweet, motherly smile.

"Happy birthday."

 **XOX**

Landing wasn't as enjoyable as the ride through the ocean, they struggled during a small fit of waves, but her pokemon carried them the rest of the way. The boat was in a different position, closer than when they left; but when Ash and Misty pulled themselves onto the emergency ladder undetected, they thought nothing but the worst.

"What if something happened?" Misty breathed, returning kingdra and starmie once she was sure that Ash had a grasp on the ladder below her. "With all those pokemon around—and Team Rocket..." said Misty quietly while her weak arms struggled up the ladder. Every muscle ached, every nerve burned, but still she pressed on.

Only now that they were out of the water, he could see the occasional line of blood ooze from her torn, upper thigh; where she was grazed during their escape, and he _would_ have said something, but he could only imagine her reaction at _this_ angle. He looked away from her and kept his eyes glued to the ladder, and his focus on the lack of feeling he had in his right arm while they emerged at the top deck. Misty ducked under the bar before helping Ash up, brushing her fingers against his right shoulder that erupted in a fit of shudders.

"Sorry..." She grimaced, patting his opposite shoulder while he laughed nervously.

"It's okay." He said quietly, looking around the darkened upper deck. It was well past midnight, and their friends were no where to be seen. The boat was near the shore line, the fewer dragons circled the perimeter of the facility, and both Misty and Ash knew it was only a matter of time before the situation escalated into something _much_ worse. If the dragons didn't notice them right away, they _would_.

"That's it, we're going in after them!" Brock's voice carried over the night sky while he emerged from the upper deck, pulling on a backpack while pikachu and togepi followed loyally after him. Jessie, James, and meowth followed with determination in their eyes while Brock rattled off a plan. "I can fight my way through _at least_ a few members; rock pokemon are immune to bullets; and I'm sure if I can find them I can-"

He passed them not once, but twice before realization sunk in and their beaten and battered bodies registered.

"You're okay!" He whined launching himself forward alongside pikachu and togepi and hugging the two of them tightly.

"I thought you two were goners." Brock mused with stray tears pooling in his eye. Misty accepted the warm embrace between the five of them with open, welcoming arms. Her head hurt, her legs hurt; _everything_ hurt, but with Ash, Brock, togepi and pikachu at her side, the pain faded and she, _herself_ fought the tears that formed at the corners of her eyes while they squeezed into a group hug. Being that Ash's arm was being crushed, and dislocated, he was _less_ happy to be hugged; but the feeling was mutual.

"Don't scare me like that again! Would it kill you two to leave a place _without_ it blowing up!?" Brock questioned ripping away from the both of them to get a good look. Even though salt water traded the smell of sewer; the fragrance was still there while he ran his hand against both of their cheeks and Misty sniveled along side Ash.

"It was Ash's fault." Misty sniffed while togepi pressed tightly into her arms.

Ash didn't rectify such an accusation with an answer, instead, he looked at pikachu who hadn't left Brock's shoulder; whose dark eyes were fitted and scorched with betrayal, and Ash poked his arms out.

"...Buddy?" Ash questioned aloud, and then pikachu's quivering snout over took his scolding expression; and he leaped from Brock's shoulders directly into Ash's arms and collapsed in a mountain of worried tears.

The strength to stand left Ash, and he collapsed onto his knees at the deck of the boat and squeezed pikachu tightly.

"I'm okay." He promised the small mouse, stroking his fur from head to tail to calm its shaking body. " _I'm okay_." Ash assured him once more, though the ripples of distress only ceased a tiny bit. Togepi looked down to Ash from Misty's arms, but the Elite Four member stumbled backwards, and glared at the former Team Rocket trio with dangerous eyes. While Ash was forgiving by nature; Brock was accepting, Misty was determining _how_ she would tear them from this world.

"Explain yourselves." She demanded, slipping togepi back on the ground and finding her balance with a new force of rage that pumped fresh adrenaline through her veins. " _Now!"_ She shouted, causing them to jump.

"Toge." The egg whined to Ash who stood up, collecting the egg into his arms beside pikachu as the five of them turned on Jessie, James, and meowth. Ash was accepting, _not stupid_. He wanted answers as much as Misty did.

In unison, their mouths opened, then closed and they gawked at one another.

"It's...we're sorry..."

"Sorry?! You're _sorry!?_ " Misty shrieked, eyes wild while she approached them with the full intention to attack them; had Ash not grabbed her, she might have thrown her fists out. Though, Ash winced, holding her with his right arm was no good because he had no grip and she flew forward regardless. Misty shoved both members hard, forcing them backwards, and Brock did nothing to prevent it. To make matters worse, she drew a pokeball from her belt and screamed at them. Sudden rage replaced what was exhaustion and she seethed.

"You threw us into a _trap_! There was _nothing there_ to find but carnage! Do you _know_ what was waiting there for us!? Did you!?" She inhaled. "Did you _know_ what we were walking into!?" Her voice carried past them, to Unova in the distance, where the moment Ash and Misty were waiting for emerged; and blazing, white fire poured from the ruins of the prison as large, monstrous birds that made the dragonite look like an ant. Brock stumbled backwards, nearly tripping, but the trio, though they looked guilty, didn't appear surprised.

"We did lie to you. We didn't think...we thought it was the right thing to do." James tried, the clear moral compass of their group, but Misty wasn't hearing him. She raised her hand, enlarging the pokeball there.

"So you thought telling us some _bullshit_ plan was a _better_ idea? We almost died! We were _shot_ at; attacked by hundreds of dragons and don't get me started on what we _found_ in there!"

"We know what you found." Jessie quipped. "The legendaries." She looked over her shoulder temporarily, but Misty's rage brought her bright back.

"Good job!" She shouted in a condescending voice. "Is there anything else you'd like to add; like why _you_ couldn't go yourselves?!" She screamed threw her arms up and Ash finally stood up and shouted.

"Enough!" Ash yelled. "No more yelling!" He shouted, contrary to his demands. Ash looked at Brock, who looked away with his arms crossed—for once, he wasn't against Misty's anger. She had every right to be upset with Team Rocket. Even if they were quick to help, Ash and Misty wouldn't have been needed if they were honest from the start. They could have planned everything from the start, created a cohesive, reasonable plan.

Misty turned at Ash slowly, the fire behind her eyes cracking pridefully, though he didn't back down from her anger, instead, he turned at Jessie, James, and meowth; and looked each one of them in the eye before he spoke.

"Why?"

"Because we knew you could." James started, swallowed down his guilt and fear. It wasn't fear of the elite four member, they were more than capable of dealing with the three of them—they knew that; it was fear of rejection; of this all meaning _nothing_. "If Jessie and I entered that facility, Giovanni would never come out of his prison cell. If he thinks _you_ of all people got around his security, he will without a doubt come out of hiding to face the damages and _act_. He would have known Jessie and I were after a reaction if we went... he would have..."

"That doesn't explain why you _lied_." Misty choked on her words.

Put on the spot, they couldn't answer, so meowth did; and as per usual, James translated. "According to what w—meowth recalled from his time in Ash's dreams; he always rose to a challenge without a well hatched plan...we thought if we told you what you'd really find, you would over compensate." James flinched, but no one could object to such a correlation;

"B-besides, we didn't think it was going to be that bad. The last time Jessie and I were there, Unova was a prison for legendary and human prisoners...the dragons; they were new." James voice cracked, displaying virtue and honesty.

"Human prisoners?" Misty echoed, remembering that list they found in the overseers office. "Where would they keep them?"

The trio shrugged. "If they weren't on the main floor, we don't know anymore." They glazed over the subject. "We're sorry for lying to you, but we need to move forward with the next step."

"The next step?" Misty echoed. "We didn't learn anything!"

"We didn't have to." Jessie spoke quickly. "We tracked down which pokemon Giovanni already took, all we needed was to be sure he couldn't find anymore. While he is busy cleaning up _this mess_ that gives us the chance to work under the radar—to the find the last of the legendary pokemon he _hasn't_ captured."

Brock, Misty and Ash's head spun. But Brock didn't appear fazed by the news; while Misty and Ash were playing destruction on the island, he was filled in on Jessie and James plans.

"In due time we'll be able to find Giovanni and take him down." James assured the former redhead, hoping his response was strong enough, but it only provided whiplash.

"How do you _know that_?" Brock asked, eyes wide an alert. The trio shared a look, then glanced down at meowth.

"...We know." Jessie said weakly. "Once he thinks he's being challenged, his pride won't let him sit idly. He'll slip up, and when he does; we'll be ready."

Misty didn't want to trust them; at all, they sent her and Ash into a death trap, but if anyone knew what Giovanni would react to, it _was_ them; they worked along side the crazed man for years, and aside from a few bruises, scratches, and accidents; they were still alive. Breathing. Mobile.

Misty looked to her companions, the fire dying in her eyes while Brock smiled weakly at her, and draped a comforting arm around her shoulder and hugged her sideways.

"We will fill you in with the rest of the information tomorrow... for now, you two should get some rest." James urged, gesturing for them to move inside of the cabin.

Misty limped for a second, breaking away from Brock and maneuvering past the trip and Ash to be the first to enter the dining area where they gathered only a few days prior for the largest revelations of their life.

"He'll patch you up in the first aid room." Jessie added while the group stepped into the area. Meowth and Jessie nodded to their companion before scampering off to start the ship and get out of there before they were noticed by enraged legendary pokemon. While they walked Misty sighed.

"Why dragon pokemon?" Misty asked in place of Ash, who was still trying to wrap his head around the information he was given. While they veered into the clean room where Ash slumped into a chair and Misty collapsed onto the medical bed, James breathed.

"Well... you've probably seen it. Their rage is unfathomable. It was the reason Giovanni targeted Unova to begin with. They aren't _unbeatable_ , but typically people are so scared of their initial arrival, they aren't given the time to respond properly in battle. Only the best trainers can control dragon pokemon." With a sigh James paused and removed a first aid kit from the counter and Brock removed some packing to help Misty while James approached Ash. She didn't look at him, which shouldn't have bothered him as much as it did, but now that they were in safety, he expected _something_. Ash bit down hard while James' heavy hand fell on his tender shoulder.

"If we knew they combined the prison sector with dragon pokemon...we might have... well, you know."

"It's fine." Ash growled finally, staring mockingly at James.

"It's good to know that in _every_ world you're absolutely horrible at creating decent plans." Ash mocked laughingly, while James gripped Ash's shoulder, then with one twist and a pop, jerked the ligament back into place, and Ash screamed murder under the dark sky.

 **XOX**

Bandaged and tired, when they split off to venture to their own rooms, Misty tossed a passive good night to Ash and Brock and sulked down the hallway to her room, leaving Ash watching her with a dopey, confused expression. When he turned from her with a sigh, both Brock and James shared a knowing glance, but didn't say anything.

"So, did you find goodra?" James questioned and Ash peered up at James.

"How did you know about goodra?" Ash questioned, and James blinked

"Oh, well, you know, it _was_ a dragon pokemon; wasn't it?" He asked clearing his throat and Ash pursed his lips, and titled his head.

"Yeah, did meowth tell you about her, though?" Ash mumbled quietly recalling the violent tendencies. "They had gible...well, garchomp, too."

"Oh." James mumbled, clearing his throat awkwardly once more. His eyes shifted, feeling a bit nervous under the collar. "Did you release them?"

Ash fumbled,"Yes."

"Then they should find their way back here, right?" Brock quizzed, a hopeful tone in his voice, but Ash didn't seem as confident while he recalled the battle between his two pokemon, and then goodra fleeing from Moltress. However, Brock and James didn't understand the events, and Ash didn't feel like explaining them; not yet. He mostly fell like falling asleep.

"...Maybe." Ash grimaced, hit by a wave of exhaustion. Togepi and pikachu still clung to him, refusing to leave his side. Pikachu tossed a pathetic sound at the mention of seeing goodra again, and only slumped against Ash's arms.

"I think I'm just going to go to bed for now. We'll talk more in the morning." Ash flashed Brock a half smile before fleeing down the hallway. Brock watched quietly for a short time, then passed a conversational look at James, who exhaled.

When Ash found his room, he collapsed against his bed. He laid there for a time, stiff as a board while he recalled what happened. What they witnessed in Unova; the unexplained paperwork—a prison complex.

Did that mean that Iris and Cilan were there? Ash's face scrunched up while he curled. At the urgency of pikachu and togepi, he sprung to life, and moved to gather his old clothes for a quick shower; thoughts fell on Misty absentmindedly, and he groaned. The place was destroyed, and he already wanted to go back. He still had so many unanswered questions; more _now_ that he knew what the place really was.

Jessie, James and meowth had a reason; of _course_ they did. James was more than helpful upon returning... but he was still unsettled. If they _knew_ Ash, they should have known he would go regardless—so while he pulled rubble from his scalp. There was another reason Jessie and James more than likely didn't harbor the truth: if Team Rocket indicated that there was a _chance_ Ash's friends and pokemone were in the facility prior to leaving, Ash would have stopped at nothing to find them. Lying was the right call, and _somehow_ they knew that.

Ash's eyes narrowed; and for the first time since arriving, he fell under the impression that they weren't telling him everything.

 **Author's Note** :

I don't know if I've mentioned this before: But I'm not just 'pulling random pokemon that I like' to use; I'm using pokemon that the characters have had in games as sub categories that make sense.

I am not one hundred percent pleased with this chapter, but that's what eventual editing is for, right? I wanted to post this before the start of another super long week. Don't you love how bad Team Rocket is at making plans? Yes, it was intentional. (was that to far? I thought about it for a long time, and in the end, I wanted their actions to be reflective of their personalities in the series; bad at being bad.) In my brain, it made sense to me that Ash wouldn't like guns (they were dominantly missing in his dreams) and Misty wouldn't like big, scary dragons. I hope I played that into the story well. The whole team work thing. -shot-

Again, as always, thank you for the reviews; they mean a lot. I am so amazed and honored that this has over 500 reviews, 300 follows, and 250 favorites and just wanted to say thank you all, so much. C:


	44. Chapter 44: Safety

**Locked Away, Chapter 44**

While the rest of the team _slept_ , Jessie and James manned the waters, made sure they got away from Unova safely, undetected. For a good period of time, they watched in silence while Brock drank, and thought, and shuddered under the pressure of the world on the edge of the boat. He seemed so peaceful, yet disturbed by what he saw, and Jessie had to remind herself once more that this plan working was a surprise to all of them.

It worked! Their plan to have Ash ultimately _destroy_ the complex _worked_ , and they were stuck somewhere between awe and frustration. James watched the wheel, while Jessie flipped through some old files they gathered while they adventured prior; broke into old bases, and collected information. Including the information from route twenty five.

"We should find the last of the legendary pokemon closest to Kanto, first." Jessie observed, circling a few places on the map; a paper trail for the _children_ to see. "By that time, Giovanni should make a move. We'll be ready for it, then."

James pursed his lips, turning away from the sea to look at the maroon haired woman. Late a night, when her make-up was rubbed off, her eyeliner and mascara smeared with lips dry; she looked her age. Crows feet grew under her eyes, and where she used to have _laugh_ lines, now she had dominant frown, formed from years of tedious, malicious tasks. Her long hair was tied up in a bun at the top of her head, and her foot tapped repeatedly on the floor. More than the wrinkles, and the aged lines on her face; were the _scars_.

Pokemon weren't always friendly; _meowth_ wasn't always friendly, and sometimes, those _playful_ accidents turned into permanent decorations on their flesh; where James was fortunate enough to have his _reminders_ beneath his clothes; the vertical lines running down Jessie's cheek, and down the left of her lips was an unmistakable trademark now. Where it was mostly invisible when she wore make-up. _Now_ , at the end of the day, under the moonless sky, James was once again reminded of their _mistakes_. He was no _perfect villain_ himself, either. His most notable accidents were the scars along his arms, and the traces of busted knuckles, and broken knee caps. His lip was scarred from the several times his face was met with a lovely boot to the face, but unlike Jessie; James never stopped smiling.

And so he smiled at her. "Do you really think finding the legendaries are the only winning factors in this?" He asked, pulling a seat out beside her, and sitting.

Jessie exhaled. "No, there are _other_ things. But we already know the twerp can talk with them—we know that they _like_ him on most occasions. If the twerp can control them; then we've already won this battle."

James' smile faded slowly while he looked to the chart that they created. "What do you think _he's_ planning, Jessie?"

"I don't know."

"...They're going to ask..." James mumbled, to which Jessie snapped and slammed her hand on the table. James eeped while Jessie straightened her shirt and leaned forward.

"We don't need to know exactly what he's planning; just that he's planning to lure out the god pokemon. To avoid that, we just need to make sure the other legendary pokemon are out, and _far_ away from him and his facilities."

"Yes...but Jessie.."

She glowered at him, eyes hostile while he sat in silence, and lowered his head to sigh. They were thoughtless, pulling at strings. Giovanni never left a paper trail; getting information from the facility wasn't possible _only_ because Giovanni made it that way. Only he, and a select few initiates were updated on the _larger_ plan, and what Jessie and James knew was fives years old now. They saw what he did to each region; the different chaos that pertained to each individual land, and while they spent the last few years trying to _undo_ what they did, their efforts seemed for not. _Until now_.

"With that pokemon, we don't know what he's capable of, you saw what it did to Bill's lab. Who is to say that even this attack on Unova wasn't planned?" James murmured, looking down while Jessie glared at the map she was drawing on. Finally, traces of slow, doubtful fear flickered in her eyes, and she clasped James hand, and pat it twice before returning to her organization.

"We can't think like that." Jessie quipped, writing down another location of a legendary while James sat backwards and pinched the bridge of his nose.

They threw children into the lions den. Unaware, unprepared, _children_ into an area that would have killed them given the chance. James wasn't _okay_ with the plan from the beginning, but meowth and Jessie were determined; _knew_ it would work. With legendary pokemon roaming again, balance would _have_ to return, and with them leaving; Giovanni would be forced to find one of them; a trainer who could understand pokemon to bring them back: that person would be Ash.

"...remember what it used to be like? When we were kids in the pokemon academy?" James asked, twisting his fingers together. Still writing, Jessie nodded a brief "mmhmm' then silence fell between them.

"It's strange, working _with_ the kid instead of chasing him, isn't it?" James tried next, though Jessie only blew a strand of hair from her face. He was drawing at straws.

"Do you think the world can really be like what we saw?"

"I don't know!" Finally Jessie snapped, staring up at him while he looked back at her sadly. " _we_ don't even know what we saw in that hospital room."

James blinked once or twice and rubbed his face with the palms of his hand. "I know..."

The event in question, the day they attempted to assassinate Ash Ketchum, changed everything for the trio. They always _knew_ what was happening thanks to meowth, but when they _saw_ it... James swallowed hard, shaking. "Should we have told them? Told him _what we saw_?" James questioned aloud with a scowl over his face. Jessie shook her head.

"He would only focus on that; the same way that if we told him his friends were likely imprisoned in Unova. We have to do these things to complete the greater plan. Besides, the fact that he got away without the legendaries killing him means that the plan worked." Once again, she took his hand, softer this time, and they shared a enamored glance. "Sometimes, I wonder how you were ever evil." She squeezed his hand, scoffing.

"I don't think we ever were, Jess."

And they weren't, _not really._ They did bad things, for the wrong people; but _evil_ , hardhearted villains was never the correct term for them, even before they turned 'good'. They were caught up in their job, having finally been _good_ at something after years of struggling through complete failures. To be appreciated by _anyone_ was worth all the wrong doings at the start. Perhaps it was because they didn't understand in the beginning; Giovanni didn't always seem so _evil_ , but Jessie, James, and even meowth, took a great deal of pride in their work.

They were the first criminals to successfully rob the league bank, infiltrate and steal schematics for several new pokeballs and systems from Silph Co, and capture even some of the most _terrifying_ pokemon in the world.

More importantly, they created the weapons that captured the legendary pokemon. Told Giovanni of these _great, powerful creatures of myth_ that later came to know Jessie and James as their captors; their enemies. A part of their nightmares. But how could they have known what this would turn into? Giovanni gave them the attention they so very much craved in the beginning, and they were enamored and adored by their colleagues; blinded by love. _They did this_.

 **XOX**

After the first few hours on the boat again, Ash realized sleep was going to be an issue. His body was tense and uncomfortable, every muscle ached. The first hour was spent reconciling with pikachu and togepi, but the second hour was spent with constant, reoccurring memories of the time spent on Unova. When he closed his eyes, he saw a deranged goodra glaring back at him, garchomp jumping into his defense, Moltress' bright, endless flame; and finally, an rifles pointed at his head. Ash was never one to believe legendary pokemon were _invincible,_ but that flamed burned through the worst kind of metal. Toppled with the intense round of adrenaline that was still leaving his body, Ash was up and down.

Hearing that Jessie and James lied to him made his skin crawl, but at the same time, he _understood_. Their plan was to release the legendary pokemone that were captured, and fish out Giovanni. If Ash _truly_ was his target, the man would take action, and Jessie and James were sure they knew where he would go. Ash didn't like it, _didn't agree with it_ but he knew why Jessie and James would lie about such things. They were as scared as all of them. A year ago, the notion of being lied to made him upset; aggressive and unreasonable, but _now_... it seemed like a necessary evil, occasionally.

They were g _uilty_ if nothing else. Their remorse for allowing Giovanni to obtain so much power made them feel far worse than Ash could have ever imagined. The trio didn't mean to put Ash and Misty into so much danger—it just sort of ended up that way. Now that Giovanni would be actively trying to bring Ash into his clutches, they could rise to the next step; the complete obliteration of Team Rocket, and it all started by using what _they_ know, and Giovanni doesn't: the location of the rest of legendaries.

Ash turned over once more, agitating a snoring pikachu at the foot of his bed, and placing togepi against the wall and pillow. He ignored the blinking clock from across the room and groaned in the darkness. It was too late to be thinking, and given the circumstances, Ash _should_ have been exhausted; he just survived the destruction of one of the largest team rocket prison and holding facilities in the world—and yet his body wouldn't relax. Every nerve felt like it was on fire, and so when he finally kicked his feet up to face the cold, metal floor, he let out a very loud sigh and stroked his hair. He _felt_ his age now. _Old_. At least, that's what it seemed like. His brain was no longer invested in the memories of childhood amnesia; but _what next_. What was the meaning of those papers that he and Misty found? In the midst of returning, he neglected to ask. Did that mean Iris and Cilan were alive? What about the rest of the people on the list: where were they being kept? _Why_ were they being kept?

On top of everything else, what was _he_ supposed to do now? Even if they figured out Giovanni's location, found the legendaries and faced the evil man; what were they supposed to do? _Kill him_?

Red flashed into Ash's mind, twirling the cascade necklace he wore thoughtlessly between his fingers. Recalling the crunch, and crack, and _screams_ at the back of his mind, behind the roar of a blaring alarm sent chills down his spine. Those team rocket members... and goodra and garchomp. stomach upset, Ash jolted from bed, threw off his covered and rushed forward to snap his room light on, removing the images in the dark. Pikachu groaned, but made no indication of being bothered while it rolled back over, burying its snout beneath the end of the blankets. Talk was no good, pikachu tried to assure him they could find goodra and garchomp after they've figured out where they are going next. Pikachu assured him that they would find him... but to make himself feel worse, he almost didn't _want_ them to. There were few times in Ash's life where he recalled being _scared_ , and he never thought that would be a fear associated with his _own_ pokemon. Goodra attacked him, attacked Misty; and gave no signal it would let up until a pokemon much larger appeared.

Ash rubbed his head bitterly while resting his forehead against the cold, metal door to his enclosed room. A part of him thought to go sit on the deck, watch the facility burn to the ground, talk to Brock, or Team Rocket—or anyone to explain what he saw. He felt wrong all over. Yes, Ash _understood_ why he had to go—why _he_ had to see it, why _he_ had to break it: that didn't mean he wanted to. Ash was growing used to the mundane destruction that seemingly followed him; but no one ever _died_ before. Maybe he didn't know those people, but they were...

Then, a subtle knock rang against the metal door, shattering his thoughts while he watched the clock: it read 2:34, and Ash wondered who else would be up _now_.

Groaning and pinching the bridge of his nose, Ash nearly snarled. "What?"

A pause, then with an awkward stammer Misty's voice rang through the room, drawing an immediate silence.

"...It's me." She hesitated, though at the sound of her voice, he jumped backwards, face red and body numb. He _kissed_ Misty! Where a momentary calm formed at her appearance, a fleeting panic of embarrassment settled a second later. How could he think about that in a time like this? What was _wrong_ with him?

Scrambling, Ash pawed at the handle of the door, and tugged it open abruptly. Misty didn't jump, but her eyes grew wide, and her lips pursed in minor curiosity at his awareness. They didn't have _personal_ pajamas. Just what was offered as compliments of the ship; so they wore matching, blue grandma pajamas. They would have almost looked like twins if Misty wasn't pale, green eyed and...tinted red hair.

"Couldn't sleep either?" She questioned normally, though his eyes were drawn to her head—where off-colored orange spikes darted in all directions with hints of grays and streaks of silver.

"...No." Ash muttered in disbelief, shaking his head gently. "...your hair?"

Again, she scowled unimpressed with his reaction and touched the shortened strands with the tips of her fingers. What was with him and her _hair_? It wasn't like she made a point of mentioning when his hair was _too long_.

"I found hair-dye remover in the spa room..." She murmured, shifting her gaze from his own with folded arms. She wasn't quite as intimidating in her blue pajamas. "...It didn't all come out, but I didn't do the best job of dying it, anyways; it's better than it was." Misty offered dryly.

Ash's eyebrows rose quizzically. "...Whats wrong with black hair?"

"Oh." Misty looked up at him, jaw cocked to one side. "Nothing. It's just... not for me." she swiped her hair again, almost nervously.

Ash didn't speak again, instead, he gave her a dejected look; eyebrows knit together concerned while she chewed the inside of her cheek and shifted her weight between feet. Ash's hand clutched the edge of the door; confused by her sudden timidness.

Finally, she exhaled; something close to a growl. "Can I come in or not? I'm not going to stand in the hallway like a goof all night." Misty groaned while slapping her forehead gently.

Stupefied, Ash jerked the door aside. "Oh." He managed, stepping aside for her to brush past him into his space and immediately take the seat beside an unused desk. Her feet curled beneath the seat and she slouched backwards while he and his dumbfounded expression shifted the door closed, and he turned to face her. _Permission_ was uncommon; usually she would walk in whenever she wanted to. Now it was weird.

And it was weird that it was _weird_! This shouldn't have been weird! They shouldn't have even thought about this after everything that happened on Unova. With a guilt ridden heart, Ash's face scrunched up. Misty looked tired, _beat_. Her hair was tied back for the most part, out of her face, aside from what was left of her bangs and the strands that hung down around her face; but her gaze was fixated on pikachu and togepi, who rested peacefully while she looked miserable. Her lips were pressed into an indiscreet frown, her nails clawed into the chair's arm rests, and she swiveled only a little.

"...Are you okay?" the words slipped from is mouth without warning while he stared at her. Rather than pepping up like she normally would, she remained the same, inverted stoic being she was.

"Not really." She sighed, pressing her fingers between her eyebrows. "Sorry for losing my cool earlier on Jessie and James... I just..." She sighed and rolled her eyes back. " Aren't you mad at them?"

The question was direct, nearly knocking the wind out of Ash while he ventured to sit on the foot of his bed beside pikachu, only a foot or so away from the pestered Misty. Was he mad? _Really_ mad? A little; mad that they weren't honest with him, but also accepting that _they felt_ they had too.

"...not really?" Ash answered honestly, looking up at her exhausted expression. "Should I be?"

"Yes." She said automatically, obviously confused. "We almost died-" Misty paused, held her fingers up. "-like five times in under an hour. That doesn't bother you?"

Ash stammered, smacking his lips. "Well _that_ bothers me, but it wasn't Jessie and James' fault. They didn't know it was going to be _that_ bad."

Her fingers laced around her stomach, and her legs crossed at the knees. Hearing Ash defend them unsettled her, almost scorched her soul and body. For awhile, she said nothing at all, only scratched at a bandage on her right arm where bits of goodra's acid burned her. Ash was still in a sling over his right arm for the previous dislocation, but he didn't mind it as much. The pain was a small reminder that he was still here.

"What about those documents we found? Do you think we should have brought it up? That they meant anything?" Misty asked, regurgitating Ash's thoughts from earlier. He sat back a bit straighter, his shoulders rose, and while she looked unpleasantly unpleasant, he was a little... _concerned_? Or was that frustration? Ash exhaled regardless.

"Is that really what you came to talk to me about?" Ash grumbled, trying to disguise his disappointed tone the best that he could. Perhaps he was being selfish; but maybe he _didn't_ want to think about all the terrible things that happened that night. He thought he wanted to, but with her sitting so close now, he felt pangs; and an immense amount of guilt.

A light scoff escaped her lips, and her eyes clung to the ground.

"No." She admitted finally, though that was all she said for a long time. Her thoughts were everywhere. While Ash struggled to decide _what_ the next step was; her's was pretty clear. One way or another, she was going back to Kanto as an Elite Four member, it was her job, and duty. This put her in direct contact with the very people trying to undermine everything; the people who had control _over everything_ and that didn't include a plan on how to stop it.

Running into a controlled media batting ideas about Team Rocket wasn't safe. Then again. It never had been. She _always_ knew that this would be hard, that changing the world would be difficult; but _never_ had she been so scared. When she closed her eyes, she saw what enraged, tortured pokemon were capable of; saw what Team Rocket was willing to do, and faced it. Yet, her hands shook, and when she closed her eyes she was still staring down a barrel five feet from her face, and feeling the glowing heat burn her flesh. The searing nick of a gunshot that Brock stitched earlier was only a partial reminder. The rest was some kind of hellish, unborn nightmare that she wasn't _dreaming_ of. It was real life.

 _Maybe_ that's what scared her most of all.

"How." Misty's question lingered as a command, her eyes turning from their sullen position; ignited by agitation while she glared at Ash. "When you woke up to this world and you saw how everything was _how_ in the world did you accept it? How can you _accept it now_?" her voice pitched painfully while she emphasized with her hands what they saw on Unova and Ash stiffened like a board.

"How?" He echoed nervously, recalling his time first waking up, and suddenly, he was very uncomfortable.

"I don't know... I just... dealt with it." He stopped, watching her dreadful expression; he exhaled reassuringly. "And it wasn't all bad; at least not at the start. I was still learning a lot; catching up with the world I was absent from for ten years; learning about you, about pokemon and the world all over again; then everything just started..." He thought back to the event on Route Twenty Five and slowly nodded his head while she stared intently, leaning forward in her chair until her elbows pressed against her knees.

"The last time I was in Unova..." He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "I had the same thoughts; worrying about my pokemon, why it mattered at _all_ what was happening around me because everything here kind of _sucked._ " He admitted candidly with a bit of a chuckle. "My mom didn't want me, most of my pokemon were gone, my friends were all separated, some big evil was lumbering forever over my head, and that doesn't even start the mental anguish of learning everything that _I_ knew was different than what I remembered. At first, outside of you and your sisters; I _didn't_ have anyone around, no resemblance to the world I remembered..."

A smiled cracked over his lips; one of acceptance. "But...that's because the world I was in didn't exist. I was never able to _accept_ what the world really was because I lived in a made up land. But... because I was there, I think I can still see a lot of good here—I mean, look at Brock, and Gary, and even Jessie and James; not _everything_ is horrible, it just needs a little bit of guidance sometimes. And hard work." He paused, watching as her eyebrows rose slowly. A small part of him was selfishly grateful that _he_ wasn't the only one regretting last nights events. With great good, came great sacrifices and Ash was greatly unsettled by them: perhaps, that was what made him human.

"... _and s_ ometimes that means facing the hard stuff head on, and never giving up. I think with a little effort, this world can be amazing; it's just been lead down a dark path." He inhaled, his words almost surprised himself. "That's what kept me going then; it's what keeps me going...now. I want to help... I mean, what else is there if I can't help?"

While he finished, Misty's hand slowly cupped her jaw and a smirk curved over her lips.

" _I wish I could have seen it."_ She mumbled quietly, a dazed look in her eye; her comment taking Ash by surprise. He dared to question her when she snapped back to reality with a tantalizing smirk. "I can't believe you were just a frail, dying boy only a year ago; and a thickheaded pokemon trainer before that." She chuckled, earning a sigh of embarrassment from Ash.

His mouth opened to reply, but she beat him to it with a defeated look; admiration dancing behind sea-green eyes.

"Everything's changed since you came back, you know that, _right_?" She questioned, tilted her head to one side as a faint, crawling blush danced over his cheeks, and he looked down at his hands which twiddled together awkwardly. _Yes_ , he had been told that on occasion, though he was still amazed that he, a single person could make so many differences in the world. For a normal guy, he was extra extraordinary.

"Thanks, Mist." Ash murmured, looking back at her with a dopey expression mirroring her own.

Their eyes locked; relieving the taught tension between the two of them while Ash leaned forward inexplicably. Feeling braver than he had in the last couple of hours; his mind and body relaxed when he leaned towards her, gaze falling to her pink lips.

"Can I kiss you again?"

" _Yeah._ " Rolled out of her mouth breathlessly before they both shot out of their seats and met in the middle with a mash of limbs. One of her arms wrapped up, then around his back while the other laced his neck, and clawed at his scalp. Ash wasn't sure what to do with his hands, just that he wanted to touch her, so he settled for safe ground at the center of her back and brought her body flush against his while her mouth led his with twists, and tongue.

Misty pushed, the timid female that sat on his discarded chair only seconds ago replaced with the same aggression she had while battling, and in her movements made him stagger, then trip backwards. Rather than scream, they fell onto his bed with an enormous amount of laughter, waking pikachu and togepi from their slumber with an unwarranted daze and worry that they were under attack. Their limbs still tangled while their faces scrunched and she rolled over to kiss him again without hesitation.

This time, her lips were sweeter, warmer than before. Lined with the scent of tacky strawberry soap provided by the cruise ship's hospitable previous crew, Ash cracked a smile at her eagerness. Pecks followed in between heavy breathing, and his face burned raw. Kissing Misty was different, and _strange_ , yet exhilarating at the same time. For months he may or may not have imagined a moment like this one, imagined what she would feel like in his arms in a non-platonic way; but imagination was nothing compared to the real thing. His entire body felt like it was on fire; but a good kind of fire, the same fire in his chest he had while battling—but _everywhere_.

Slowly, she parted from him, sitting up on one arm so she could stare down at Ash with lowered eyelids full of passion and attraction. From where he could see, her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were full of mirth; but _he_ wasn't any better. His cheeks were redder; still adjusting to _kissing_ in general while she ran her thumb gently down the side of his neck, and then pecked his lips quietly, waiting for Ash to return the intensity. Warm hands cupped her face, fingers wrapped behind her neck and brought her in closer while her lips parted, allowing his tongue the chance to move freely while she made fists in his shirt—giving him the _experience_ rather than taking the lead again. He was nervous, his lips reflected that, and his body shook anxiously; but she didn't _care_. Underneath the skill was emotion; _passion_ , and she loved it.

"Mmm." Misty hummed, patting his shoulder as an indication to stop. She couldn't breath, Ash was horrible at letting up for air—least, she thought so in the two times they really kissed, and so she dug her nails into his uninjured shoulder and he broke away.

Blinking several times, an innocent dash of confusion crossed his face and he wilted with the faintest pout over his lips.

"This is _great_." She breathed, her reassurance returning the confidence in his brown eyes. "But I think maybe we should talk." Misty suggested, batting her eyes at him.

In reaction, he sucked in his lips and swallowed hard; breathless, flustered and hormones everywhere, he settled for the best half smile he could manage. Misty thought it looked painful but returned it with her own half smile.

"About what?" He finally managed, sitting forward to clear his fuzzy mind. Misty followed him up, and re-crossed her legs at the knees.

"About us?" She managed, eyebrows knitting carefully. His heart fell into his stomach. _What about them_? They kissed, they _obviously_ liked each other; what more was there to talk about? There was a lot to talk about, but they were pretty _clear_ now, weren't they? In the movies the guy always got the girl without questions asked!

"...Err.." Ash offered, unable to look away from her. Eyes drawn to places he never really looked before while struggling to keep eye contact.

"You were a coma patient for _ten years_." She heavily emphasized the _ten years_ with careful pause before continuing: "This isn't weird for you?"

His nose scrunched up. "It's really weird." watching her expression turn from coy to fright made his brain flicker on once more. "I mean, it's not a bad weird. It's just... uhm. Should it be weird?"  
"You tell me." She grumbled, mouth pointed downward. Ash wasn't sure what she wanted to hear, so he stammered.

"Well you're making it weird _now_." he emphasized the situation with a flick of his wrist and Misty reeled backwards, though still in grabbing distance.

"How am _I_ making it weird? I just don't want to, you know... take advantage of you."

Ash responded with easily one of the most dumbfounded expressions he could manage while tilting his head to one side. "Taking advantage... _of me_?" Ash questioned, pointing at him while Misty shrugged in unsure embarrassment.

"How would you be taking advantage of me?" He questioned mockingly while her eyes shifted to the door. So innocently, Misty had to wonder to herself what in the world she was doing.

"Well... I don't know, it's just you're, well..you know." Ash chuckled indescribably while listening to her uncertainty, a notion that made her scowl hatefully. While it was an uncommon reaction, it was _cute_ and even odder that he _thought_ it was cute. More importantly, Misty was the only person he could imagine having this conversation with.

Then, a mischievous gleam formed where adoration was and he licked the corners of his mouth. "Is _that_ why you never said anything?"

Her face flushed deep red, and her mouth opened subjectively before the palm of her hand found his face, and in her defense shoved him hard, away from her in instinctive deflection.

"Don't get smart with me." She whined, still denying her feelings. Ash laughed loudly, against the pressure, against the chaos, and turned back at her grinning. Naturally, his hands found perch on her neck; touching her was second nature, so when his forehead rest against hers, they both exhaled.

"Misty, I like you." He managed in a calm voice, cracking an earnest, toothy smile. Her face softened, and the red hue dissipated to an affectionate flush as she peered into his eyes.

"...I get scared of stuff like this." An embarrassed Misty muttered quietly, closing her eyes. Ash didn't expect her to _so_ answer honestly, he was joking when he asked her why she didn't say anything; but her words still stole his breath and he smiled earnestly.

"Me, too."

Their lips barely grazed when both togepi and pikachu rudely interrupted by jamming themselves between Ash and Misty; roaring in excitement, and also _please stop_.

"Chhhaa~" the mouse mocked Ash with a tired, exasperated sigh, earning a glare from Ash.

"You be quiet." Ash warned pikachu who cocked a mocking brow, and raised his paw to his lips.

"Toge-brii" The egg hummed, urging to be tucked in; though Ash's face twisted, and he made a mental note _not_ to wake his pokemon next time. Misty didn't seem to mind while she scratched behind pikachu's ears and rocked togepi back and forth; and so Ash relaxed and nodded his agreement. _Tomorrow_ was another day, and it wasn't like Misty was going anywhere any time soon. They had _plenty_ of time to work out the kinks.

"I guess it is getting pretty late." He hummed, glancing at the clock. Aside from the purse of her lips, Misty didn't move from her spot at the foot of his bed, and he watched her questionably.

Catching his gaze, she stared up at him daringly. "Well, we've already slept together before..so." Her eyes shifted to the light switch across the room and Ash only hesitated for a minute before springing up and flicking off the light _before_ she saw how much he was shaking. Kissing was one thing, and while _yes_ they accidentally fell asleep _together_ a few times, it was always accidental and his face flushed deeply while he approached her. She nestled togepi and pikachu at the foot of the bed where they yawned, and Ash crawled in beside her.

Awkward at first, Misty, who recovered her nonchalant senses snuggled close to his chest while his right arm awkwardly rested on her waist from the sling and shifted against the warmth leaking from her body, through his chest and legs. She covered them up with the light blanket on his bed, and Ash squeezed his eyes shut.

" _This_ is weird." Ash mumbled into her ear, unable to read her expression; though he was sure that she was enjoying this.

"...I can go." Misty responded quickly, though her voice betrayed her words. Protectively, Ash wrapped both arms around her and exhaled on her neck.

"No, stay." he said, sleep pulling at his thoughts the very moment his eyes closed. Due to the stress and exhaustion of the day, he never realized _just_ how tired he really was; but _now_ , his body felt like it weighed a ton, and his mind was flightless.

"I feel kind of guilty..." He admit, eyes closed while Misty inhaled; eyes wide open, staring into the darkness.

"...Don't be."

Sleep called to him, tugged at every corner of his mind while a very sleepy Misty hummed quietly in the dark, ending the silence.

"Hey, Ash." he responded to her call with a 'hmm' buried into her shoulder. "What _was_ the password?" She asked with her eyebrows knitting together.

Ash might have laughed if he wasn't so tired, but instead; he calmly breathed into her hair, tickling her neck with his breath.

"Double trouble."

Misty snorted.

 **XOX**

Brock had no idea about Ash and Misty's _love_ affair while he sat out in the middle of the night on the deck of the boat; legs poking out of the railing. He watched Unova fade into the distance for _hours_ now. He watched when the legendary birds emerged, marked their territories; and observed the way the legendary beasts formed a pack to protect themselves; how the dragons slowly fled the area upon the realization that the legendaries _were back_ , and he wondered how long it would be before their chaotic reign not only wiped out Unova, but traveled to the rest of the world; too. Animals trapped in a cage for _years_ couldn't have been happy with the world anymore.

Balance was all but destroyed. Jessie and James were _trying_ to restore balance, but now the legendary pokemon were fighting, and there was no telling when that battle would end. Ice mixed with lightning, and blinding white lights poured into the sky, followed by beams of darkness, and fire everywhere.

For the first time, Brock sipped wine from the bottle; and for the first time, he let everything that happened to him settle into every crevice, every bone, and ever nerve of his body. Sitting alone, with his friends safe as they were happily on their way back to whatever was waiting for them in Kanto; Brock could finally _think_.

His father's untimely passing, his forced nature to become the Pewter City gym leader, the slow crawl of the dictatorship they lived in, and the overwhelming friendship he almost lost today. Ash and Misty were as tough as nails; but they were also his family. They were broken, and the pieces didn't all fit the same: but he found them, and they were his; _his other family_. It was weird to think of them that way, given he hadn't really known them for very long; but it felt like he knew them his entire life, almost longer than his own siblings. Something _clicked_. Life without them wouldn't have been the same, and now, he wasn't even sure what life was _like_ without them. Yet, when they could have used him the most, he was _helpless_ to help them. The same way he was helpless to help his father, obtain his dreams, and prevent the plague that was Team Rocket.

Brock hiccuped, sniffling silently while placing his forehead against the metal railing of the boat. He watched the slow crawling destruction of Unova's shore because it stopped the hole in his chest from caving in, it stopped his mind from laying the world at his finger tips in an empty room. Watching what happened if they failed was the nail in his coffin; he _wouldn't_ let Ash and Misty down again, he would be just as useful as them next time.

...When would be _next time_?

They were supposed to be gallivanting after legendary pokemon now; washing their hands with any decent plan in favor of a half-baked, inconsistent tunnel-visioned plan created by the people Ash described as "blundering idiots" on their walk to Saffron City.

They were so bad at being bad, who was to say such a mindset did not transfer over? Just because they had a few major qualities in their known field of work, didn't mean they were any less _terrible_ at planning. If their latest plan was any indication of what was to be expected, Brock wasn't going to leave all of his eggs in a single basket.

 _Giovanni will come out of hiding_ they told the group—but what then? They throw a rock at his head and hope for the best? He still controlled three fifths of Kanto; the media bent at his will, he controlled the league—and so Brock questioned _what exactly_ they could do to him. He was already a convicted criminal, and unless they could get a band of rebels together, they would be powerless. However, no one else, the government, police, politicians, seemed to question Giovanni's motive.

 _Freeing_ Unova didn't _stop_ Giovanni, it didn't _help_ them. It helped the pokemon there, maybe threw a wrench in Team Rocket's plans, but this was far from over; more than likely, they served to piss Giovanni off, less force him out of hiding.

Brock was not as brave as Ash, or as strong as Misty; but Brock was smart. Reasonable, logical; and while Jessie, James, meowth and Ash were convinced chasing legendaries and forcing Giovanni out was their best bet. Perhaps it was the alcohol thinking, and forcing his mind to blunder, but Brock was still convinced the first idea _was_ the best idea. Finding out the manufacturer of the microchips would give them all the information they needed. Surely, they would need to consider how they went about obtaining that information in a much greater detail than fleeing the Elite Four... but where the microchips were being placed was more than likely where Giovanni was planning his next move. More than that, they _knew_ that Silph Co has had some relationship with the big, bad evil; so maybe there was still a chance that they could solve this without a war. Resolve this without fighting Giovanni head on.

Not only that, if Giovanni _was_ truly as cunning as Jessie, James and meowth portrayed him, then there was _no easy_ way to win. This was still a staggering up hill battle; they were out manned, out classed, and out ranked in all directions; to win, there were more holes they needed to jump over than luring Giovanni out. Other steps that they needed to take. What if Ash found the last of the legendaries, and Giovanni still controlled an army? Maybe even other legendaries they released? Who was to say a legendary could fend off an army in the first place? Who was to say if there was an army in the first place? They had _no idea_ what he was planning!

Sure, they were powerful, but they weren't unbeatable, were they? Ash mentioned he battled a few in his dreams, and if that was any indication; then they could be beaten.

Regardless, they needed all their bases covered: including the production of the chip that Team Rocket was so desperately trying to recover.

Brock scoffed.

There was more to winning a war than direction confrontation; and while the rest of his companions lorded over their small, incomplete victory at the base of Unova; Brock knew this was only the beginning.

Brock stood up, swiping at his pants to clear the dust, before continuing to his bed room. He traveled the long hallway, pausing briefly at Ash's door to listen to who he thought was Misty talking, and then moved forward with an innocent smile. When he arrived in his bedroom, meowth was already sitting on his bed, cleaning his head quietly while Brock raised his eyebrows in question.

"...what do you want?" He asked, trying to hide the discord in his tone.

"Meeeooow." The cat mewled, rolling over to paw at a notebook, where the cat had written some notes—demonstration: how meowth plucked a pen from Brock's sheets with his teeth, and wrote frantically on the white paper. It wasn't _perfect_ handwriting, but it was legible.

"You want to talk about the _plan_?" Brock questioned, pursing his lips. "Where are Jessie and James?"

The cat circled once more and then shrugged. With a scowl, Brock sat at his desk; and decided to play along. Meowth, seemingly sharing the same interests as Brock, scratched at his head; indicating what Brock had been thinking about.

"Alright, what have you got?"

 **XOX**

Daylight didn't crack from the corners of the room, peer in from shaded windows; but instinctively, Misty's eyes cracked open at day break. After spending a few days sleeping in the small rooms, with small, circular windows; they grew accustomed to the sudden darkness of all hours of the day. More importantly than that, the other warmth wrapped around her body beneath the blankets reminded her where she was, and sleep was once again a figment of her imagination.

One eye peeled open at a time, staring at Ash's face across from her own. His eyes were still closed, the right one was still a bit bruised, though his lip healed perfectly. The littlest bit of a cut remained, marring his smooth flesh. How different was it to wake up like this on _purpose. Even more strange_ was how they both opted to stay together all night. Well, what was _left_ of the night. One of his arms was hooked up under his pillow, supporting his head, while the other still wrapped around her waist. They remained a togepi's width apart in the morning, but the two pokemon were curled up at the head of their bed, sleeping quietly.

For as rambunctious as Ash was, she never understood how _peaceful_ he looked sleeping. He wore the same simple expression when he was asleep in his coma, but the pain was gone. After their experiences the night prior, Misty honestly wondered if they would have ever fallen asleep, somehow, they did, but it still loomed over her. She could see traces of her hair color dance around her face, and she swiped at them.

She cracked yesterday. Misty kept it together as long as possible, as much as possible; but she cracked. Gyarados hurt people, and _was hurt_ by people; she faced death not once, but several times; and lost her temper. The youngest Waterflower always had a temper, but over the years, she had believed she mellowed, _changed_ , and yet lately, she turned to it with every chance she was given. Rage was _familiar_ , no matter how old she got; that feeling would probably never change. When times were hard, Misty relied on her own perseverance to withstand everything else and she _lost_ it yesterday. The itch from her healing wounds blurred the lines between sanity and insanity, and where she was always about being _safe_ , yesterday she was reckless, and crazy... and it reminded her so much of how _different_ she and Ash were.

She _survived_ , but _barely_.

Misty was rational, _brave_ , but never reckless. Ash wore it as a badge of honor, surviving the new horrors like some kind of champion while she twisted and bent. It was no secret she leaned on him, but how _much_ was beginning to alarm her. It wasn't very long ago that she marched three steps of him, and he struggled to keep up.

Heart racing once more, she slipped backwards, away from the covers, away from him, and twisted until her feet touched the cold, metal floors, and she slouched over. Trying to clear her head, she rubbed her temples and groaned internally. Misty wasn't _used_ to relying on people. It was the main reason she left on her journey to begin with, to make something of herself, to _prove_ herself to her sisters. _Now_ it was all different, and she had these abnormal, fluttering feelings in her chest when Ash was around and she wanted to scream and hug him at the same time. The difference a year could make on her entire outlook on life was phenomenal _and terrifying._

Rubbing her sore shoulders, she settled on rising from the bed, though the very moment her weight left, Ash's hand sprung forward to where she was _supposed_ to be lying, and snagged her hand.

"Misty?" He groaned, squinting in the dark to see her figure. She hesitated, sighed, then against the thundering in her head, laid back down and faced his tired expression. His eyes were only cracked, almost childish in the way he stared at her, confused for a long time, then finally astonishment settled in. He surprised her when he leaned forward.

"You're still here." He breathed, and Misty winced and covered his mouth for him. _Horrible_ morning breath.

"Not if you breathe on me." She chuckled, her voice still strained of sleep.

"Sorry." Ash mumbled, keeping his lips shut while settling back down beneath the covers. "What time is it?" he grunted into the pillow. Misty turned over to face the clock at the other side of the room, and smacked her lips.

"Six."

A heavy groan left Ash's mouth, and he blinked tired, puffy eyes until they peered into the room. Not even three hours of sleep and they were awake. Sounded like the life of a sleep deprived gym leader he once knew. When he stared at her and she stared back at him blinking, he wasn't sure what to say. Sleep deprived him of his previous rampant hormones, instead, the _urgent_ matters took precedence and a billion questions filtered into his mind and slammed hard against his _selfish_ emotions. Was he supposed to immediately express how he felt about their next actions; or ask her how she slept? Maybe ask her if she was feeling better, or ask what they should do about Jessie and James.

His face scrunched up, his eyebrows knit together, and upon seeing Misty's gentle gaze, he stammered a few times until she leaned into him, and pecked him on the lips. When she pulled away, an exhale left him and her nose scrunched and she pinched his.

"You have toxic morning breath." She chided, squeezing his nose playfully, and then sat up. Ash rubbed his face.

"I can't help it." He mumbled, following her actions, only, he turned to togepi and pikachu _just to check up on them_ , and then faced her. Her hands rested in her lap, trying to wrap her head around the situation they were in and how painfully normal it felt. _Natural._ Maybe that was a part of an adult relationship, the embarrassment was masked with comfort and acceptance—or maybe she was too giddy to think straight, and so she looked at Ash with pursed lips while their shoulders bumped. This felt more like a sleep over than anything else, and she had to stop herself from laughing.

"How'd you sleep?" She quizzed happily, watching his face brighten in the darkness, he blinked a few times.

"Decently, I mean, as well as I could have..." he groaned and laughed in spite of himself. "I'm sore."

"Me, too..." She squeaked out, passively ignoring the pain she felt _everywhere_. Testing their limits, she hooked her hand around his available one and intertwined their fingers eagerly. When he didn't panic or jerk his hand away, she smiled and nuzzled against his arm, careful not to hurt him. "We didn't celebrate your birthday yesterday, Ash."

Affectionate Misty was still something he had to get used to; so while his face burned bright red, he tried to recall his reactions to her sweetness when he was in the hospital; when it was still painfully platonic.

"Uhh...we _kind of_ did." Ash murmured, a grin tugging at his lips. "I mean, if you consider breaking into a prison _celebrating_ and explosions as fireworks, and k-kissing a _gift_."

A pause.

"Did you just stutter?" She questioned, one eyebrow raised while he coughed. "Are you still _nerrrvous_?" She teased him, releasing his hand to pinch his cheeks with both fingers. He turned away from her, snickering and hot to the touch.

"Don't laugh at me." He groaned, _after all,_ this was all an adjustment to him. If someone asked him a year ago about kissing females, _kissing Misty_ , he would have laughed or scoffed at the idea. He needed some _adjustment_ time.

Misty's insecurity washed away and she grinned pleasantly. "What? Are you _shy_ now?" She crooned, grinning madly. "You were so daring last night!" She quipped gleefully as Ash spun around and tackled the giggling woman backwards onto the bed.

 **XOX**

It went without saying that they both felt slightly _guilty_ about their timing. Things couldn't have been _worse_ , and they spent a good hour of their morning making up for the last few months, and more importantly, making fun of each other. When the duo and their pokemon arrived in the dining area that morning, Brock was already seated at one of the tables near the edge of the room, sipping coffee and gnawing on the packaged food that was stored in the small kitchen that they had. Typically, Brock made breakfast, so they both knew something was wrong before approaching. Naturally, their hands separated when they approached the man, and they sat across from one another.

Ash smacked Brock on the back once before sitting and stared at him. Brock groaned in response to their arrival.

"You alright there, Brocko?"

"hhnng." He answered, lowering his head while Misty snatched a bagel from the same package Brock opened, and tore a piece off.

"...Are you not feeling well?" a concerned Misty questioned while brushing her hand against his forehead; he looked pale.

Ash mimicked Misty, only he poured juice into a glass, and indiscreetly poured one for her as well while Brock gathered his thoughts, or what was left of them anyways. His head was throbbing, and spinning, and his guts weren't quite agreeing with him this morning.

"I have a hang over." he announced while glancing up at his two companions. "I drank way too much wine last night."

"Why were you drinking?" Misty gasped, glaring at him. Ash, who had never experienced a hang over, didn't understand the problem.

Brock's shoulders rose, then fell apathetically. "I just needed to clear my head."

"And drinking did that?" Her tone was motherly, invasive, and a bit accusatory; normal, and the sound of it put Ash's heart at ease, glad to know their experience didn't _change_ her; both the good and the bad.

"Well, yes and no..." Brock sat up, facing them with his best expression, where the two of them saw a stack of papers resting where his head had been seconds ago.

"What is that, Brock?"

"I was up late last night; I made a plan, something that will _actually_ work and put no one in unnecessary danger." He spat the last part of his sentence, thinking of Jessie and James bitterly while Ash and Misty glanced at each other worriedly.

"You devised a plan while you were drunk?" Misty asked comically, and Brock nodded confidently.

"Meowth helped."

"Weren't you just complaining about their plans?" Misty questioned, sitting forward while Ash shrugged and started gnawing on a piece of bread.

"That's why we worked together, so the same mistakes wouldn't happen." Brock explained, and then unfolded the file and handed one to Misty, and another to Ash. While Brock started, Jessie, James, and Meowth arrived from outside, looking around the room to the companions sitting at the table.

"The first plan was our best plan. We're getting into Silph Co. on our way back into Kanto. It will be our best attempt to figure out what the microchips are for. When I spoke to meowth last night, he informed me that Giovanni could be trying to create a completely obedient army to use against the legendary pokemon he's trying to lure out and _control._ If we can find the manufacturing of the chips, we can stop it, and his plot wont be as devastating."

Ash stared down at the words written there; the sheet he was given didn't echo any of that. "Uhm," he questioned. "Mine has stuff written down about the legendary pokemon..." Ash mused, holding the paper that reflected Jessie's writing.

When she grabbed his documents, and placed them flat against the table, she pointed to three areas around the Kanto region. Two in johto, one at the orange islands.

"With Unova destroyed, Giovanni will try to branch out and grab the nearest legendaries that he can get his hands on. It's important that _we_ get there first. James and I compiled a list of the legendary pokemon we don't think he has had the chance to capture and highlight where we saw them in your dreams. If we can get to those pokemon, we can use them against _his_ _perfect_ creature; and win the battle." As Jessie finished, Misty's eyes snapped up to look at her, specifically at the statement _we saw_ , not that they were told about; but that they _saw_ in his dreams; only, she wasn't given the time to question the phrase, because James interrupted.

"With the other legendary pokemon released, it will only be a matter of time before they return to their proper homes, which means Giovanni will be trying to recapture the ones that he lost; that gives us the time to find the ones that he hasn't, convince them to help us, and then bring the fight to Giovanni before this gets out of control."

Ash shook his head. "But we don't know where Giovanni is?" He asked, eyes wide. Pikachu chirped beside him in agreement, and Brock nodded.

"That's where Silph Co. comes in, they must have written down somewhere who is ordering the chips, and if we can track down that person; they can tell us how to get to Giovanni." Ash and Misty glanced at one another, sheepishly and embarrassed; while everyone else was awake making plans, they were, well, _not_.

"You guys were making plans all night?" Ash asked, embarrassed while Brock nodded.

"You two did the hard part, so we picked up the pieces."

The response made Ash exhale eagerly, relieved to know he wasn't _expected_ to join in right away; but now that he was here, he inhaled and nodded. "What do we do first then? Silph Co. or the legendary?"

An unsteady silence filtered between the group while Misty tapped her tongue against the top of her mouth and Ash stared on innocently to his companions. Brock cleared his throat and looked into Ash's eyes.

"...We're not all going together." Brock started while Misty's eyes darted over the paper she was given. "You're going to find the remaining legendary pokemon, while we go to Silph Co."

Still not understanding, Ash blinked and cocked his head to one side.

"The easiest way to get into Silph Co. would be to use my rank." Misty pursed her lips and looked at Brock, as far away from Ash's gaze as possible. "Do you really think a _press_ conference is all it's going to require to clear my name now?"

"We don't need to clear your name, we just need you to appear long enough so we can get the information that we need. Without Ash around, there aren't going to be any claims that they can make against you." Brock nodded eagerly.

"What do you mean without me around?" Ash whipped around to stare at Brock, who was clearly speaking nonsense now, and glared harshly at the older man.

Then finally Misty looked at him, reminiscence of that nonchalant personality that he was finding _very_ frustrating now that _this_ was their solution to the problem. "You are wanted throughout all of Kanto, Ash. If you're not there, we will have an easier time getting around the media." Misty explained, but Ash shook his head.

"You two were the ones who said they were evil; remember?" He gestured to Brock who remained stoic. "They chased us with _guns_ ; now you _both_ want to go back? What happened to that whole plea that it wasn't safe, and they couldn't be trusted?" Ash inhaled, and clear objection formed through him, togepi, and pikachu.

"That was before we knew more; now that we know they're primarily after you, we should be okay..." Brock informed but Ash couldn't believe what he was hearing; especially after they all agreed to stay together again.

"Besides, if I come back in with a press conference and stay in the limelight, they can't touch me without blowing their cover—and I'm sure they already know how easily Unova could be exposed right now. They won't make any rash decisions." Misty assured Ash with a slight shoulder shrug.

Brock grinned, having Misty on board was easier than he expected, but Ash was still spinning from the claims. "Wait..." Ash started, but was rudely interrupted by a brash Misty.

"Only, I think you should stay with Ash, Brock. I can go alone, I have my sisters after all."

"Absolutely not!" Ash and Brock bellowed in unison; though Misty scowled dangerously.

"Well Ash _isn't_ going alone with those three clowns."

"Hey, we're standing right here." James spat, folding his arms while Misty glared at him, shoving a quick 'I know' between her lips before settling back on the two of her friends.

"Misty you're going to need someone on the outside if you get caught." Brock tried to explain; that if for some reason they realized that Misty was planning to find information, they would apprehend her, Brock would need to be there to get her out.  
Stubbornly, her eyebrows knit "I can take care of myself, Ash will need more help than me."

Where Ash was worried a moment ago, now he was insulted. "Hey, I traveled through six regions _on my own_ in six months, thank you; I think if anyone can take care of themselves, it's me." He pressed a firm hand against his chest, glaring at Misty who rolled her eyes.

"Oh, please. You had to call me for money, and don't think I didn't hear about the trouble you caused." She groaned, glaring back at him while he inhaled. However, before Ash could bite back, Brock slammed his hands on the table, and grabbed his forehead.

"Can you two fight _later_? The plan is already decided. I'm going with Misty, and Ash will leave with Jessie and James. The three of them will have an easier time convincing the legendary pokemon to join them; and you and I will have an easy time getting into league areas without Ash with us. I don't want to be separated either, but this is our best chance."

"But..." Ash started again, and Brock raised a hand to silence him.

"No buts, this is happening."

Ash wilted, staring down at his hands while pikachu openly scolded Brock for going back on his word; and togepi raced to Misty to beg her to _change_ her mind; though neither trainer understood as fluently as Ash, or Team Rocket did, they got it.

"We're sorry." Brock uttered, reaching out for pikachu who whined that they were leaving them _again_.

"It will only be for a little while. Once we know what Silph Co. is planning, we'll help you, okay?" Misty rubbed togepi's scalp with the palm of her hand, and Jessie and James sighed. Meowth took the silence as an opportunity to jump onto the table.

"We'll be separating once we hit the docks in Sinnoh; once there, we will get you three new pokedex without trackers, and prepare for the mission. The faster we move, the faster this is over." James translated for meowth while the cat rested. "We arrive at sunset, _but for now_ , enjoy your time together."

At that, Ash's eyes finally rose once more to look at Misty who settled into her chair pessimistically, and frowned at the change of pace. She was _on board_ , clearly, but her expression read frustrated, her untouched food screamed that she was upset, and her scowl was self representing. She hated that it made sense, but accepted it. Ash has no choice but to do the same.

"Gee, looks like we'll have to wait for that vacation." Ash chuckled, recalling Misty's comment the day earlier. Shocked at his response, she grinned up at him, then to Brock. "I think next time we'll go somewhere with a little _less_ water."

"That coming from a water pokemon trainer is a bit worrisome." Brock chuckled, and they each shared a pained, accepting glance, then stared at their hands.

Tomorrow started the first day of the rest of their lives.

 **Author's Note** : (it's a long 'ern)

 **This ends part three! Next chapter begins the fourth,** and unless I decide to break it up for some reason, **_the last_** part of this story. For those of you who keep asking; this is planned to end around chapter 60. Are you ready?

I think following a kiss in the middle of a life threatening situation would result in an awkward conversation following after; I hope it wasn't too awkward. Who read that while chanting inwardly "JUST KISS ALREADY!" Just me? Alrighty then. I missed their little heart-to-hearts; and it was nice to write Ash dishing out well-earned knowledge and advice for once. -eyes twinkle- I'm still a little weird on Ash kissing _anyone_ ; but I think the development is _there_ and has built up to this without being forced? That being said; I _still_ don't think Ash could ever be sentimental/shy about it. Go big or go home? I didn't feel like it was too mushy? Maybe it was? But I _still_ felt like it fit. I mean, to those of you that have kissed someone before—I can honestly say the _second_ kiss holds more of a memory to me than the first. The first is all energy and adrenaline; the second one is completely intentional, it _means_ something because you choose to do it again. (it's also really awk. Just sayin')

ORIGINALLY, I scene-switched away from the kissing scene, but since I figure we...err... May not get another one soon, I thought I would throw all my lovelies a bone. -hearts- hah. I put them together to pull them apart. That's such a NINT thing to do. -shot-

 **A short blurb for clarification.**

Okay, so I told myself if I got one more complaint (Anon or not), I would finally put this into an author's note.

My favorite thing about writing fan fiction is that I don't get boxed into a hole. What I mean is; even though a story is labeled "Romance/Drama" I am allowed to branch out of that area if I want to. It doesn't have to be one or the other, in fan fiction, a story can be a lot more so long as it _makes sense_. So, to start, I want to say that I always appreciate constrictive criticism; nothing sounds too harsh so long as you're not outright bashing me. That being said, Locked Away, while it is _many_ things, has always been labeled "Romance/Drama". If that romance works, or does not work, is a personal preference and opinion of the reader. I am, and will actually defend all the romance-inclined decisions I made during this story. For a Romance/Drama story, I like to think I've kept the 'romance' to a minimum until recently.

I _know_ that I've lost readers by deciding to keep romance in the story, and taking time to focus on the relationship between Ash and Misty, I'm well aware that some of the readers who have picked this story up did not do so because they wanted to see pokeshipping in any way; I'm even _more_ aware of the fact that some people were upset a coma theory story had shipping in it at all. However, I'm going to stand by my decision. I know said decision isn't going to please everyone who reads the story.

HOWEVER, I must mention, as I have said to many reviewers in the past who have asked (There haven't been many, tbh) that adventure is a nice 'touch' but the purpose of the story has never been about 'adventures'. (Think about the first few chapters) Ash's growth as a character has been the driving force of the story. (It's just more president now that we're nearing the climax of the story.) The story is about Ash and all the character development he will/should under go after coming out of a coma (and his friends will undergo) and how that moves his plot and adventure forward.

Simply put, I _know_ that I can't please everyone. At the moment, I have been intentionally riding a fine line between romance and everything else because when I think of romance, I don't want to write something cliché and sickening sweet as the primary aspect of 'moving forward', Sometimes, and most times, there isn't a big hurrah moment, but I do think it's a _neat development_ to include in tidbits, and I stand by that. I didn't want 'romance' to be what got Ash through the worst situations he's been in thus far, but I refused to abandon it completely, because it makes things interesting. But, if you're not enjoying the romance portion of the story; I am truly sorry, but it will always be an underlying feature.

To be absolutely clear: This fic is and has been labeled, advertised, presented, and created on the basis of 'romance' being one of the leading genres. (the fact there hasn't been 'more' is just crazy) This means that romance (and friendships) are the leading role of the story. While I believe that the story is representative of so much _more_ than that at this point, romance will _always_ be apart of it. Whether it works or not, or whether you like it or not depends solely on _you_ , the reader. Whether or not I improve or not is if _you, the reader_ tell me what you like and didn't like of the representation.

I love hearing feedback, and discussing things (and replying to reviewers, I hope I don't' bother any of you!); so leave a review. Also, since we're moving onto the last part of this story next chapter, I'm going to be getting back to reviews this chapter; please, let me know your thoughts!

I've said it a million times, but I always mean it: Thank you so much for the favs/reviews/follows and even if you don't like all of the story, I hope that for the most part, you've enjoyed yourself a little bit. Thank you all for your continued support. -hearts- See you at part 4!

NINT


	45. Chapter 45: Part 4 Start: Revolution

**Locked Away, Chapter 45: Part IV begin**

For the young trio, many great challenges and ordeals were to be faced in the coming days. After a year of confusion, the end was near, _or at least_ what Ash thought was the end. They finally had a goal, and a plan that would resolve the conflicts shrouding the pokemon league, and Team Rocket's defeat was dawning on inevitable.

When the question was posed as to how they would spend the last few hours they had together before they would part ways for the final act of their retaliation, Ash shared no objection to the pool at the back of the long dinning room. Thus, nearly an hour after the morning's revelations, Ash, Misty, Brock, and their pokemon were gathered at the edge of the long pool in their best attempt to relax.

Misty sat beside Brock with their feet dipped in the water. For the first time in a long time, they mellowed as a group; well, Brock and Misty relaxed, Ash was like a little kid, running up and down the length of the pool with his pokemon, and some of Misty's, and jumping in the water head first. His laughter filled the empty crevice of a much too large, much too empty swimming area.

"Does he ever get tired?" Brock asked, watching Ash run the distance of the pool beside greninja, and a wobbly monferno. Misty's eyes narrowed, watching the sling that still kept his arm plastered to his side. Ash was supposed to be recovering from the same fatigue that she felt, but _his_ recovery time almost seemed like twice hers.

"I'm going out on a limb here to say, _well_ , _never."_ She replied with a snark tone, looking at Brock with her eyebrows raised and lips pursed sarcastically. A rolling chuckle fell from Brock's lips and he shook his head staring into the water. Misty wasn't the least bit shy admitting that she was beyond exhausted, and Brock wasn't one to trample around _just for fun_.

Ash played, they sat. For Ash, it was reminiscent of the old days when he would run a muck and Brock and Misty would sit on the sidelines, _silently_ or sometimes _not so silently_ judging him for his actions.

Yet, what else was there to do? Brock and Misty were determined to talk about the _plan_ following their very limited time together, more than they wanted to enjoy said time. Brock was all business, and while he _usually_ never had a problem reading Misty before, after last night she was like a blank slate. Since that morning, she had been edgy when Ash got near her, so rather than spending his last few hours of free time tip toeing around his companions, he was enjoying himself. _Or maybe_ _Ash was just panicking over the situation_. After all, they didn't talk about it, she didn't mention it to anyone, and he wasn't sure if _he_ was supposed to. On top of the oncoming dread of separation, _now_ he had to deal with the hormonal baggage that followed every time he sat beside her. _What was he supposed to do with himself_? Unsure of the answer, Ash did what he did best: he entertained himself.

"You know, since we will be in Sinnoh, it might not hurt to get Dawn involved in all of this. It would be nice to have friends in a higher position that _isn't_ under direct influence of Kanto's superiors." Brock sputtered, kicking his feet in the water. His statement drew Misty's eyes from following Ash, to Brock's and she shrugged her bare shoulders.

"It couldn't hurt." Misty hummed. "I mean, she could tell us more about what we've missed in the last week. Who knows what horrible _false_ allegations they've made about Ash and I, and about Unova. I wouldn't want to go there unprepared..." Misty grit her teeth, rubbing her aching temple right as Ash barreled beside them, wrapping a sopping wet arm around Misty's shoulders and nudging Brock with his sprained one.

"Would it kill either of you to have a little bit of fun?"

He huffed beside them, and while Brock lurched away from the wet trainer in an attempt to avoid secondary wetness, Misty immediately stiffened with the contact. Her wide, green eyes glared down at Ash's arm, which brushed against her bare skin and after a strangled noise escaped her lips. Hesitantly, she wriggled away from his grasp by slipping half way into the water. Offended by her movement, Ash tossed a passing glare at her before Brock caught his attention once more.

"Well, it might have been more helpful if we were doing something _other than_ playing in water, on a boat, _surrounded by water_." Brock grinned sarcastically to which Ash appeared appalled and shook his head at Brock.

"But, you're missing the point, in a little under three hours, we're going to arrive at Sinnoh, where we will all have to go back to how serious things were before. You two are going to burn out." Ash chided with a quirked eyebrow. Misty snorted beside him.

"We'll just throw your natural optimism and boundless energy at the bad guys and that will stop 'em." Misty rolled her eyes, leaning over the lip of the pool a little further. Ash looked at her back, she hadn't even faced him since his arrival and so Ash returned his look to Brock.

"Maybe we should sick Misty on them with her silver tongue—she could nag them to death." Ash whispered, leering close to Brock who snickered and covered his mouth with the back of his hand.

Misty turned immediately, glaring daggers at Ash who looked unapologetic.

"Don't be a jerk." Misty scolded hotly.

"I'm not the one being a _jerk_ , you're the one who keeps throwing jabs at _me_." Ash proclaimed boldly, eyes narrowed. Because she had been _a little_ sensitive compared to usual. Whenever he was around, she had some snark jab at or about him for whatever reason. Misty wasn't a fan of displays of their... _whatever this was_ , but she didn't have to be nasty about it. So, Ash challenged her with raised eyebrows, pursed lips and a knowing expression that Brock watched for exactly one second before tipping Ash forward.

A gasp followed Ash as he tumbled forward, off the side of the pool, and knocking a tilted Misty over with a loud, silencing splash. Brock stared down in awe at the mess he created and looked at pikachu and togepi who watched the man stone-faced along side the rest of Ash's pokemon. They would either emerge pissed off, or well..

Misty resurfaced before Ash with her hair matted to her face and neck, and a surprised expression. Ash surfaced econds later, shaking his head and glaring at Brock.

"What was that for?" He growled while Brock snickered uncontrollably and Misty clung to the pool's edge.

"Like you said, we need to relax, and you two are fighting _way_ _too_ much to be normal _, what's up with that_?" His tone was innocent enough, but it was still enough for Ash and Misty to glance at one another and look away embarrassed.

"Nothing." They replied in unison, and Brock blinked at them curiously. Beside the three of them, pikachu sighed with a blatant face-palm, and muttered something under his breath that only Ash understood.

"You know..." Misty started, looking up from her shame, to Brock, then mischievously at Ash. "I'm starting to have flash backs."

Ash watched her with elated brown eyes then grinned innocently at Brock. "Me, too!" He said, then at the same time, Misty and Ash lunged forward and yanked Brock down into the water after them.

Up above, on the balcony watching over the pool, from the captains room, Jessie, James and Meowth looked on at the trio below, bored. While they were unimpressed with their work ethic, maybe a little disturbed that they were full of energy after yesterday's events; they were more fascinated by their undying spirits; how easily the three of them lifted each other up.

"Wait—Ash! Togepi can't swim!" Misty's shrill voice cut through the window upstairs while Ash tucked his legs and canon balled into the center of the pool with togepi in his arms. A grin tugged at James lips, watching their kiddish, _normal_ antics with great admiration.

"They're like little kids." Jessie muttered his concerns, sitting back in her chair while James grinned from ear to ear.

"That's because they _are_ still kids." he replied happily, looking up at her, then sharing a glance with meowth who remained stoic and quiet with his tail flicking back and forth. "Hopefully they can stay that way after all of this." James added remorsefully while Jessie huffed.

Her arms crossed over her chest, peering down at her strategy. How long had it been since _the three of them_ had a vacation? Some time away from the daily grind of fixing their mistakes? Since five years ago, Jessie couldn't remember. Perhaps, it was because the children didn't see as much as they did... or maybe I was because...

"They're stronger than us." James assumed, looking up at Jessie once more, this time with wounded eyes and a cocked jaw. Jessie didn't return the glance, but the way her shoulders sunk, she understood.

Beside the two of them, Meowth walked along the map spread out on the table. A long time ago, they would have shared pipe dreams of getting away, going on a vacation far away, and living the dream life under new names, and new identities; meowth was always the _plan maker_ the one who got them through the worst of the worst times, and the best of the worst times. Until now.

Meowth had nothing positive to say, no empty promises to dish out—that was a part of their lives long lost to the void of never ending chaos and guilt. Instead, the cat exhaled and nodded to his companions quietly before staring back down at the group below.

 _"Guess that's why they're always the heroes."_ He meowed, resting his head over his paws and leaving Jessie and James to stew in their own thoughts.

 **XOX**

"What do you _mean_ it was your birthday yesterday, man!?" Brock nearly shouted, his feet dangling over the edge of the boat. They were still in their bathing suits, getting fresh air after their time spent in the chlorine swimming pool. Only an hour before docking, they were bordering Sinnoh, and Ash wanted to show them where he had been on his journey, explain some situations—and most importantly, show them where he could see the pound ablaze from the hill; which eventually led him to slip that his birthday was yesterday. However, a new, larger, grayer, looming pound replaced it, so the moment was ruined, and replaced with sharing stories of what happened at the compound with Brock.

 _What a great birthday present to myself_. Ash threw out sarcastically while chuckling at Misty who pat his shoulder sympathetically, only, Ash had never mentioned that it was his birthday to his narrow-eyed companion, and so Brock was grossly appalled, and insulted.

"I guess... I just didn't think about it with everything else going on." explained Ash while he chuckled nervously, watching Brock scamper to his feet.

"Well!" Brock gasped. "That won't do! We have to celebrate."

"Really, Brock, it's okay..." Ash raised his hands to the gym leader who shook his head.

"Stay right here, I'll be back in two minutes."

"Wait—uhh." Ash started but ended by rubbing his face with his hand. Once Brock's mind was made up, he was arguably as stubborn as Ash and Misty. Perhaps it was their stubbornness that brought them all together, Ash once heard that packs of stubborn animals all stayed together, maybe that was the living representation of him and his friends?

Only now, with the looming, ever present presence of Brock missing, Ash and Misty were alone again for the first time since that morning. Suddenly, her arm brushing against his, along side the railing gap their legs shared, and the sudden drop in the temperature brought his nerves alive with fire. She was too close for comfort, too far away for closure, and he felt his skin crawl when she finally nudged him.

"Would kill for a minute alone, huh?" She tossed out jokingly, earning a swallow from Ash, who found his bare feet oddly entertaining. What was wrong with him? He was fine yesterday, and this morning; and most of the afternoon— _why now_ was he suddenly a bundle of nerves?  
"Y-eah." he croaked, earning a suave snort from Misty who brushed her hand against his, bringing a roaring redness to his cheeks.

Behind him, he could hear pikachu muttering backhanded, snark comments into togepi's ear about Ash's behavior, to which he shot a parental-glare over his shoulder and the two pokemon turned away with a false whistle. The more pikachu grew up, the more he was still a creature of sarcasm. Again, she chuckled.

"And you were the one telling us to relax." She chided, her tone barely above a whisper when he faced her nervously, stiff as a board.

"Well," he started defensively, with a huff. "You were the one acting like nothing happened earlier."

"I was _not_." She growled sinfully, pursing her lips and looking away from him.

"Were _so_." he said staring blandly at her. "I mean, are we going to tell Brock?"

Finally, her face flushed and her tight grip over his hand loosened. "Well...that's..."

Now, it was Ash's turn to grin with the upper hand. " _Now_ who is nervous?"

"I'm not nervous." She growled impatiently, proving her sentiments by glaring boldly into his eyes, catching him off guard. However, the glance lasted for only a second before it was replaced with a repressed sense of awareness. "It's just...different."

 _Different_ was right. With Misty, Ash was always relaxed, himself; right now, he wasn't sure how he was supposed to act, how she was supposed to act, or if anything was supposed to change at all.

"Well, not different. _"_ She corrected quickly, followed by: "It's complicated because of everything going on right now. We both feel guilty, even though we shouldn't, and there's this new plan and... I mean, in a few hours, I'm leaving, and you're going off somewhere to find creatures of legend, and everything is kind of a mess right now." while she elaborated, her eyebrows knit and her nose scrunched up, looking at the horizon of the ocean where Sinnoh was glaring back at them.

"...I guess." Ash replied quietly, following her gaze to the region before them.

"I mean," She cleared her throat, struggling for the correct words, and wracking her brain. They had a limited time frame to talk, courtesy of Brock, and so she bit down hard on her lip, and squeezed his hand affectionately. "There's just a lot going on, you know... _more important_ issues to think about than just _us_ right now and I just think that..." She inhaled, breathing through her nose and let out a exasperated sigh. "I don't know what I'm trying to say, I'm not any good at this either."

A twinkle formed in Ash's eyes while he stared her. "Are you admitting that you, Misty Waterflower, are not _good_ at something?" he questioned, taking a shot at her ego. Clucking her tongue in response, Misty glared at him to which he grinned.

" _Ash_ ," She cooed his name, reaching her hand up gently, and he expected her to brush his cheek, but she pinched his cheek playfully instead. "Don't be a jerk _."_ She whined while he sputtered a grin and let his head drop onto her shoulder.

The string tied around her neck, attached to her one piece swimsuit brushed against his cheek, and unwillingly, his arms went up, then around her back to hug her. _Really_ hug her. Happily, she returned the embrace and exhaled into his shoulder, where the night prior he flinched at every budge, now he didn't seem to mind with her chin digging into the bruise.

"So what do _we_ do?" he hummed innocently, breathing into the crook of her neck. Being so close to her was strange, and so oddly comforting and natural that when he pulled away to look at her his heart pounded against his ribs in excitement.

"I think, for now, let's not worry about the small stuff, and just enjoy ourselves." She mumbled gracefully though her face was flushed as pink as his. She brushed her hand against Ash's bare back while he turned to her. Her lips grazed his cheek, followed by a fluttering kiss against his jaw, until finally their lips connected earnestly for the third, or fourth—Ash didn't remember exactly. Misty's hands skillfully danced over his scars, specifically the one she hadn't noticed before, still red against his side, while his hands remained glued to his side. A clothed Misty was one thing, swim-suit Misty was another. Her body was still wet, and _small_ and...

"Okay, we have white wine, or vodka!" Brock barreled through the doors holding two bottles in one hand, and three small glasses in the other; unaware of what he was walking in on, Misty separated herself and Ash with one powerful thrust that forced Ash's lips closed, and his back against the deck floor. Misty's hands went to her lap and she looked _anywhere_ but to her companions. Meanwhile, a still _slightly_ dazed Ash looked up at Brock with one eyelid half closed and two snickering pokemon beside them that used the opportunity to pounce on their trainer.

"...Did...I miss something?" Brock asked, suddenly very aware of their awkward behavior.

"Nothing." they hissed in unison once again, and while Brock was many things, trusting of his friends was one of them. If they said nothing happened; then... He looked at Misty's face, then at Ash who slowly curled away from Misty and cleared his throat shamelessly while Misty licked her lips.

"uh-huh..." Brock guessed. "Jeeze, if you two had anymore mood swings, I would think you were making out or something." Brock groaned playfully while rolling his eyes and taking a proper seat between the two lovers and handing both their shaking hands a small, clear glass.

It took a few minutes for Ash's words to reach his throat again, though Misty's social recovery was a lot faster.

"Shots?" Misty mused, looking up at her dark friend who nodded, holding up the bottle of vodka and white wine.

"Yes!" Brock proclaimed, setting down the white wine and uncapping the vodka. "Isn't that what you did on _your_ twenty first birthday?"

Misty grinned, recalling every birthday after she was eighteen except for her twenty-second. "Well, that just depended on who was there."  
"What is that?" Ash finally managed, sounding like a strangled bird. "That smells disgusting." he announced, catching a wisp of the beverage.  
"This, my friend," Brock showed Ash the bottle proudly. "Is liquid courage."

"No it's not." Misty hissed, then glared assertively at Ash. "It's not liquid courage, don't listen to him." She addressed and Ash looked away from Misty, then to Brock once more while the older trainer hushed Misty and wagged his finger at her.

"It's what people drink when they need a boost in confidence." he tried.

"No, it's not." Misty chided, Brock exhaled.

"Fine, then vodka is the water of the northern tribe of-"

"No, _it's not_." Misty hissed, taking the bottle from him. "It's alcohol, Ash, it makes you drunk, and _stupid_ , and why would we _drink_ before getting off of this boat? We're landing in a little over an hour and you want us to _drink_?" Misty hissed, eyebrows narrowed dangerously at the insane idea.

"Well, I don't mean _drunk_." Brock argued, snatching the bottle back while Ash watched helplessly. "I mean _a_ drink. In celebration."

"But that's... It's his-"

"I don't think it's a bad idea." Ash mused happily, earning a proud nod from Brock who smiled at his newest friend, and a scowl from Misty. "I mean, I've never done it before, so why not now?"

"Because there is _plenty_ of time for everything else _after_ we're not running for our lives."  
"Aw, c'mon, Misty, lighten up."

"Yeah, Mist, lighten up." Ash joined in with Brock, staring her down with a dominant peer pressure that she succumbed to quickly.

"Fine!" She snapped, holding her glass to Brock. "But only a _little_ bit." She warned him, to which Brock chuckled and poured the three of them one glass each. Typically, shots were not done with vodka, but with limited choices, they worked with what they had. Brock cleared his throat.

"To Ash, who is twenty-one yesterday, and brought this group together." Brock smiled at Ash who grinned with togepi and pikachu nestled in his lap, raising their paw in support. Brock titled his head to him. "Happy birthday, my friend."

Ash chuckled. "To my first birthday in ten years." He congratulated himself, throwing the drink back simultaneously with Brock and Misty, the same exact way he saw on television. However, the liquid burned _a lot_ more than he thought it would, and the stagnate flavors of rotten disgust gave way to a horrible hiccup and he held his mouth and nose closed. It was like drinking rubbing alcohol!

" _ew._ What was that?" He whined, coughing. That wasn't anything like Ash expected, especially the warm, fuzzy and uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. Misty shuddered beside the two of them, sticking her tongue out and shaking her head, but Brock winced and smacked his lips.

"A bad idea." Brock announced boldly, "But also, vodka." He choked out, earning a detestable look from Misty who spit over the side of the ship.

"Why would you drink that?" Ash questioned in astonishment, he thought it tasted better than that! His eyebrows narrowed while his taste buds, and nose hairs died.

"In celebration?" Misty questioned, looking at Ash. He pursed his lips.

"Can we celebrate with apple juice next time?" He questioned happily, and Misty rolled her eyes. Though, she and Brock were both happy and eager to hear Ash use the phrase _next time_. Because there would be a next time.

 _"You_ were the one who said you wanted to try it." She barked, and Ash scowled at her.

"Yeah, well!"

"Another one!" Brock cheered, beginning to pour a second drink that was met with Misty and Ash immediately standing up.

"You know, I think, actually, we should get ready to land, you know; change into more presentable clothes, maybe have a shower." Misty urged and Ash pointed down at Brock. She clearly didn't like the taste, her tastes were in the sweeter genre, less of the hard liquor.

"Cake is always a good alternative, too." Ash threw out, earning a playful punch from Misty against his upper arm, though, she immediately pulled back, thinking she might have hurt his injured shoulder; but he hardly noticed her reaction while he tossed another joke at Brock who stood up, making offhanded jokes.

Concerned, confused, and focused on the oddity, she zoned out of their conversation, and swat Ash again, in the same spot; he turned at her with a scowl of confusion, but not _pain._

"What?" He asked worriedly, watching her expression turn from determination to surprise. She threw up her hands.

"Nothing," She announced, earning a curious glance from the boy. "I'm just going to go clean up. I'll see you two in a bit." She offered, walking the distance from the deck, to the door, where Ash craned his neck to watch her leave. If he was paid for every time she behaved differently around him, he'd be rich by now!

"Girls, am I right?" Brock offered nonchalantly before hooking an arm around Ash's shoulder, immediately changing the subject. "Speaking of _girls_ , Ash, you don't know a lot about them, do you?" his eyebrows wiggled. "After all of this is over, why don't you and I go out for our own celebration? Just a guy thing, and I can teach you about them proper."

Ash snickered. "I don't think Misty would like that." Ash responded carelessly, slipping out from under Brock's arm.

"What's Misty got to do with it?" Brock hummed unhappily while pikachu pat him on the leg, and togepi waddled after Ash.

 **XOX**

Focusing on _them_ was selfish, he knew that. Asking her to come with him was selfish and unreasonable, but a small part of him, after everything that happened still wasn't comfortable with her _or_ Brock leaving. What if something happened? Ash was going to be far, far away, and wouldn't know about it for weeks, most likely.

Therefore, when Jessie and James made the announcement they were preparing to dock, Ash snatched Misty away privately, and made his concerns appropriate. She responded with as much gusto as possible, assured him for the millionth time she wasn't going to be alone, that she had Brock, and her sisters to watch her back; but Ash was still uneasy.

That was still only five people against a full army of brainwashed evil-doers, the odds weren't in their favor.

Misty tapped his cheek, placed a sly kiss on his lips and winked at him. _We're smarter than they are_. She told him before trekking down the hallway, holding togepi and passing a few last minute, mindless totes of advice.

Brock was already on deck, what he could throw together was packed in a grocery bag, and he stood beside Jessie, James and meowth, who were dressed in civilian clothes once again. Jessie's make-up was done proper, her skin was flush and pink, and her hair was tied into a bun. James wore his hair in a braid, with large, dorky sun glasses, and a flower-print, bright yellow shirt with green shorts that reminded Ash so much of the Orange Islands tourists his stomach felt sick. Jessie was the cool hippy companion, with flip flops and a skirt that matched his shirt, and a tan blazer.

"Are you ready?" the woman hissed unhappily while Ash blinked at them.

...They looked like his parents. If Ash _had_ parents in this world that actually paid attention to him. Jessie and James weren't nearly old enough to fit the bill, but they hit the nail on the head.

"...Nice... costumes." Ash cleared his throat, gesturing to their outfits with his hand. James rolled his eyes, but Jessie cracked a smile.

"Wait until you see yours."  
It was a threat, or a warning, or both. Brock and Misty's laughter didn't help. Pikachu, having grown over the years _tried_ to share Ash's sympathy, but like togepi, the mouse found it difficult not to chuckle at Ash's misfortune. In this case, his misfortune was a bright pink, baggy shirt, and lime-green pants. To top it off, his head was covered with a round, floppy tan hat, and _oh good lord_ , he looked like a cartoon character.

"...What am I supposed to be? A clown?" Ash muttered after emerging from the deck with his _new_ clothes. Brock and Misty weren't in need of a disguise, since their plan rode on the coat tails that people _would_ recognize them, they needed to look like themselves, Ash, on the other hand, would favor a disguise.

Though, _any_ disguise but _this one_ seemed fair. He was like the tortured teenager in those Vacation movies he and Misty watched.

"Isn't the point of a disguise to be _less_ noticeable?" Ash offered and Jessie, behind her wide grin, shook her head.

"Sometimes, being _overly_ noticeable is the best way to be unnoticed. Over the top is usually a statement that people ignore. If you _try_ to hide, you're more likely to be uncovered."  
"I may not be smart, but even _I_ know there's some flawed logic in there." Ash grimaced, wondering how his next few months were _really_ going to be, following these _clowns_. They were cunning, skilled, and possibly _evil_ in this world; but they were still idiots! Of all of their traits, why was it _that one_ that resurfaced?!

"Aww, c'mon, Ash, you look cute." Misty snorted, holding her stomach. "I don't think I've ever seen you in _pink_ before, Ash, it makes you _almost_ look like a _girl_ , Ash." Misty was _so_ funny! Mocking him, taking jabs at his masculinity whenever she had the chance; it wasn't like he _meant_ to blurt out when she cahnged; her changes were just shocking! This was unfair treatment.

"Well, your hair is..."

She inched forward, waiting for a weak-willed response with eager, tentative, mocking eyes. Revenge for all the times that he put her on the spot.

"Well..." he stammered, throwing out his arm. "Your hair is stupid!" He tried turning away from her with a red blush; his response resulting in a gut busting laugh from Brock and a stiffened snicker from James.

Misty leaned forward, with her hands on her thighs. " _Awe_ —says the boy in a pink shirt and lime-green pants." She cooed, looking down, lips quivering. "You're in flip-flops, Ash. It's so adorable...and the sun glasses..." She mused, this time earning a physical reaction from Ash who nearly pounced on her in his defense when meowth swat a serious paw between the two of them.

"Meowth!" The cat cried, looking at them both and shaking his head. If they weren't insulting each other, they were _flirting_ like school children! How frustrating. Meowth meowed his battle strategy to Ash, James translated slowly for Brock and Misty and he hopped up on the railing.

"Today is the day we take the fight to them. When we land, we'll immediately begin our operation to find Giovanni, and save the world." James proclaimed proudly while the rest of them shared smiles.

Aside from some playful banter between the three of them, with a disassociated Team Rocket leading the front, they were quiet as they entered into Sinnoh from an abandoned dock, south of a small village past Sunnyshore City.

"What if something happens?" Brock finally questioned, looking at Jessie and James who strode confidently. "And we need to get a hold of Ash?"  
"We'll contact you." Jessie replied nonchalantly, butting heads with Misty.  
"That's not good enough." Misty snapped, her cheerful mood dying with the assumption that they couldn't reach Ash. After all, they still didn't know if they could trust Jessie and James, at least _she_ didn't. Since they lied to her, to _them_ , _almost got them killed_ , she had hardly looked at them, let alone spoken with them. The idea of leaving Ash with them made her stomach churn.

James sighed, not understanding female's innate rage. "Once we're in safety, we'll get a pokedex without a tracker and we'll call you two. Once you get back to Kanto, reactivate your phones, act as if _nothing_ has changed and we'll call you." James assured the redhead, and Misty found it difficult not to trust his doe green eyes and honest expression.

"..Fine." She uttered since no other complaint was made. "But-! As soon as you get a pokedex, you better call—none of that disappearing for months at a time act." She scowled, looking at Ash who smiled weakly at her, recalling his months absence prior.

"I won't, I swear." He urged her as they moved forward through the darkening forest. "Besides, psyduck gets lonely if I don't call, right?" Ash smiled warmly, earning a quiet wink from Misty, and a crinkle from Brock.

"I don't get it?" He said, shattering the moment. Misty chuckled.

"When Ash was in the assisted living home during recovery, I told him he could call any time since psyduck gets lonely." She answered honestly, poking out her tongue between her teeth and Brock rolled his eyes. Such an excuse to have him called seemed silly now. She had no problem demanding his phone calls, now.

Then again...their situation wasn't the same. Misty glanced back over her shoulder at Ash who was feeding pikachu a few stray berries he pulled off a vine, keeping to the back of the group. Pikachu rested on his supposed-injured shoulder, and togepi jumped periodically on the ground, training, and keeping up with the group. Misty's eyes narrowed.

"Ash, how's your arm?"

"My arm?" Ash mused, blinking at her curiously. He stared down to where pikachu sat and shrugged. "Better, I guess?"

"...You dislocated your shoulder." She announced carelessly, watching Ash's eyes shift around the room. Even Misty and her limited understanding of human anatomy knew that dislocations took _at least_ a few weeks to heal.

"...So?" he questioned, unsure of why that mattered. Misty pressed the issue, walking a little ways behind Brock who stared happily at the Sinnoh forest; he had never left Kanto before, so the experience was refreshing to him. _New_.

" _So_?" Misty echoed in concern. "I'm a walking bruise after yesterday, and you've been running up and down like _nothing_ happened. Now your arm isn't in a sling even though when I barely touched you yesterday, you freaked out about it—are you _sure_ you're okay?" Misty kept her voice down while Ash placed an index finger to his chin, and racked his brain for thought.

"...Ya, I feel fine." He muttered after some thought and twisting of his shoulder and torso. While biting the inside of his cheeks, he could see the bruises she spoke about; her knees were covered in them, as well as her right arm, and the wrap Brock provided for her thigh-wound was still a major issue, whereas he was okay. Honestly, Ash had never put much thought into it, not really.

"I heal fast, you know that." He deduced after a short time—he _did_ after all, heal faster than the doctors ever thought possible. Why would now be any different? After suffering from a major infection and surgery, he was up and walking around in under a few hours. Most people had to stay in the hospital, seek treatment, but he was _fine_. He was always _fine_.

Maybe that _was_ a little weird?  
When her concerned expression and glare didn't budge, Ash forced a smile. "Really, don't worry about it, Mist." He offered, pointing ahead at their group that was slowly leaving them behind.

How could she not be? And how did she never notice before. His shoulders were broad, his muscles well developed. He lived in a dream world for several years, and now he was supposed to be kind of _chosen hero_ of the people, even though he was _normal_ .. then again, Misty's eyebrows rose as she followed after him, wincing every so often.

 _Ash was never normal, was he?_

 **XOX**

Talking about it was okay. Scheming was preferred, but now that they were staring into the town, at the point of separation, it was _too real_. Suddenly, it didn't matter so much that the world was in peril. Maybe, Team Rocket wasn't even that bad, things were still functioning, right? Maybe it wasn't too late to turn back and change the plan! They could all go together as one great, big, family unit!

At the pit of his stomach, Ash felt something move while the rest of the group fell into a rehashing of the same plan. Jessie and James gave Misty and Brock coordinates, meowth spoke with pikachu and togepi, and Ash _watched_ ; moreover, he stared at his companions. He came back to them, only to leave once more. He spent months away from Misty, away from _this feeling_ in his chest; and he was still just getting to know Brock; but they were his friends, his _family_. Yet, they were leaving again, after everything they went through.

 _We won't get separated_ Misty told him in that cabin when they still thought they were in the hands of the enemy. A part of him felt overwhelmingly guilty for blaming her, thinking that she was going back on a promise again—but luckily, he was past that. They weren't being _separated_ , the three of them, they were on hiatus, with a temporary goodbye.

 _But damn it_ , why did it hurt so much? Having had the unfortunate feature of wearing his heart on his sleeve his entire life, tears pooled at the corners of his eye, and he sniffled, wiping away a stray tear before it fell.

"Well," Misty's voice pierced the forest while she and Brock approached Ash, who hung back from the conversation. Jessie and James gave them space, though meowth wandered over to watch their interactions. "I guess this is goodbye... _again_." she hummed, shifting awkwardly before him. Brock smiled weakly at Ash, their last goodbye was a fleeting one; full of his yelling and Ash and Misty fleeing, but _now_ , it was different.

They were different.

"It's not goodbye..." Ash hummed, hating the feeling that he would be without his long time companions again; every time they parted, it was the same knife ripping into wounded, _unreal_ memories forged in his mind, and Ash sniffled. As an adult, his tears weren't as welcome, or as justified as a young ten-year old saying goodbye to his three year companions, but they were understandable, given the circumstances. They didn't know when they would see each other again, or even if those terms would be on good terms.

"Oh, Ash." Misty mused sympathetically, breaching the friend bubble and wrapping her arms around his shoulders, an action that was immediately followed by Brock, who hugged them both warmly.

Hugging was still a strange sensation, a warm, welcomed and butterfree enticing, _oddity._ In his dreams, people didn't _hug_ him, not really. Perhaps it was because he didn't understand what it felt like to be hugged by someone else in his mind; someone other than pokemon, and his parental figures. But now, while he grabbed the backs of their shirts, behind his silly pink top and dopey tan hat, he exhaled into Misty's shoulder and squeezed his eyes shut.

A moment he wanted to remember; the bond the three of them shared. While it might not have been as strong as _he_ remembered it, it was powerful, and it was his, and he found it again. A place in this weird world to call home. Like the strength he found in his pokemon, that they found in _him_ , he found trust, and power, and hospitality with his friends. With Brock, Ash was a traveler again, an experienced, grounded individual who would help anyone. With Misty, he was a trainer, continuously improving, helping his pokemon, and moving forward against all odds. They were his rock and foundation, though he didn't have them for very long, they supported his crumbling beam when he needed it the most.

 _But now_ , he needed more than to help them. He needed, and wanted to be the one to save them from the horror that has become their reality. Before, Ash wanted to help, to _mean something_ , but _now_ , with Jessie and James and their weird conspiracy, he had a chance to _be something_ that could do more than he ever thought possible.

Not wanting to moment to end, but knowing that it had to by meowth's quiet beck and call, Ash released them from his grasp, and their arms fell lax around his body until finally, they were standing in a circle; their faces messed up.

"Man, it almost feels like we've done this before." Brock muttered quietly, rubbing the back of his head while Misty blinked at him.

" _We_ have." Misty gestured to Ash, who offered her a soft smile in return, and then shifted his feet and shrugged his shoulders. He would have liked to tell them that they all have, in his world, but the confession never rose from his throat.

"You remember how to get a hold of us if something happens, right?" Brock quizzed while Misty watched Ash's reaction with puzzlement.

"Yeah," Ash said. "Smoke signals; or my personal favorite: scream loudly." Ash joked, earning a lopsided grin from Brock, who shook his head side to side. It was no time to be joking, yet, here they were.

 _Laughing made the immense terror go away_.

"It's not too late to change your mind and come back with us, Ash. We can get the legendary pokemon after we go to Silph Co."

A pause, Ash considered it a million times on their trek here, but with the same confidence as last time—at least what as left that he could muster he shook his head.

"No, it's better like this. I'll only get in the way if I'm with you two." Ash muttered. "It's better if I'm out here."

Again, her green eyes looked wounded when her shoulders slumped. She bit the inside of her cheek and watched while Brock pat Ash on the shoulder and exhaled.

"You be careful out there with those three, okay?" Brock spoke quietly the words Misty would have liked to discuss herself, but her words caught at the edge of her tongue when she looked to Ash, who looked away from Brock in time to catch her gaze for minor preparation.

Misty lunged forward, at first what looked like a hug from Brock's perspective developed into a sudden mouth-to-mouth situation, and...She kissed him! With much of the same passion that fueled their first kiss, her fists knotted at the collar of his shirt, bringing him in tightly and affectionately. Rather than a goodbye-peck, a quick 'see you later', her head turned, forcing Ash's eyes closed. Then, she released him with a slouch and left him winded. Brock's mouth hung wide open and Jessie and James blew tired whistles at the two of them, clapping silently and slipping pretend money between each other.

"Wha-when—how-?" Brock gasped while Misty stepped back to watch Ash cover his mouth with his tanned hand and flush an unnaturally bright red while his eyebrows twitched.

"You _better_ be careful this time. Don't think I didn't notice that healing scar on your abdomen." She scolded him haughtily, drowning her own embarrassment out with a stern tone. She knew how dangerous he could be; how dangerous the situations would be following Unova, and if she didn't make herself clear before. _Now_ she had.

Ash gulped, taking a step back in shock of what happened.

"I'm supposed to be the one worried about you." He mused awkwardly, earning an eye roll from Misty.

"There's nothing to worry about. I can take care of myself. I took care of you after all, didn't I?" As she spoke, her arms crossed and her venomous tone turned cheerful, relaxed by the sentiment and honesty of their weird confirmation. In return, Ash stared earnestly at her, the growing need to hug her returning to his bones, but he stopped himself. Instead, togepi offered a short goodbye.

 _See you again soon_ , the egg chirped happily while hopping up onto Ash's shoulder, and Ash agreed wholeheartedly. Looking individually to Brock, who was channeling a sense of frustration now, then to Misty who went from intimidating to as awestruck as himself, Ash grinned.

"Soon is right. Let me know if anything changes." without sparing another glance, he dodged past his two friends, past Misty who sent shivers down his spine and approached a snickering Jessie and James.

 _Not a word_ read across Ash's face while he glowered at the two of them. Ash hadn't seen it, but Misty's fingers traced the corners of her mouth while she grinned coyly at Brock who was bordering a brain hemorrhage.

"When did this happen!?" He hissed finally, earning a bashful giggle from Misty. The sound, Brock's question, and their sudden distance made Ash spin on his heels and face them once again.

"When I see you two next, it'll be with the answers to fix all of this nonsense!" He assured them happily, straightening his tan cap, much to Misty's laughter. _Maybe_ , he would have been more convincing if he wasn't wearing a bright pink shirt and lime-green shorts. Ash looked down at himself and sighed.

"I'll see you soon." He afterwards with a large wave while Jessie, James, and meowth finally ushered the trainer forward, down the split in the road leading to another, smaller town, while Brock and Misty stood at the fork in the road leading to Sunnyshore City, watching the four of them leave.

"Goodbye, Ash." Misty hummed sadly, glancing down at the ground where she suspected to see pikachu, only, no pokemon awaited her. It felt so empty without him around. Brock felt the same, tears pooling at his eyes while he bit his bottom lip.

"...I can't believe you didn't tell me." He joked, trying to take the edge off the moment, to alleviate some of the pressure that was crushing Misty.

"Oh, shush. It _just_ happened, anyways." Misty confirmed, pushing Brock down the path.

"Like, just now?"

"Well, last night, but..."

" _Last night_? Oh my, Misty. Details."

"I will break you, I swear to..."

Ash could hear their banter as he trampled down a long, winding hill with Jessie and James, and while he smiled at first, it slowly dwindled into uncharted territory as silence fell into the forest, and he was left with Team Rocket; stoic, unfamiliar, Team Rocket. Even in his dreams, they never _really_ worked together, so the sensation was new.

"...so," Ash started in is best attempt at friendly conversation. "Where are we going first?"

"You'll see when we get there."

 _Helpful_ , Ash thought while his face scrunched up. "I think if I'm going to helping you guys, you should let know know what the plan is..." Ash tried weakly, though Jessie looked back at him sternly.

"The less you know, the better." She told him, but Ash didn't like being in the dark.

 _It's different_ , Misty had told him earlier, and it was true, if not for them; for everything else. Everything he knew was about to change, for better or worse.

 **Author's Note** : I know this isn't in my usual time slot of updates (to put simply, it's late, by my standards), but I've been working on bulk writing the rest of the story in hopes of getting it up sooner rather than later. I want to apologize, first and foremost, I _am_ working two jobs and going to school full time, so I don't have a lot of free time to write. So thank you, to those of you who have waited patiently, and happily.

Anyways, I had a few people ask me not to separate Ash and Misty, but in this situation...it makes sense (to me) there is still some growing that Ash needs to make, and for the plot to move forward at a better pace, they have to be separate ;w; I'm sorry. -shot-. I did a few drafts of them not separating, just to check, and I didn't like it. I do think Misty is the suave, enticing Girlfriend in private, while Ash is the nervous nancy; but in public Ash is the indifferent one, and Misty is the nervous one. I dunno. Just my theory. Pay attention to the new dynamics of the groups (this chapter was primary about the original trio dynamic, and also the start of the next, and last arc). Also, this chapter was going to be a smidge longer, but I decided against it only because the ending was a lot different than the start.

Anywho, I feel like my author notes are getting too long and extraneous, so I'm going to start cutting them short instead of explaining so on and so forth. If you have questions, just leave me a review or a PM and I'll get back to you!

NINT


	46. Chapter 46: The beginning of the end

**Locked Away, Chapter 46**

Sunnyshore City was still a mile away when Brock and Misty stopped at the side of the road to catch their breath. The first few hours of their walk were void of conversation, silent thoughts passed between the two of them, lost in their own minds. Would Ash be okay?

 _Would they_ be okay?

Brock tried once or twice to start a conversation; focus on the _now_ rather than the _what if's_. For example, what they were going to say to Dawn when they arrived on her doorstep. They couldn't very well lead with they fact that they released the majority of legendary pokemon and destroyed Unova, a facility that no one _really_ knew was a secret, undercover Team Rocket base. Along with the initial dread, they were not sure what Dawn was going to say to _them._ Sure, she was on board when they were planning the events to stop Team Rocket; but they were playing the real game now. Plus, they had technically gone missing and Dawn was the superstitious type—what if she thought they were brainwashed, or something?

So Brock tried to mask his concerns with conversation with Misty, but the former gym leader was like a steel trap, lost in her own thoughts with the occasional hum or nod to his comments. Thus, making the initial walk _dull_ and unconventional. He knew, he understood her anguish, the boy-no, the _man_ , Brock corrected with a turn of his chin, a _man_ that Misty was quite possibly in love with was being whisked away by two _super villains_ under the guise that he _might possibly_ be the hero they have been looking for. Said villains almost got them killed only a little over twenty four hours ago, and while Brock and Ash were more accepting of the situation, Misty was not. Misty was worried, Ash was their friend, _her best friend_. Brock didn't blame her, but the lack of social interaction to vent his concerns to was becoming problematic. Anymore, and he was going to start talking to geodude, and _he_ couldn't speak pokemon.

Having caught onto his withering, apathetic gaze, Misty looked up, sea-green eyes flickering at Brock while he packed up what was left of their boat rations and hummed to himself.

"I think he'll be okay." She finally managed ending the long silence, and Brock stifled a snort.

"You're only realizing that now?" Brock questioned sarcastically. "For someone so smart, you're pretty dense." He mocked her playfully, face stoic while she glared.

"He can take care of himself, you know." He added earnestly while patting her firmly on the shoulder. Misty smiled at him, and playfully swat him on the upper arm.

"Shut up, you haven't known him as long as I have." She paused. "He can be insanely reckless."

"I know!" Brock whined, "I can't believe I'm helping save the world with people who are _practically_ strangers when I could be at home, checking out hot..."

He didn't finish his statement, save for the glare presented by his slightly-red-haired companion. A flinch, then a giggle erupted from the two of them as they walked off into the distance, towards the gleaming city of Sunnyshore.

"What do you think they're doing right now? They've probably reached that village Jessie and James were talking about." Misty hummed throwing Brock a bone while looking up at the blue sky. Brock shrugged a smile across his face.

"Probably wondering what we're doing."

 **XOX**

Brock was not wrong, Ash was spending his time talking with pikachu and togepi during the two hour trek into the forest that Jessie and James led him through. The trio didn't talk much, _at least_ not to him. Either the four them them were still uncomfortable around one another, or they were silent, unwitting individuals.

 _How completely dull_. Ash's mind yelled at him while he rubbed his temples. With his companions, Brock and Misty, they always managed to have fun, in the worst situations, in the best situations. Now, he spent two hours walking behind Jessie, James and meowth, listening to the scuff of his shoots against the dirt, and the crunch of branches and leaves underneath.

 _Learn to listen, kid._ Meowth pestered him earlier, scolding his many questions.

 _Where are we going, what are we doing, what's the plan; which pokemon are we going to see first?_ Were only a few of the many questions that Ash had. He wished for awhile that Brock and Misty had created the arrangement, since theirs was so neatly mapped out, while his was skewed, and frankly, a little terrifying being led by the former Team Rocket members.

They could assure him over and over again that it was better if he didn't know, but no matter what they implied and insisted, Ash _knew_ better. It wasn't like this was his first ballgame working with the trio, whether they knew it or not, he was an expert in how _horrible_ their plots and ideas could be. They were _never_ successful.

In the end, Ash settled with scratching behind the older pikachu's ears, and juggling togepi in his arms, allowing the sounds of the forest to encapsulate his entire being. Crickets sung in the background, the sound of distant pokemon sung loudly their howls and voices, and he could hear the moving stream probably only a few meters away from him. Nature was peaceful, humane and untouched by the chaos created by _humans_ , it wasn't _normal_ for the world to be unbalanced. People did that.

Eyes falling to the road before him, he watched trails of dust blow with the gentle wind, and a breath left him as he recalled Misty's words.

 _Are you sure you're okay?_ She asked in correspondence to his injured shoulder, and it hadn't been the first time his recovery was marked with a question. Every time he seemed to heal faster than the last time. The infected tissue at his side should have barred him from training for at least a few weeks, and he was traveling through Kalos within a few days. He _saw_ how bruised and beaten Misty was after their escapades through the Team Rocket facility, and more importantly, he knew _he_ shouldn't have been any better.

But he was.

He had never called himself _normal_ , though Brock and Misty insisted he was _pretty special_ for a normal guy. Was he? Was there something more to this that he didn't know? _Obviously_ there had to be. He knew things he shouldn't have, he knew about legendary pokemon that tied him directly to Team Rocket, _Giovanni_ knew to watch him while he was in a coma; but _why_ him?

Ash's childhood seemed foggy now, after so many years spent reliving the age of ten, but he still remembered waking up that morning, being playfully shocked by pikachu and starting his journey by throwing a rock at a pidgey.

He remembered _before_ that, fighting with Gary with fishing lures, attending pokemon camps and watching his mother leave to work every morning before he would run off on his own to play. Ash remembered having few friends, being the butt of most of Gary's jokes, and the barring dependence on the dream of becoming the world's greatest pokemon trainer—a pokemon master.

Yet, the world had no intention of creating that dream.

He was not a kid anymore, and his entire life changed on his tenth birthday. A full year since he woke up, he had plenty of time to cope with the sensation of dread, coated fear and constant reminders of reality knocking at his door, but never in his mind had he been convinced that his dreams _meant_ something more than he did now.

Something, _somewhere_ , knew this was going to happen; and whether it have been by chance, or destiny, Ash was tied to it. _He was the chosen one._

Then, there was the now looming dread in his mind that _this_ was all a dream. He felt guilty, more about his ill-fit feelings than anything else; but how could he not? He survived a literal prison, showered by flying bullets without being grazed, ran away from crazed dragons, survived a wound on his stomach that after hours of floating in the ocean should have poisoned him; met most of his former companions; discovered that his mother, who disowned him was actually being blackmailed—or something, _and_ he got the girl.

Aside from _the huge mess,_ Ash obtained everything so far; a justifiable reason for the actions people were taking, proof that he wasn't as crazy as he was made out to be in the beginning, and the motivation and determination to not give up—with friends and _even villains_ backing up his crazed dreams and connections.

How could he _not_ believe this was a dream? At least partially? Ash kept bouncing back, events worked in his favor, and each time they moved in a direction that helped people—what if he never woke up after all? What if this was some kind of huge nightmare twisted by his slowly aging mind as a gateway to end his own—No.

 _No_.

He couldn't think that way.

Swallowing hard against the lump that formed into his throat, he looked ahead once again, ignoring the look of concern fragmented through pikachu's eyes, while topepi remained otherwise oblivious.

After months of being told he lived comatose in some _dreamland_ where he was special and the world was different, and that he and his companions had the power to change everything was _unrealistic_ and fake; well, now that exactly what happened in his dreams was happening; the lines between reality and his dream blurred. Not intentionally, but the small, lingering thought pressed forever at the back of his mind.

It all just seemed _too_ convenient, so laid out and prepared that maybe, _a small part,_ of Ash believed this couldn't be really happening. Somewhere along the way, he passed out again, and didn't wake up. Was it before or after his adventure through the region? Maybe he _never_ woke up, but his body shifted dreams to accommodate for his fading consciousness—this world was dark after all, but somehow there was _always_ a light at the end of the tunnel.

….What was wrong with him?

So badly he wanted to scream, bang his fists against the trees and scream his concerns to the world; whatever world he was stuck in, but the rampage never surfaced past a quip. He couldn't tell anyone, especially not Misty and Brock, that he wasn't sure if what he was facing was real or not. Or that it was easier to deal with because at any second he was expecting to wake up in a cold sweat in some abandoned hospital miles away from here with no proper memory of the events that transpired. Months he spent convincing himself that this world was real, but now, the two weren't so different. One was darker, but he was still at the center of it all. Did that make this real? How could he explain that to someone without earning an amount of pity. The more they told him this was _real_ , the more terrified his muscles felt, the more his nerves were on fire and every bone ached for rest.

Ash swallowed hard.

 _Listening_ wasn't for him so he finally snapped.

"Where are we going?" He barked, approaching Jessie and James who stopped abruptly at his abrasiveness.

"We already told you that..."

"No!" Ash said sternly, eyes narrowed, brows furrowed, and foot dug into the dirt.

"I'm not going anymore until I know what's going on. I followed you this far, and I understand that you have _secrets_ , but I'm not playing this game with you three, tell me now, or I'm going back to find my friends."

Their surprised expressions were not shocking to Ash, he was surprised at himself for his authoritative stance on the subject, usually, he gave people the space and time that they needed to eventually crack and warm up to him—but he didn't have the time for that anymore. They _didn't_ have long to fix this world.

"We're going to Mt. Coronets. To the north to find Dialga and Palkia." James dodged Jessie's disapproving glances. "If we're lucky, they've remained untouched, but we're not sure how many pokemon they have discovered after using the information you gave them." James explained, earning a glare from Jessie, who was content in telling Ash nothing.

"I didn't _give_ them anything." Ash growled. "Maybe if people had told me what was going on from the very start, we wouldn't be in this mess." with a twist of his hips, he took the lead, much to Jessie and James surprise.

"If we're going there, we can use the pass on route 215, they had the mountain road closed the last time I was there, and assuming it's still closed, we'll have to take the back way."

Eyebrows quirked all around, togepi stuck its tongue out at the bemused trio quickly while Ash walked with confident strides. James followed after him, leaving Jessie and meowth with pikachu to ponder their next move.

"The village up ahead will give us access to a change of clothes and supplies." James pointed to the lights shinning above the tree lines.

"And a pokedex?" Ash asked, glancing over his shoulder briefly.

James buckled. "We..." The older man cleared his throat. "Lied about... We can't get a pokedex that doesn't leave tracking signals. We told your _girlfriend_ that so she would-"  
Before James finished Ash nodded and rolled his shoulders tiredly. "I already figured that." Ash hummed sadly, glancing downward. Not only was he unable to reach Misty and Brock, but his pokemon at Gary's were probably missing him, as well. "It doesn't matter, right now we have bigger things to think about, let's get there before sunset."

"Yeah..." James hummed, amazed by the young man's strength, it was nothing like he remembered.

From the back of the group, pikachu followed after Ash quietly, ears lowered while he watched his trainer move confidently, just as he watched Ash many times before; through league battles, and gym matches, his shoulders rose higher and higher after each match. Ash was changing, pikachu only hoped that in the end, there would still be enough of him left to remember.

 **XOX**

After a good hour, they arrived at the front of the Sinnoh offices of the Pokemon League; the place to be before entering Victory Road, where people applied for the league, and where the _magic_ happened. It was also home to one Dawn Matthews office.

Arriving at the league, they realized _how big_ their grand adventure in Unova had become in the news. Apparently, dragon pokemon were running wild for the first time in years, and the weather was diluted and murky thanks to the sudden release of legendaries. Their power cascading disrupted the natural balance of the world, and now, the regions were suffering from it. Brock and Misty looked on in awe at the rushing by of people holding stacks of paper, the news media, article writers, _everyone_ gathered at the corner of the lobby entrance, and the lobby was streamed with security. What was usually a well rounded, organized facility was now rampant with news reporters and chaos. How were they supposed to find anything here?

"I...had no idea." Brock muttered while he looked at the sudden rise in accidents that were coming through the telephone. He couldn't imagine what the police station looked like right now.

"...Yeah, I know. Everything has a consequence." Misty hummed, biting down on her lip while she looked outside the grand windows. In the forest, their vision was clouded by the looming presence of trees, but now that the forest had cleared, and they approached the very tip of the Sunnyshore City, she could see in the distance of the ocean a large, black cloud lumbering over the ocean in the very same direction of Unova.

Why hadn't they seen it before? Misty swallowed hard against the lump in her throat while Brock led her to the counter where a frazzled, red-haired receptionist sat answering frantic phone calls.

"Yes, I know you said your sewage was backed up, and we have our best people working—no we aren't sure of the cause—I'm sorry ma'am. I can't call a plumber-" She smacked her lips, more than likely in the frustration that the woman on the other end hung up on her in a huff, and Misty could have awarded the receptionist a golden star for keeping her cool under such pressure.

However, the duo shared a very knowing look. So Sinnoh _didn't_ know what happened in Unova? Could that mean Jessie and James were right? They weren't going to bring out reports of what happened there. Misty tried to contain her excitement as the woman looked up at the two of them with tired, auburn eyes.

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah, actually. We're here to speak with Dawn."

"I'm sorry, she's all booked up and..." While the woman talked, Misty very carefully leaned over the counter to give the woman a better look of her, and she froze and her mouth opened in an "o"

"Oh my... Oh my gosh. Misty Waterflower." She gaped, standing upright immediately and Brock nodded in approval. An appropriate reaction to someone who was _supposed to be missing_.

"What are you—how are you? We heard but we didn't.."

"I'm fine," Misty squinted at the woman's name tag. "Zoey? I decided to take a short vacation after the attack, kind of freaked me out a little and the police said to stay under the radar—so, you wouldn't by any chance be able to get me in with a little convo with Miss Matthews, would you?"

Brock was surprised by her sudden change in demeanor, Ash mentioned it once or twice when they wrote letters during his original journey, but Brock never witnessed it. It was like seeing her again for the first time since their first introduction. So smooth, almost...hostile with that cheery, ear to ear grin that made his skin crawl. Zoey couldn't say no.

"Yes, c-come with me." Zoey snapped upright, her smile returning to her features as she ignored the phone which rang endlessly, and maneuvered Brock and Misty around the back counter and into the hallway. With her back to them, Misty held up her fist to Brock, who bounced his own against hers and shook his head. It was all an act, a well, cultivated and practiced act.

...But deep down she was still Misty, and he could see that in the light in her eyes, a gleaming, proud look of egotistical proportions.

Once they arrived at the end of a long hallway, Zoey held up her well manicured hand, and nodded to them before wrapping her knuckles against the hard wooden door several times. When no reply emerged, she tapped again, and Dawn's voice sprung from the inside.

"What is it Zoey?"

"I have a couple of guests who need to talk with you."

"Guests? I'm not taking visitors right now! Send them away!" Dawn hissed and Misty and Brock both flinched and looked at each other worriedly. She didn't sound well.

"Dawn, I mean, Ms. Matthews, it's Misty Waterflower, and her friend."

A stilling calm answered them while Brock and Misty's eyes turned to the door where they both awaited an answer. Instead, the rapid pound of heels clanking against a marble floor echoed from within the room, until coming to a full stop at the entrance.

"...did you ask for their ID?"  
Zoey felt sweat pool at her hairline. "Uhh.. No, miss..." She spared a glance to Misty and Brock who immediately felt remorse for Zoey's position, and Misty spoke up.

"Dawn, open up, it's us."

Neither could see it, the way Dawn's blue eyes brightened up at the sound of their voice from beyond the door. The way her fingers curled around the door knob, and she looked both thrilled and terrified at the very moment she pulled it open, and saw Brock and Misty standing behind Zoey.

Had Brock or Misty had anymore emotion to spare after the long nights, they might have teared up alongside Dawn, who grasped her mouth upon seeing then, and then her shoulders rocked before plunging forward.

"You're okay! You're both okay!" She wailed, ugly, wet tears falling from her eyes while brushing against their dirty arms. How strange, Misty would have never imagined that Dawn would be the one missing her. Brock shared the concern as they looked at one another and shrugged awkwardly. Eventually, both tried to comfort the woman while Zoey's gaze shifted away from the trio and Dawn collected herself.

"When we didn't hear from you—oh god, Saffron City was shut down, Gary he... You guys are alive you're..." Dawn stopped, her immediate, emotionally filled response stalling in great fear upon recognition that the third member of their party, a man with a boy's face, and a yellow pikachu, was missing. Her guts twisted inside.

"Where's Ash? Did something happen?"

"No!" Misty snapped, taking Dawn's shoulders and smiling at Zoey who was growing gravely uncomfortable. "Everything is..." Misty stammered. "...okay" She decided after a moment.

"Let's just go inside. Thanks for the help Zoey." Misty waved to the redhead, and ushered Brock and Dawn back into the woman's office, and shut the door quietly behind them.

At first, silence funneled between them while Dawn thought of the proper words to say. She wore a skin tight black skirt, and a pink blouse over black heels. Her hair was tied into a high ponytail, and unlike Brock and Misty, she looked professional, business ready...and mortified. She wiped her nose with the sleeve of her blouse and licked her lips quietly while collecting her thoughts.

"What happened to you guys?" She asked, spinning on her heels to face them. Misty, more than likely the most aware and used to delivering bad news pointed to one of the chairs in the small office, and led Dawn to them while Brock followed. They settled into the leather couch facing Dawn who's knee bounced relentlessly against the rugged floor.

"First we need to ask if it's safe to talk here." Misty spoke, and Brock shared a proud glance to her; his conspiracy theory ways finally protruding from her own systems of belief.

Eyes still puffy while she picked at her nails, which were bitten down into practically nothing, Dawn nodded.

"Yeah, Sinnoh league headquarters are one of the safest in the league."

Misty inhaled. "Are you sure?"

Dawn's eyes flashed up to her green ones, then to Brock who shrugged. Uncertainty crossed in her eyes. The past few months questioned every belief she had, not that she had strong ones to begin with. Dawn shook her head.

"I'm not for certain, but we can go to my mother's house. She moved here a few years ago. It'll be safe there."  
"Okay." Misty nodded to Brock while he leaned forward, taking Dawn's shaking hands in an attempt to sooth her.

"Dawn, I know it's a bit unprofessional dropping in like this, especially after how the news handled the situation after the party, but if there's anyone else we can trust, we're going to need as many hands as we can get." Fatherly. Looking at Brock, his voice was the same tone she imagined a father would talk to their child—one he probably spent years practicing with his handful of brothers. She inhaled, a shudder running down her spine while Dawn smacked her lips.

Dawn blinked once, then twice, and nodded while Brock continued.

"...This is big, Dawn."

"I know a few people in the league, they'll help." She added, feeling silly for becoming so emotional while they were so distant.

"Can we trust them?" Misty questioned and Dawn nodded.

"Yes!" She chirped, her voice losing it's quake while she released her hands from Brock's grasp and nodded. "...Yes." She assured them, inhaling a breath of fresh air.

 **XOX**

Brock and Misty arrived in disguise to Dawn's house shortly before dawn. Joanna had a nice house on a hilltop in the outskirts of town so she could over look the ocean, and the city at the same time. Her motto was _she would always watch over her little girl_. Dawn happened to live in Sunnyshore City, which while having the lowest crime rate in all of Sinnoh region, meant that Joanna had to move to watch over her little girl. Mother's were naturally protective of their children.

Being a mother, Joanna was stunned and a bit confused to see Dawn approach her so late in the evening, with a duo that looked like they walked from a costume contest. Misty was wearing an improper, green wig, and Brock had on a rain jacket. In July. She recgonized right away something was wrong, and rightfully kept her mouth closed.

"...Dawn?" Joanna masked her confusion, sharing a glance with Dawn who smiled warmly at her mother, recovered from her previous episode of panic.

"Momma! It's great to see you." She sounded elated while she grasped the older woman's hands and brought her pink lips to both cheeks. "These are my friends, do you think we could come inside for a minute? Maybe have some dinner? _Or something_." Dawn questioned, nudging the easy-going woman.

"Yes, of course, Dawnie." She stepped aside, showing the inside of a well groomed, well scented home. Something Misty and Brock both missed. "Come in!" she exclaimed nudging the chidren.

Misty bit her tongue to contain her snort while mimicking Joanna. " _Dawnie?_ " She mouthed to Brock who shrugged. Apparently it was only funny to Misty.

"Actually, a few of your colleagues showed up earlier. They're in the living room when you're ready." Joanna brushed her hand against Dawn's face, a knowing look in her eyes. "I'll be in the kitchen. Let me know if you need anything?"

"Thanks, mom." Dawn cooed, walking in and removing her shoes. While Misty and Brock followed suit, the blue-haired woman glared at Misty.

"Don't you say a thing."

"Wasn't gunna." Misty hummed. "... _Dawnie_." She added, skipping past the younger woman to approach the living room where curious gazes met her every movement. The living room was decorated with the careful eye of a previous coordinator, from the carpet to the curtains, everything had a flow, a movement that was only broken up by the bodies of two men sitting on separate ends of the couch. Misty recognized the first to be Paul Shinji, a member of the Elite Four of the Sinnoh region, and the other to be Drew Hayden; the coordinator she was introduced to at the league party. While Dawn prepared introductions, Misty and Brock removed their _disguises_ , and approached the men.

"Thanks for coming, guys." Dawn announced while taking a seat on the love seat, where Misty took a seat beside her, but Brock remained standing.

A pause.

"Well?" Paul started, his voice harsh, and cold, and Misty might have thrown something at him if she knew better. "What are we here for?"

"Well, to start, we need to know what we've missed in the last week, have you guys heard anything about the Kanto region?" Misty shared a glance with Brock. "...or, you know, Unova?"

Dawn shook her head. "Nothing but the usual. They have Ash painted as a complete arsonist, and kidnapper. He's even on the milk cartons in Sinnoh, and we're a peaceful region."  
Misty nodded quietly. "And what about me?"

"Just that you went missing, and all relations lead back to Ash taking you. They said there was another, I'm thinking they meant Brock but he hasn't been named yet. I think it's because he's a gym leader..." Dawn licked her lips trying to recall all the information. "We didn't know what happened to you guys. I came back to Sinnoh only because I didn't know what else to do. The Elite Four have started a legitimate man hunt for Ash."

"Well, that's _wonderful_." Misty muttered, sarcasm laced through every word. The boyfriend of an Elite Four member was a wanted criminal. How poetic. Misty cracked her neck while Brock cleared his throat.

"...Anything else?"

"Not really. They blamed the attack on Ash, Team Rocket hasn't been given recognition for the attacks in Kanto. The news media tried to cover some of it, but it was quickly shut down. Last I checked Kanto looks as normal as usual on the outside. Those of us with experience can see the extra loaded guns around the market though..."

Misty nodded, nothing they didn't expect to hear. "So they haven't mentioned anything about Unova?"

"...No, why do you keep mentioning that place? Is that where you were?" Dawn asked, though Paul's expression seemed more intent on listening to a story about Unova than that there was a man hunt for Ash. Drew remained stoic for the majority of the compilation, and Brock nodded, stealing the floor save for Misty's reaction. Distress? Brock hadn't the time to think about her expression while he leaned against the fire place.

"...Unova was taken over by Team Rocket during their 'war'. They've been sending in false reports and turned the shore into a prison facility. They were holding the legendary pokemon hostage there but Ash and Misty freed them...but that's not all." Brock cleared his throat again, waiting for their reactions.

"Oh my god..." Dawn muttered under her breath, though Paul sat back, his fists curling on his knees while Drew inhaled and nodded quietly. Brock continued.

"We realize Kanto's problems aren't Sinnoh's problems, but we think by doing this, we've pissed Giovanni off, the leader of Team Rocket, and he's going to come back swinging—he's been putting these chips in pokemon's heads and we aren't sure what they do yet, but we think he might be trying to make an army... or... we don't know, really. We need to get into Silph Co to find out more, and we need Dawn's help to do it. It could be just Kanto he's targeting, or it could be all the regions."

"A prison facility?" Paul asked suddenly, trying to upkeep his masculine persona. "...you didn't by any chance see my brother's name in there, did you, Red?" He asked, gesturing to Misty who flinched uncomfortably.

Misty bit down on her lip, sitting back while rubbing her cheek. The whole incident was a blur now—she knew Iris and Cilan off the top of her head, that Samuel Oak was written in, and they had little files for most of them; but... Shinji, she couldn't remember.

"Ash might've... I didn't get a good look at them, everything kind of went to shit pretty fast. I'm sorry." Misty spoke, her voice coated in her greatest sympathies while she watched Paul sit back. It was small, and insignificant, but his disappointment reflected through his narrowed eyes and Brock smacked his lips.

"They were holding a monstorous amount of dragon pokemon in that facility. Most of which were released..." While she spoke, Misty looked down, eyes wide, "And...some legendaries—Moltres, Zapdos, Arcticuno, Entei—there were others, but I can't remember them all. We busted Moltres out...and it finished the job."

"You saw a real legendary, Misty?" Dawn gawked, eyes wide. A grin pulled on her lips in spite of the situation. "That's pretty bad ass, my friend." She swat Misty's shoulder in an attempt to cheer her up, but Misty could only manage a weak shrug.

"I wish it had been under better circumstances. Regardless, Brock and I are planning on getting into Silph Co, but when I go back to Kanto, they're going to make me report to the Elite Four—who attacked us, by the way."

Dawn shook her head. "Given the situation, the kidnapping allegations and so forth, they might not let me back out, or let me keep my title. We're going to try to use the media against them, but if for some reason I can't leave... Well, this is where you come in. I need to know someone else is going to finish this." Misty hummed. "Ash is counting on us to figure out what Silph Co is doing, and Brock can't do it on his own."

" _We_ can't do it on our own." She corrected, earning a smile from Brock.

"Misty, you can't just walk in there and let the take you. That's not safe."

"So I've heard, but they're going to want a press conference, I figure if I can turn some of their atrocious reports against them, I'll be fine... but really, you can never know with the league anymore, can you?"

Dawn pursed her lips. "...No, I guess not."

"Name the place." Drew urged, finally speaking with bout of determination while shifting forward. "We'll help. Kanto may not be related to Sinnoh, but if Team Rocket does successfully take over, that puts the other regions in danger too."

"So, Team Rocket, they're not influencing the Sinnoh region's Elite Four?" Misty asked, watching Paul.

Paul shook his head silently. "Not that I know of. There's... talk about some of the other members, but our Chief Executive seems to be pretty clean so far. We haven't been told to hide information from the media yet, and we're not supporting pointless allegations and rivalries. Thanks to..." His eyes shifted to Dawn for a moment, who smiled modestly at him, then back to Misty. "...thanks to movement of coordinators, we don't have as much control over Sinnoh as the Elite Four does in Kanto. It's definitely not a bad thing."  
"Gee, you weren't in support of it three years ago." Dawn mocked playfully while Paul shot her a tired look. Misty smiled in response, recalling Dawn's words.

 _Paul was the only one who was in favor of equal rights for trainers_. Though, Misty had the idea it wasn't Paul's nature to be an activist, but someone much older, and very far away.

"Low and behold," Misty muttered. "I need to get to Kanto, Dawn. And I want you to come with me."

"Oh, Misty, I can't leave Sinnoh right now. Things are a mad house with all the weather changes. Something happened in the mountains and it's not settling." Dawn pointed to Drew. "Take Drew, he's not as notable as I am, but he can vouch on my behalf, and if something happens, I can still bail you guys out."

Misty nodded, though slowly and a little disheartened. "I get that."

"If it comes out that Unova was attacked, how should we handle the situation? Blame Team Rocket?" Paul's voice boomed through the living room, his leadership and class evident in how posture and motionless tone.

Brock straightened his shoulders. "They won't. There's too much evidence, and right now with the legendary pokemon and dragons guarding the island, it's a war zone. If they come forward, the peaceful mask they've forced us to believe comes off, and people will start to panic. The population may be sheep, but we're still human. We'll know when something is off."

"Giovanni won't do anything to make the situation harder than it is. I think for awhile, at least, Unova will remain as it was." Misty added confidently. When she defeated charizard in route 25, the news reports went through the very next day, as well as the issue with Ash; and the league party. It was clear they weren't prepared to dish out the information of Unova, otherwise. They would have.

Paul nodded. "Then I'll check in with the executives. If the Elite Four is being controlled, that means their champion must be as well. We might be able to undermine them from a regional level and have them removed from power. In the mean time, I'll figure a way out to make sure when the news about Unova comes out, it's in our favor."

Surprised by his sudden take over, Misty looked at Brock who nodded, impressed. "Yeah, that would be great."

They shared ideas, plans; obligations—such as Ash heading out with two 'people' to find the remaining legendary pokemon in an attempt to save them. That they didn't know where he was right now... In the end, they each had jobs to do, and it all started with a revolving press conference.

Misty nodded. "Good... Now, Dawn, last request..." She looked to the blue haired woman with honest eyes. "Can we bother you for supplies?"

"Always." Dawn nudged Misty and grinned. "But only if you let me fix that _hair_ of yours. What did you do to it?"

 **XOX**

A week passed at a slow-pokes pace, on their way to the mountain. The weathe was unpredictable, snow storms in the middle of rain storms, and sudden dry heat when a few minutes ago, it was down pouring. The fluctuating weather was the reason Ash, and the rest of Team Rocket were huddled inside of a worn down inn. One that they didn't pay for. _That they couldn't pay for_.

Being bad was a new sensation entirely, he dealt with being lost, and confused, occasionally fictional on his worst days—but Ash was never _bad_ ; never a theif. Now, Team Rocket expected him to be. Since the start of their trek, pikachu had been quieter than usual, and togepi used what little time they had to spare to train with the rest of Ash's pokemon. Goodra still did a number on Monferno, so the ape was off limits until they managed to find a place to heal them—but greninja and snorlax occasionally helped togepi and pikachu out. Ash could only imagine what garchomp and goodra were doing now—so far away, _alone_. With the legendary pokemon released, there was no telling that they were even alive.

In the end, Ash's thoughts kept him awake, sitting below the cracked window, wrapped in a wool blanket and holding both togepi and pikachu in his lap. Two weeks was all it took for his name to be drug through the mud. Originally a nobody, now he was a wanted felon on several charges. He didn't see a lot of the papers, _didn't have time_ to read them, but when he could, he picked one up.

Kidnapping, attempted murder, and arson were only some of the few he was being charged with. He had a shot on sight on his back released three days ago; thanks to the Unova incident, no doubt, but luckily, Misty was released.

Whatever she and Brock planned, it worked. Her arrival in Kanto nearly broke the game; either Team Rocket wasn't prepared for such a bold decision, or they had plans even bigger than the three of them, because they let Misty walk. With Dawn's help, she was placed in Sinnoh during the week they were running from Team Rocket, and the media had to record it. Obviously because she wasn't kidnapped, or dead, everyone wanted to know what she was doing.

...and she lied so well even Jessie complimented her.

 _That girl has class_. Though he couldn't see Brock with her anywhere. More than likely, they wanted to keep their appearances separate, just in case. From the sounds of it, she hadn't met with the Elite Four yet, and so watching her was like pins and needles.

Right now, however, the television was turned off, and Ash sat alone. Awake. Since the revelation he could be dreaming again, sleep wasn't an easy task. He was not sure he had it in him—what if he never woke up, or what if he did, and it was somewhere else entirely. Given the circumstances, Ash decided against sleeping, and opted for staying awake _forever_ ; maybe his sheer belief that this world _was_ the real one meant he wasn't dreaming—but only a year ago, he would have sworn to heaven above that his dream world was real as well.

Nodding off slowly, Ash knocked his head against the wall behind him to draw his attention back to Jessie and James. They shared a bed, _but they weren't...together_. He over heard them sometimes, their relationship was rocky at best—they both blamed each other for the situation they were in, but blamed themselves the most. According to meowth, this was their last mission together, if they were successful, they were done. No more stealing, no more hiding.

Weird. Ash couldn't imagine them separated, but meowth was sure that _sometimes_ , _separation makes the heart grow fonder_.

A smile tugged at his lips while he listened to James snore quietly. His mother used to tell him that, too. When Ash would ask about his father, Delia would tell him that distance would make his heart grow fonder—but the man never came back. If he did, Ash never met him... right now, he wasn't sure he _wanted_ to. Really, Ash wasn't sure he wanted to meet anyone other than pokemon; he was a wanted felon and unless by some miracle he could convince people he was a _real upstanding citizen_ , he didn't want to see people., not that he was really ever given the chance. Jessie and James were anti-people.

They wanted to save everyone, but they didn't understand what it was like to be _civilized_ anymore. They stole right out of peoples pockets, and laughed about it. It wasn't horrible. James and meowth were friendly on most occasions—they even tried to show Ash _how_ to pick pocket.

...it just wasn't the same.

They were stealing. They wer _e thieves,_ they told Ash a million times after each robbery, and had Ash and his pokemon not been so hungry, he wouldn't have participated in any illegal activities, but they were right. Ash was wanted _everywhere_ , he was marked as an international criminal now. No matter where he went, he had no where to go. He couldn't get a part time job like before and earn some money—he didn't have the time, and he didn't have rich friends.

Unfortunately, stealing was his only option.

"Pika, pika chu." The mouse commented, watching his trainers expression. _Don't think like that_ , the mouse warned him, watching his brow crinkle in response. _This is only temporary_.

"Don't worry buddy," Ash hummed, though pikachu's shoulders fell, and he moved forward to find perch on Ash's lap, much to his surprise.

"What's wrong?" Ash whispered.

"Cha..." The mouse whined, quite affectionate for the first time in months. It pawed at Ash, who stroked is fur pleasantly, and finally cracked a faint smile.

"Pikachu, what's wrong?" He asked again and the mouse looked to him with sincere, worried brown eyes and his ears fell back.

"Pikachu-pi, pika pi chu..." It started and Ash felt his chest lower and his stomach churned.

 _This is real, you're not dreaming_. The mouse said, though his words didn't alleviate Ash's concerns. At least, _not right away_.

"Ow." Ash grumbled when pikachu shocked his hand, eyes glaring at his trainer, then, he did it again until Ash snapped his hand away and glared at him.

"Cha!" The mouse growled, and Ash's eyebrows rose.

 _It wouldn't hurt if it wasn't real._ Pikachu continued his squeal, quietly pacing in Ash's lap, digging his claws into his pants. Ash watched him with sympathetic eyes, and glanced away momentarily.

 _Misty's real, Brock is real, this whole nasty event is real. You're real. Don't regress._ Ash's eyes closed while he breathed, thinking once again of his companions lost warmth. Since traveling with the former Team Rocket members, he felt so _cold_ inside. Misty and Brock radiated heat like a volcano, and it sucked him in when he was near. Now it was the opposite, wandering a frozen tundra of fears, and doubts...

Ash squeezed pikachu affectionately, unable to think further and his eyes squeezed shut, preventing tears. "Thank you." Ash muttered quietly and the mouse nuzzled into his collar for warmth.

Of _course_ pikachu would know, they've always been connected.

"I'm scared, buddy." Ash whined, pulling away to stare down at the yellow rodent and stroke his head. Words he couldn't speak to anyone else were passed between the two of them.

"What if something happens? I didn't think it was going to be this hard, before everything always had a neat fix...but now there's-I was supposed to start a new journey, battle pokemon; _it wasn't supposed to be like this_. It's only been a year pikachu, and I can't...Maybe a small part of me didn't want this to be real." Ash hummed quietly, lips twitching as repressed emotions funneled.

Optimism shattered under dense moonlight while pikachu pat his trainers arm and tears flowed from his eyes. _We can do this!_ _It's hard, that's how we know it's real. Real life doesn't have an easy solution!_

"Pika...chuu pikapika." The mouse assured him, to which Ash silenced his sniffling and nodded. If this _was_ a dream, it obviously wasn't his anymore.

A pause.

"...Wanna go for a walk?" pikachu nodded, and without skipping a beat or telling anyone, Ash opened the window they broke into moments ago, and slipped into the summer air.

Getting away was a treat, one that Ash needed more than he needed air.

In many ways, he was still a kid; a selfish, stubborn child forced to grow up too quickly. On the other hand, he was a hero, saving his pokemon, promising to help Brock and Misty, charging forward to change the world. A lot changed, but the more they _changed_ , the more his life stayed the same. He was the hero he was always redeemed as, and _now_ , that heroism would finally _complete_ something. Whether or not _he_ wondered about his own realities shouldn't matter; even if he was dreaming, by some small chance, his resolve to save the world wouldn't change.

Ash would always save the world.

While he skipped with pikachu, a faint glimmer in the night sky brought his attention roaring from the ground, to the sky above the mountain, past the forest and his face drained of color.

"...Pikachu, get Jessie and James and tell them we need to leave now." Ash gaped, eyes wide staring up at the glowing mountain.

 **XOX**

Today was the day. Bright and early on a Monday morning, with Drew and Brock one room over, and her hair tied back, red as fire. Dawn did a wonderful job dying and trimming her hair once again. Her cascade earrings dangled from her ears, and the necklace Daisy gave her hung proudly over her yellow vest, and red tank top that fell to the middle of her thigh. Beneath that, she wore a pair of black tights, and knee high boots.

Misty Waterflower stood in front of her borrowed mirror. The same Misty Waterflower that walked into a hospital room one year ago and watched her life slowly change. Inhaling, the woman brushed the wrinkles from her shirt and slowly spun to exit the room, and meet her companions. Brock smiled appreciatively at her outfit, seeing her dressed in something other than shorts and appearing so _grown up_ might have brought a tear to his eye if the next step wasn't killing him inside.

"Today's the day I meet with the rest of the Elite Four and the champion." She swallowed and smacked her lips sardonically. "Wish me luck?"

 **Author's Note:**

I wish that I had a better excuse for why this was so late (only two updates in September? ), but I just didn't have the time to write between two jobs and school. I've been pecking at this off and on, (Not going to lie, I kind of spent about a week recuperating from two weeks of 14-16 hour days) but I switched to full time at only one job, so hopefully things go back to normal (normal was so far away now..) Anyways, real sorry guys, hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thank you for all the patience.

I wrote this at like three different times, so I am A. sorry if anything is repetitive, and B, sorry if it's drawn out? the pacing felt originally too rushed (I want things to move quickly, but I had like 3 chapters crammed into this one), and I made the change of sending Drew with Misty and Brock instead of Dawn because if things are getting weird in Sinnoh, I don't think it makes sense for her to leave? I really wanted to focus on how Ash is handling all this news, I thought for awhile about removing Ash's disbelief, but it makes sense to me. Things are more 'gritty' but the weight of the world is still being flung at him, which he spent what, a year telling himself was unrealistic? In my head it makes sense, but it's only a small plot and I felt like it showed Ash and pikachu's connection a little better?

I'm not sure I liked splitting the POV up so much ( I drop it in the next chapter lol oops), but I'm tired of this chapter. I'll fix it later. Since I'm not happy with this chapter, that means the next chapter is 85 percent done. So maybe it will be up tomorrow to rectify this one?

As always, thank you, _thank you_ for all the lovely reviews and comments and questions and favs and follows; I appreciate them all.

NINT


	47. Chapter 47: Ignorance is bliss

**Locked Away, Chapter 47**

Ash and his companions went at the first breath of dusk. The weather was considerably colder than it should have been on a midsummer morning in Sinnoh, so rather than light clothing to protect from heat exhaustion, they barreled up the mountain path wearing jackets that they b _orrowed_ from the trade store in the city below them. Their bodies moved slower through the winding rocks before them, but they stayed warm through adrenaline and exercise. The biting cold nipped at their faces, but their eyes were strained for the distant mountain top.

"You're sure you saw a light at the top of this mountain?" Jessie wheezed, coming up behind James who followed closely to Ash, with pikachu and meowth taking up the rear.

Togepi, who wasn't quite physically proportional to run up mountain slopes, clung to Ash in desperation from within the confinement of his large winter coat while Ash turned to reply.

"I'm sure! It was huge, like some kind of signal or something. Or, I don't know..." Ash stopped, looking ahead and clearing his throat. "Aliens..?" he finished, partially joking.  
"Oh, wonderful, now we have aliens!" Jessie whined while James chuckled. Ash's brow crinkled.

Given the circumstances of the last few months, Ash wouldn't be surprised if there _were_ aliens! They had legendaries and hostile take overs, what was one more. Besides, Ash was fairly certain this was a pokemon of great power, only, he wasn't sure which one, and he wasn't about to tell Jessie and James that. If Ash was supposed to be some kind of Legendary pokemon Guru, he wasn't going to let up that he couldn't remember _everything_ exactly as it was in his dreams.

...Events and situations were _foggy_ , sometimes— _most of the time_.

"Mmmeowth, mew!" The cat pokemon sprinted ahead, alerting them of his belief that this was indeed a pokemon, and Ash found the time to roll his eyes while they neared the peak of the hill.

The tip of the mountain, where Ash saw the blinding light was still easily miles away, days if they traveled by foot, weeks if the weather got too bad. With an uncertain amount of darkened trees through terrifying weather looming in the distance... Frankly, he wasn't exactly sure how they would get there without flying, and so Ash squealed into a complete stop, huffing and clinging to his knees.

"We can't." Ash uttered, pointing to the distant storm clouds, he wheezed while James and Jessie stopped as well, their boots kicking up more dust than Ash's athletic sneakers. The light was gone, meowth was still stumbling a head slowly before reeling to a stop and pikachu expressed his own concerns to Ash while crawling up his pants leg to reach his shoulder.

"It's too dangerous. There's miles to go and that storm looks like it could get bad, and I'm not sure about you guys, but hypothermia does exist here." Ash muttered, recalling his time in the cold ocean.

James posed by tucking his fist under his chin and crinkling his nose in thought. Had he been wearing something other than his bright red pajamas under his _borrowed_ black coat, he might have looked serious.  
"This is probably because of the legendaries being released so suddenly." James observed, flicking his sweaty hair back. "Nature is unbalanced so the weather is going crazy."

"Would explain why its so cold.." Jessie added sarcastically and hunched forward, holding her stomach.

Beneath their winter coats, the two of them still shivered—Ash didn't give them enough time to dress appropriately, but they had to hurry. Only, Ash didn't realize how far away the mountain top really was from their location. At the base of the mountain, a small town Ash faintly remembered from his first visit to Sinnoh, exhaled bitterly.

"Charizard might..." Ash cleared his throat, thinking of the pseudo dragon. "We won't get there by foot—at least not in the next week or so. And if it snows then..."

Jessie and James were oddly quiet while Ash elaborated. "You guys used to fly in a balloon or something, right? Do you think we could manufacture something like that?" careful to avoid the word _steal_ , though Ash might have hinted at it.

"And where are we going to get parts for it?" Jessie snipped and Ash's face drew into a line.

"I don't know, you're team rocket, you _always_ find something." Ash folded his arms thoughtfully. "I want to get up there today."

Behind Ash, Jessie and James looked at one another, while meowth approached Ash. The boy wasn't _wrong_ , he had a good idea flying to the top of the mountain, and that's where they were heading anyways...

"How can we be sure you didn't just imagine the whole thing?" Jessie asked, apparently striking a nerve in the young man because he whipped around to face her, eyes narrowed angrily. Ash has not always been the most _sane_ individual, but he knew what he saw this time.

"Listen, if the weather is getting bad...like with, well... You three wouldn't know what I'm talking about, but I've seen this before, and we need to find the solution now, today, not tomorrow. The situation is getting worse by the day, which means we have to work faster."

"Pikach-u!" The mouse echoed Ash's incentive.

"I want to go home and have a life outside of this coma-patient's nightmare at some point; I don't know, maybe enter a league or two." His tried to keep his chin up, to appear less cracked than he was as he spoke, but his gaze intensified. "So put your heads together, I _know_ you two can make something, we're going into that town and we'll figure something out."

While speaking, Ash started back down the mountain hill, and James followed after quickly. Tugging on a pair of gloves, James, while he whined frequently about silly ideas, was never one to turn down orders, especially not ones he admired.

"And what are you going to do while Jessie and I commandeer—I mean _build—_ something to get over there with?" James questioned and Ash looked up, over his shoulder to James and then back to pikachu.

"I'm going to get charizard back."

 **XOX**

Maybe it was the connection Ash shared with his pokemon that ran deeper than dreams, and stronger than the pull of the universe, but the moment Ash _needed_ charizard, the dragon awoke from beneath a tree behind Gary Oak's laboratory, the other pokemon—the _healthy_ ones were positioned just outside the lab balcony.

Charizard wasn't familiar with most humans, outside of Ash and Misty—mostly Ash—he was barely fond of them. He did not like Gary, the man rubbed him the wrong way with his snide remarks and fascination with _helping_ pokemon. Charizard didn't need help, his wing was damaged from the accident a few months ago, but he was...managing.

Sometimes, the wing was not so numb, and occasionally, he could get a few feet off the ground. Late at night while the other pokemon were sleeping beneath the tall Pallet Town trees, the fire pokemon would take to the field to practice, build strength into his sore muscles. Lately, where the harpoon shredded the webbing and tore cartilage hurt less, and the webbing seemed to be slowly healing itself. Charizard didn't have the natural healing ability of a _real_ dragon, but his body was strong.

Huffing quietly to himself, the disgruntled pokemon rested his large head over the folds of his wings, and exhaled a puff of smoke while the men inside the laboratory talked.

After Ash left, men in black coats frequently visited to talk with the new professor, hassle his new pupils, and though charizard did not understand all human-speech, he knew enough to know that somewhere, Gary was being threatened. Charizard assumed Ash as the cause.

"Bulbasaur." the grass pokemon approached charizard, bringing his head up to face the small creature. "...Bulba, saur saur." it added in reference to Ash and charizard huffed, looking away from the lab, _healing took time_ , bulbasaur would tell charizard as one of the most rational of the young man's pokemon, but being abandoned _here_ after being Ash's number two pokemon for a few months felt horrible.

With a groan, charizard was about to express his inadequacy to bulbasaur regarding his flightless life and need to get better _now._ Charizard wanted to help Ash regain everything that they lost—avenge the death of wartortle, and stop Team Rocket. He did not want to be here, sitting in the grass, enjoying the gentle breeze and scents of apples.

Before the thoughts could form on his snout, the conversation inside of the laboratory escalated into screams, and naturally, charizard's wings expanded to protect the smaller pokemon, and rush forward with terrifying speed.

Max stopped him at the entrance, flinging his arms around; Sceptile bolting from the glass doors, leaving shards of glass along the balcony.

"Leave!" Max screamed. "Run, all of you!" he added, and charizard halted, but didn't understand.

Run from what?

He only saw the glimmer of the black-coated men inside, holding pokeballs and holding Gary by the collar while the two females tried to peel him off with no affect, but when the other members started into the meadow with the intention of... They carried tazers, and poke-nets; items charizard was too familiar with.

From the bellows of his stomach, coursing through every blood stream and nerve vibrating in his body upon seeing the men holding weapons with the malicious intent to hurt Ash's pokemon—his friends—charizard roared, causing them to flinch before a burst of fire poured from his mouth, knocking Max back into the meadow below, and giving the pokemon time to scatter.

 _It was supposed to be safe here_ , but wherever Ash was, whatever trouble he was getting into, it was amassing a growth far beyond natural levels.

"Take it down!"

"Charizard, run! We'll find you again, get out of here!" they sounded the same to charizard, but when Gary ran out of the door to warn charizard to leave, face bleeding from where his lip split open, the dragon himself saw red, and the injury crippling his wing at the fracture point shifted, cracked, and finally burst into a terrifying flame when charizard jerked into the sky, and blasted the ground once again, creating cover.

Bullets whizzed by him, tazers tried to cut through his dragon scales, but they landed in heaps against the grass while the situation slowly spiraled.

"Bayleef!" The grass pokemon shouted, razor-edge leaves flying to cut one of the wires still attached to charizard while it circled back around. Noivern, a quiet, and typically peaceful pokemon rocketed from the forest, hearing the commotion and shrieked cosmically, forcing the black-wearing men to their knees, holding their ears.

Unfortunately, that meant Ash's friends were doing the same, but it gave the pokemon time to flee—and so they did, as one, massive group into the forest. Bulbasaur rode on bayleef's back, talonflame, and noivern circled around below charizard, watching over the dragon, and the situation below as donaphan and totodile ran after bayleef. Once they were out of view, talon flame and charizard twisted among themselves, their fire and wings blending together before they flapped with their wings, and released a heavy gust of wind to knock any remaining humans into the walls of the laboratory, and then retreated into the forest after their friends and did not stop until the sun set in the distance.

Running away seemed so feeble, so weak—but what were they supposed to do without guidance?

When they arrived at a small pond hidden in a deep grove of the forest, the pokemon, while licking their wounds, huddled quietly together, protected by talonflames wings while charizard at at the edge of a small pond, pouting and in pain over his wing.

What were they going to do now? Ash was no where to be seen, and they ran away when the people watching them needed the most help. Did they make the right call? Would Ash have ran?

Of _course_ Ash wouldn't have run away! Charizard perked up, his wings spreading once more in determination to return to the laboratory when from the bushes sceptile—Ash's sceptile that stayed with Max emerged from the trees, with a stick between his clamped jaws and arms crossed angrily.

He watched charizard, glaring into his eyes then to each pokemon after that. He didn't speak because he didn't have to. The laboratory wasn't safe anymore, and it was time for the pokemon to take action themselves.

"Bay, bay leef." The pokemon spoke, looking at totodile who nodded his head in return to the lady pokemon, then noivern and talonflame looked to one another, then to charizard who seemed disgruntled by their comments.

Ash found a lot of his pokemon—but Ash was still human, _they_ could find each other easier than he could, especially now that they knew everything was real—but more important than that, they needed someplace safe to come back to.

They needed Ash.

Charizard whimpered, unlike the large, aggressive pokemon he was. They wanted _him_ to go find Ash even though talonflame and noivern were equally as capable.

"Saur, bulbasaur." The pokemon added, knowing the connection that charizard and Ash had was far deeper than they would ever know.

 _He knew this because he felt it_ , he felt Ash call to him.

Taking a few, heavy steps backwards, charizard huffed in agreement while the remaining pokemon gathered together, and sent their deepest regards with a bow of their heads. Even hundred of miles away, they could feel the whole world shifting in power, and now was the time to act.

Without a second glance, charizard took off into the sky, a bit slower than usual, tilting side to side from his still injured wing, and glanced down only once he could see the lab in the distance. The fires he started were patted out, and the pokemon at the center of the forest prepared to move forward. They would hold down the fort. In the meantime, charizard was on his way to help Ash save the world.

 **XOX**

Upon reaching the town at the foot of the mountain, Ash felt the temperature dropping rapidly. Shops were closing up early, and young trainers were being whisked into the local pokemon center. Jessie and James were against Ash going anywhere near a pokemon center, they had been for the entire week they traveled together, but their concerns didn't stop him from marching from the mountain pass, down the emptying streets, to the center.

After all, people were more concerned for the changing weather, than they were about some _guy_ from Kanto walking around. Pikachu and togepi were concealed to make him look ten pounds heavier, regardless, so he was safe.

Skeptical themselves, Jessie, James and meowth hung back, outside of the center while relaxing innocently near a bench, and Ash took care of his business.

There had to be someway to transfer charizard's pokeball to where Ash was now, without getting caught by authorities. Gary could change the ball's tracers, or something. Ash wasn't entirely sure how it would work, but it never hurt to ask, and if anyone could get at least _Ash_ to that damn mountain top tonight, it was charizard. By now, he should have healed, after all.

Ash was cautious when he entered the building, overly aware to blend in, he stayed out of view of the nurse, and nearest to trainers who were more concerned about the weather than they were about Ash. As he suspected, no one saw him enter, and no one saw him slide into a phone booth where he clicked several buttons, and dialed Gary's familiar number.

It rang once, then twice, and finally, Gary answered. No screen, just a voice.

"H-hello?" Barked Gary he sounded strained, drunk, maybe—choking?  
"Hey, Gary. It's Ash, listen, I need to talk to you?"  
"Who is this?" his reply came quickly, reigning confusion.

"...It's Ash?"

"I don't know any _Ash_. You have the wrong number." And with that, Gary ended the call by slamming the phone down on the receiver, and leaving Ash gawking at the hunk of metal in his had.

Confused, Ash tried again; Gary answered, heard it was Ash—accused him of being a 'creep' and hung up quickly. Awestruck, Ash blinked a few times. Was Gary avoiding him now, too? Did something happen to Gary?!

Filled with panic, Ash dialed the Cerulean City phone number, but then realized no one was there. It was empty. Misty moved out over a month ago now, the new gym leader, if they even had one, would have no idea where to place Ash's call except to the police. Calling her would only have adverse effects; no, Ash was just going to have to sort this out on his own. Ash let the phone down easy on the receiver and sighed. If only garchomp or goodra were here...

"...pika?" pikachu asked for him and togepi while Ash slumped in his chair, the two pokemon were quiet as a church mouse, but Ash looked down.

"Looks like we're on our own..."

Slipping from the booth, Ash glanced around the pokemon center, then maneuvered through the doors, and back outside again. He had no time to be depressed. Whatever shot off that bright light needed help. Jessie and James had taken to sitting together to read the local news paper, from far away, they looked like an old couple.

Jessie was leaned against James' arm naturally, with meowth seated on the back of the bench, around, but not invading while James held the span of the newspaper out wide enough for both him and Jessie to see. The two of them would probably never admit it, but they wore the same facial expressions while concentrated. Lips pursed, eyebrows raised, nose crinkled, and eyes narrowed. Even still, Ash felt like a failure, approaching them.

"...something must have happened in Kanto, screening Gary's calls or something—I don't know." Ash muttered, having heard the word in a movie once. "It's just us. Have you two had any ideas?"

When they peered up at him from behind the paper, the glimmering grins were his first answer.

"Take a look for yourself." James folded the paper to the place he was watching with keen eyes, and extended it out for Ash to look at with a tilted head. He could see his breath brush against the paper when his mouth fell open.

"We are _not_ stealing a balloon." Ash hissed, glaring up at the two of them where they were now standing and dusting off their hands with shrugs.

"We're _borrowing_."

"With the intention of never returning it." said Ash in a whisper while Jessie and James both hooked their arms around his, and started to drag him forward with mewoth snickering behind them, walking up on two legs temporarily, then falling back down.

"Well, we could do this one _insignificant_ evil to save Kanto, _or_ , we could spend the next few weeks climbing the mountain, you pick?" When Jessie spoke, she knew that she had already won when Ash slumped against them, and let the two thieves drag him along with them against his will.

After all, they didn't really _have_ a choice. People weren't offering jobs to fugitives these days.

 **XOX**

Ash hadn't even adjusted to the time with Jessie and James when he was whisked into the direction of a warehouse left empty from the cold weather. A balloon fiesta was supposed to float through town, but when the storm clouds rolled in from the distance, plans changed, and balloons were stashed away.

Had the group stopped there, Ash might have had an clear conscious; but Jessie and James were ruthless. They robbed a convenience store while Ash stood at the corner as a look out. They grabbed supplies for the road, filled up two bags, and did so without leaving a trace. Their next _hit_ was the bargain shop—a place where clothes were sold cheap enough that they could have afforded it if they really needed to.

The group took a set of black clothing for the road, with leg warmers to wear under their jeans, and snow boots. They looked like criminals after they were dressed—all in black. With Ash's hair, he could have been passed off as a ninja, con artist, hit man. His dark skin tone matched the all-black attire, and he wondered about dying his own hair a different color—though, it was a step up from lime green shorts.

Standing at the outside of the warehouse, he played watchdog once again, arms folded while he paced back and forth to watch the front door and the back door. Plus, to keep the adrenaline pumping. If he stopped, he could start _thinking_ again, and convince himself to leave. He was stealing now, helping criminals. Ash was _now_ a criminal, or at least in affiliation. If he was ever found out, he might not ever get his name cleared in Kanto!  
"Alright, we're in!" James chirped quietly while he threw open the window for Ash to climb through. He extended his hand for Ash to grab, and together they climbed through the pencil sized warehouse window, and crashed onto the floor below. Beside them, Jessie and meowth already started on airing the balloon up, while James pulled Ash to the shutter release.

"Its pretty exciting, isn't it?"

"What is?"

"This." James gestured with his hand around the room.

"Stealing? Running for our lives? My name being smeared in the mud and the thought that if we mess up, that's it? Yeah. Fun." Ash mocked him, partially sarcastic, but James could hear the enjoyment in his voice. Ash was heroic, but there would always be a mischievous side of him. He lived and thrived in chaos.

"Yeah, that's all of it. But you can't forget the chance to freeze to death, or be eaten alive by some massive, huge legendary."  
Ash snorted. "Right, can't forget those." Ash looked up at James, having a normal conversation for the first time was awkward, but oddly familiar. He found talking with James a lot easier than he did with Jessie. The woman was so high strung, he thought that she might break one of these days.

James had subsequently followed Ash's gaze to where Jessie and meowth were.

"Do you miss her?" James asked while the pulled on the manual locking chains. The roof cracked slowly while the metal squealed and clanked.

"Who?" Ash muttered, "Misty?" He asked quickly after, mind shifting to her relentlessly. His heart skipped a beat. Not thinking about Misty was the easiest, because thinking about her was dangerous grounds for never ending thoughts—like she said—after everything was done, _then_ they could sort themselves out.

It didn't stop Ash from imagining situations, though.

"Yeah, little 'red." James snickered and Ash quirked an eyebrow at James.

"Always." Ash admit happily, "But I miss Brock, and my mom, too. And my little brother."

"Cole?" James asked. "He seems to be a good kid."

"You know him?"

"Well, Jessie and I did follow you around. You had ice cream with him right before this all started..." Ash looked up to see James eyes shift to the ground.

"I remember when our lives were that easy..." Mirth filled James' emerald eyes and appeared so distant that Ash wanted to latch onto James and tell him it would be okay.

He was never given the chance, because James pointed.

"Looks like they're ready for us, let's get this show on the road if we're going." James rushed to the slow rising balloon, and Ash followed him.

James never talked about himself, really, Team Rocket didn't talk about much other than the task at hand. He wondered if they were okay, but with everything blowing up around them, Ash hadn't the time to ask James. In private moments, James typically tried to help Ash with self-defense, and sneaking around without actually declaring it as that.

"I cant believe we're doing this again." Jessie quipped once Ash was in the basket.

"It has been awhile, hasn't it?" James grinned, the quiet moment they shared lost on his poker face.  
Meowth chirped in, snickering at his companions while Ash look side to side, breaking the top of the warehouse. Pikahu and togepi both stuck out their heads.

"Have you guys done something like this before?"

"Don't you remember?" James asked, then realized his slip and laughed it off. "I just mean that this used to be our primary mode of transportation. It's not very practical though."

"We need a gust of wind." Jessie inquired after Meowth's complaint. Ash touched his hands to his belt, but he did not have any flying type pokemon with him, and James muttered to himself—none of them did, and now this didn't seem like such a good idea...

"You two have other pokemon, right? We can use them to-" Turning, he met with their glum faces shaking at him and Ash winced. They would move at a snails pace in this weather!

Then, a roar in the distance brought Ash's attention veering from the mountain that seemed to grow further away from them as darkness enveloped the area, and he could see a fire burning in the distance.

"Charizard!" Ash yelped, throwing out his hand to wave at the pokemon. "You're okay!"

"Tell him to stop." Jessie muttered, seeing the pokemon flying at high speeds directly at them.

Ash didn't listen, he merely clung to the edge of the balloon. "Pika pi!"

"Togee!" The two pokemon chanted in surprise and eagerness to see their long time, lost companion. _Flying_ , above all else. Ash _knew_ he would heal! He just needed time!

Charizard roared again, growing more confused as it grew nearer to them, until finally halting, and flying directly up to avoid tearing the balloon, it circled around once, then carried itself to face Ash and huffed steam at Team Rocket, who leaned into one corner of the basket.

" _meeowth_!" He muttered, reminding Ash to remember his introductions, before one of them end up like a roast duck.

"Oh, right." Ash pointed to team rocket. "They're good right now." clarified Ash.

"They're going to help me find the other legendaries, then stop Giovanni."

This answer didn't seem to sit well with charizard, who glared profusely at the three of them. Believing in Ash's words, the dragon put his head down fro Ash to stroke his horns with a gleaming smile.

"Charizard, it's great to see you again." Ash muttered. "I tried to reach Gary to get you back...but..."

Ash hesitated, brows knitting together. "Actually... how did you get here? _Why_ are you here?"

Hesitation flashed through charizard while he thought of what to say. A part of the dragon didn't trust Team Rocket, Ash knew that, but his devotion to his trainer outweighed his concerns, and he opened his mouth to speak, all the while, Ash's face grew more and more pale. Jessie, James and meowth appeared mortified.

"They're trying to stop you from getting help." Jessie elaborated. "Since you're wanted, that means the league has and should have control of your pokemon. Fugitives aren't allowed to have pokemon, that's why..." She hesitated, eyes looking off into the distance for a moment before refocusing.

"Was Gary okay, buddy? What about Leaf, and May, and Max?" He asked, brushing Charizard's neck. It was at that point Ash could see that the wing handled set properly, and compared to charizard's original glory, he was limp and uneven while flapping in the air beside them.

It gave a soft, uncertain shrug, admitting with great shame that it ran by Gary's orders; he, and the rest of Ash's pokemon. For awhile, Ash could not speak. Pikachu stared watery-eyed at charizard, and togepi remained quiet. The howl of the growing wind was nothing compared to the look of solace on his face when he spoke next.

"You did what you had to do. But you're here now." Ash smiled weakling, brushing his hands together. "Will you help us get to the top of the mountain?"

Moments passed, then eventually charizard nodded and Ash pumped one fist in the air before throwing a rope over the pokemon's shoulders. It clung to the rope in his small claws, then with a twist and a flap of his wings, they were on their way up the mountain. With any luck, they would be there by night fall again.

"Thank you." James spoke in turn for he and his companions, only to hear charizard roar back.

 **XOX**

Life returning to exactly as it was before all of _this_ started wasn't as easy as Misty might have hoped. Once she arrived in Kanto with Drew and Brock via airplane to Saffron City, life was about as chaotic as she imagined it would be. She didn't get to see her sisters, she wasn't able to phone them, and outside of being the media—they probably didn't know _until_ now how she was. If she was alive or dead...If they suspected anything like Dawn did, it was the latter.

She would have loved to see one of her sisters at the airport on chance.

From necessity, Brock stayed out of the limelight, in case the media and league had a melt down. If for some reason this all blew up in their faces, they needed someone who could still work outside the league's eye, and so far Brock was the only one not mentioned in any news reports. Misty did not question why, only thanked the heavens for their inconsistent paperwork. She didn't have the nerve to tell Brock, but she had a gut feeling his absence in the media had to do with Flint Harrison's death. She wasn't sure how it was connected, but she also knew it wasn't a coincidence. Flint Harrison was murdered by Team Rocket and the same way people were digging into Misty's not-so-spotless past, she was sure they would do the same for the Harrisons.

Drew stood at her side during most of her public meetings where she explained in hushed lies that she was _panicked_ from the attacks, and _confused_ after working so hard to become an Elite Four member, she needed some time away, but was ready to help wherever she could now.

Apparently, her threats that Team Rocket were back were far from over. At least once in every press conference, she would be asked about the delinquents, and it took every nerve in her body not to shout the truth to all who would listen. Open their eyes to what was _really_ happening, though, she had no idea what the immediate consequences would be.

Everyone seemed to buy the story that Ash was some _nobody_ that she helped in a hospital for a while, and brought along with her to save face. She wasn't kidnapped, just in Sinnoh under the radar. Drew verified this with a carefully placed lie, and outside of buzzing around her for normal reasons, Misty's position was essentially concreted into the league's mainframe, and her excuse was plausible and just. Unfortunately, she didn't clear Ash's name with such revelation—people were still blaming hi for nearly everything else.

After the first week was spent primarily cleaning up her nasty exit, she now was staring down the large, oak doors where she would separate from Drew and Brock and bridge into her own adventures with the remaining Elite Four at the top of Saffron Tower. She felt her stomach curl in more ways than one. This could go very, _very_ wrong, so easily. This wasn't like walking into interviews, or the public eye, this was a private, intimate reunion with people that _knew_ she was lying to the media about what happened. _People that were working with the enemy, one way or another_.

"Remember, Misty, if things get hairy in there, Drew and I will be in the cafe across the street.. You have gyarados, and run really fast." Brock urged her, but she silenced him be squeezing his arm. He had already gone off about how to _protect_ herself a million times since they left the hotel that morning.

Misty cracked her best, confident smile; putting on a charade for her worried friend.

"Don't worry, I think I'll be fine. You two just work on a way to get us into Celadon City's Silph Co. I'll look for some information while I'm up there but..." Her green-eyed gaze drifted back up the thirty story building and she swallowed against the lump in her throat. She had no idea of they even had information, let alone if she wanted to alert them of their plans by trying to find some. Her intention was to _survive_ this meeting, get out, go to Celadon City, find the source of the chips, and flee to help Ash with the legendary pokemon hunt before anyone was any wiser.

"Wish me luck." She said, flicking on her glasses before entering the building, thus leaving Drew and Brock to gawk at her.

"Good luck." Brock called after her, swearing to himself that he wished they renewed their phones. Since returning a week ago, they were too busy to activate the devices before the announcement and invitation was given to Misty. For now all they had was hope, and _luck_.

"I think she'll be okay." Drew hummed. "I don't know her very well, but if what we in Sinnoh, and what Dawn has said about her is true, then I think this is in the right hands. We should focus on Silph Co for now." Drew nudged in the direction of the cafe and with one more sigh, Brock looked up at the large tower, willing Misty to return safely.

 **XOX**

Big was an understatement. The inside of the Saffron Tower was ginormous. The whole square footage was probably larger than anything Misty had ever seen before, with a large glowing fountain in the middle, hundreds of little busy worker-bees, and countless, UV-protected windows. She could hardly believe her eyes. Had she been arriving here under an other circumstances, she might have even been _happy_.

Misty always imagined seeing the inside of Saffron Tower when she was a small child: what the expanding windows and high, vaulted ceilings looked like, but now that she was really here, she could hardly believe her own eyes. The place was massive, with its own personal escalators, elevators and small trains to get from one destination to another.

She, however, was going directly up. To the last floor. Since the Indigo League was _attacked_ the headquarters were temporarily transferred to Saffron City; and the tower had little trouble making room for the Elite Four. It was no wonder.

"Ms. Waterflower." She was addressed by a woman wearing a black skirt and white blouse, the receptionist at the front of the building.

Misty nodded to the woman while she gestured to a large, glass elevator.

"Allow me to lead the way." She said, bowing cautiously, and Misty inhaled, remembering a time when she wasn't so easily known. Only a year ago, she was a regular face in a large crowd, now, she could see her face on every news channel. _Found, Misty Waterflower in Sinnoh_. _Too weak to run Kanto?Misty Waterflower flees after attack on league. Is she crazy or a manipulator: the latest information on Misty Waterflower_.

The news found no lack of content to write about with her, but they missed the real point. How and why she was acting this way, as always, they catered to click bait, and young readers who would only be interested in short comings—not to mention, no one wanted to worry about another war.

"The champion will be with us today." The receptionist spoke in such a hushed voice, Misty thought to hit her on the back several times to spit out her voice.

"Okay..?"

"Try not to be rude."

Misty scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Whatever." She muttered, crossing her arms stubbornly.

"Please, Ms. Waterflower. I insist you play nice." She said quietly, looking up at Misty with large, gray eyes that made her heart stop. This woman wasn't trying to be friendly, she was warning Misty.

 _Don't screw up_. She begged with her eyes.

"Don't worry about it." Misty hummed, patting the woman on the shoulder as they arrived to the top floor. Misty hummed quietly to herself as she exited the elevator.

"I can find my way from here." Misty announced, waving over her shoulder at the woman.

Once the elevator closed, and Misty was left alone in the hallway, she inhaled quietly. Here she was, in the hallway where all the magic happened. Where the Elite Four made some of their most outrageous, and generous calls. Down the dim-blue carpets, and brown walls, she felt the presence of years passed through here, when being a pokemon trainer _meant_ more than being a leader, when being an Elite Four was something of great responsibility and commitment; not politics and power. However, more than amazement, Misty felt a fine coat of anxiety while she hobbled down the unfamiliar hallway in search of clues to Silph Co, or maybe an escape route. If things got hairy, she didn't imagine flying down an elevator.

The more she walked, the less likely it seemed she could escape if not through the elevator; assuming she even needed to. A fire exit was at the far end of the hall, but the dimmed windows were a large reminder that she thirty stories high. Running down so many steps wasn't a favorable idea, either. Misty was never really scared of heights, but she felt the intense fear _now_. She heard the voices of her _companions_ long before she saw the doors.

Lorelei was a soft spoken woman, with shrewd business tactics and impervious battle strategy, Bruno was loud, usually trying to edge on Lance and talking about his newest routine in training, and Lance was quiet; commenting only on what he felt was important at the time, and what _was_ important, was Misty.

"She's late." Lance announced tiredly when the door cracked, revealing a very stubborn, strong-willed woman with fiery red hair. Three pairs of eyes turned to her, and her heart stopped all at once.

"I'm here." Misty announced, not allowed the nervousness to crack her voice; the message was delivered flawlessly as she strode to her seat beside Lance, folded her hands on the long table and pursed her lips. Silence enveloped the entirety of the room, then, Lorelei cleared her throat.

"We thought you were too busy being _kidnapped_ to visit."

"You were the ones that said I was kidnapped, you know, after assaulting me—or at least attempting to after the party." Misty didn't back down from the challenge, which only upset Lorelei further as she reeled away to cross her knees and stare evilly at Misty.

"We meant you no harm." Bruno offered, a strange sincerity in his voice.

"Right." Misty said, brushing off his tone. "Listen, I came here for whatever nonsense it was you needed me for, but if it's not important, I can just go."

Lance grumbled tiredly from the back of his throat, his eyes snaking to the empty chair where the champion was supposed to sit, and Lance inched backwards to get a better look at Misty. Her shoulders were broad an athletic, she wore the grace of her sisters, and the scars of a true battler easily and on normal circumstances, Lance imagined she would earn a great deal of respect.

"Well, we needed to talk about the battle taxes, and once again the _situation_ with coordinators, was it?" Lance began, flipping open a notebook and earning a strange look from Misty.

"Right, the coordinators haven't been up to much since that _false_ announcement made by the newest member. They're still a pain, I think we should monitor their contests a bit closer." Misty's eyes followed over to Lorelei, who had a notebook open herself.

"We still have missing trainers to look for." Bruno offered, both Lance and Lorelei deflected from the observation, and Misty thought she saw a hint of disappointment in his eyes.

"After the latest attack, we've seen a rise in theft in major cities..."

"We also have to find a suitable gym leader to replace the former Cerulean City gym."

"The league season doesn't start for another three months." Misty quickly observed, slightly insulted that they spoke of her as if she wasn't here, then she eyed Bruno, eyes narrowing.

"I think our focus should also be on the missing trainer—and equalizing the situation with coordinators, not making it worse with a higher bracket."

"What would you know? You ran away from your responsibilities." Lance muttered quickly, tossing a hand up at Misty. "We have new challengers; Lorelei, you have six, Bruno, you have four, and I have eight scheduled. We've held off on scheduling appointments for _you_ ," Lance stopped and had Misty had the nerve, she would have put his face through the solid oak table. "Since you might not be around after today."

"Which brings up my next case of business. We need to remove the accusations from the media..." while he continued, speaking of removing people from their positions, tightening restrictions and battles until this 'blew over' Misty swallowed hard, her glare intense.

It was all business for him; nothing how Ash described the man from his dreams. Lorelei was practically ice sitting in her chair, and while Misty dug her nails into the table, _she cracked_.

"I _know_ they're slipping you guys a pay check." Misty hissed, creating a deadly silence. "And so _long_ as I have limbs that work and people _who will listen_ I _will_ find a way to bring your disgusting attempt at leadership into the dirt."

It wasn't a heroic spiel, if anything, it sounded hopeless and threatening. Misty wasn't like Ash, she wasn't going to turn the bad guys into _good people_ , and she had no intention of working _happily_ along side them. Not like this. They weren't just _bad people_ anymore, they were criminals running two of the most-well known pokemon regions in the world.

"You three might have been up here for so damn long you can't remember what it's like in the real world, _but I do_. I've seen how your stupid games and regulations have affected normal people and trainers, and the chance they're given any other option, they're going to jump at it so bite your tongue Lance."

She hadn't realized she was standing by the end of her speech, maliciously standing over him while his arms crossed tentatively, and his brows quirked. Lorelei had a greater reaction, standing to the point of placing a hand on her pokeball.

"You think you can scare me? I'm a _dragon_ pokemon master; what's the worst that you could do with your little _water guns_?"

"Enough." Bruno hissed, rising from his chair. He was large enough that his voice cut through the glare that the two of them shared, but Misty refused to be the first one to break eye contact—no, Lance did with a _pfft_ and roll of his eyes.

"Since we need to replace the Cerulean Gym Leader, now would be a good time to review the current leaders skills." Lance recovered quickly from the moment, but Misty remained standing, shaking in anger to her very core. _Why in the world was she so angry?_

Because she was scared? Was her natural instinct so easily to forget all her practice and blow a gasket at their first meeting.

"Sit down, Waterflower." Lance _commanded_ , and Misty felt another shiver run down her spine and she kicked away from the table, the first move that caused surprise in his eyes.

"I think I've seen enough for the day."

"Stick around, you haven't met the champion yet." As if he had something to lord over her, he waved a small file at her. "And you haven't heard about the string of recent break ins, kidnappings, theft and fires. These are the things you're interested in, right?"

Misty would not look at him, those yellow spiteful eyes made her skin boil and her joints lock up. However, she knew he was smirking broadly, and Lorelei had a sinister glint in her eye. He was throwing jabs at her, baiting her and Misty so easily walked into each punch like a worker ant.

"Fu..." She started, but the side door where the champion's private office was burst open to reveal a small woman with glasses on and a scowl on her face—she looked as done with her job as Misty was with this whole ordeal.

"The champion will see you now, Ms Waterflower." She smiled, bowing nicely and waving to the remaining Elite Four members, then shifting a very _rude_ gesture into her pocket that only Misty's wide eyes seemed to catch because no one else paid the woman any mind.

That made two receptionist that wanted Misty to succeed.

A strange calm washed into Misty's body and she cracked her first knowing. "That's great, and while you're here; could I have a request?"

 **XOX**

The request in question alienated Lance, and ruined his empty threats. Misty had all the important documents scanned then transferred to her email. Including information about the Elite Four, as well as important updates, and business policy. She could learn _everything_ that she needed to know without dealing with the rest of the Elite Four.

It was _fun_ , because Misty had the power to do that now; and Lance and Lorelei _hated_ it.

When the doors closed, she was left with a sense of confidence she didn't hold before. They couldn't hold her here like she thought that they could. It was already well-spread news that the kidnapping was a hoax, so she didn't need police protection, and unless Team Rocket wanted people to know more about them, they couldn't blame the attack on them. Misty was left with a large window of opportunity, and she was going to abuse her power until the rest of the corrupted bastards snapped.

Inside the room, all the lights were turned off, aside from the crack in the window blind that left for a small sliver of light. She couldn't see the man's face, just that he was darkly pale, and she thought that he had a shimmer of red in his eyes.

"Please, sit." he asked kindly, gesturing to the chair before his desk. Misty chose to stand against her better judgment. It was best not to get comfortable, especially not in front of the champion—a man that had literally been missing in action for ten years.

...Now here he was, sitting in the tallest tower in Saffron City, in the dark, like some kind of cave animal.

"I'm okay." Misty answered. "But I wouldn't mind shedding some light on the situation." She laughed awkwardly, pointing to the light shift to discover the moment she flipped it, nothing happened. She heard the large man sigh from across the desk and fold his chin under one hand.

"I have a gift for you." He announced and while Misty looked back at him, she realized the crack in the window wasn't to see out, it was to keep her vision unfocused so she couldn't see his face. It was no wonder Kanto and Johto were in hell, their champion lived in darkness.

"It's on the table beside the door."

"What's the occasion?" Misty asked in a snark tone while grabbing the gift only a few inches from her at the door.

"All new members are given a _gift_. Yours is very special." a somber voice spoke the words, but an edge existed in them that made her eyes turn skeptically to the man once more. He sounded hopeless; maybe even a little _sad_.

"Thanks...?"  
"Open it." he clasped his hands over his stomach, and had Misty felt watched in the meeting room with the other Elite Four, she felt ten times the pressure now, and still didn't crack. Her slender fingers slipped open the small care-package, to reveal sitting on a white foam at the bottom, a Master ball encased by a glass case.

"What do I need this for?" while removing the ball, and opening the case, she clicked the button much to his immediate alarm, he almost bolted form his chair until he realized the ball didn't grow when she clicked it.

And she did, several more times curiously before realizing it wouldn't enlarge.

"It's broken." She said, reaching forward to give it back to him. He put up his hands, and practically scoot away from the desk, fearful of the object Misty neared him with.

"It's a gift. Keep it."

"What do I need a broken Master Ball for? These things are ancient, anyways." Misty grimaced, throwing it up carelessly like a baseball.

Having recuperated from his almost-run in with the redhead, the man pulled himself together, and turned away from her in his spinning, black leather chair.

"You'll know." He sighed, "Now leave."

Had Misty been in a better standing with the league, she would have objected to leave; isntead, as she turned back to the closed doors and gripped the silver handles, her eyes narrowed.

"You know... you disappeared when Kanto needed you, and now you sit up here, watching everything unfold and do what, exactly?" Misty asked, hearing the man stiffen. "You don't accept challengers, and you don't go out into the public." She didn't need to say what she was thinking as her eyes glinted and fell half closed.

If he wanted to disappear so badly, why wouldn't he step down?  
Once she was outside of the office, looking at the remaining three Elite Four member who looked curious to know what happened, Misty threw the defective Master Ball up once again, caught it, and tucked it away into her belt.

"I think that wraps it up, kids, we'll keep in touch though." Misty's smile widened, and she saw the inevitable anger crawl into Lance and Lorelei's eyes, but a playful sense of amusement curl into Bruno's eyes at her tactics. Misty waved to the receptionist at the door and pointed with her thumb to the doors.

"I want his record, too." Misty said, then curtsied to the men before striding out of the large meeting room, just as Lance threw something across the room in frustration.

It felt nice to win every once in awhile.

 **XOX**

Knowing that the enemy was as nasty as she imagined them made her next few decisions much easier. In time, she would bring them down one at a time. She even stopped to think that Ash might have been proud of her antics in the high room above while she rode down the extravagant elevator, the stalled on thoughts of Ash.

Was he making any lead way in Sinnoh after a week? Had he tried to call her yet, and she had no way for him to reach her? Of course she had her issues to take care of, but worrying over Ash was becoming akin to breathing.

At the last floor, the first receptionist nearly bounced out of her chair.

"That was quick!" She said next to her co-workers, stuffing the ends of a salad into her mouth. Misty didn't pass her a glance while she waved, and from the depths of her purse, clicked on a pair of sun glasses.

"Don't worry about it, have a nice lunch." Her tone was cool and collected, to a level she couldn't wait to brag about with Drew and Brock as she exited the Saffron Tower; feeling quite a bit larger than she did when she walked in. Unlike how she expected, meeting them didn't hinder her spirits—it gave her a million more reasons to be successful. She crossed the street without alarming any vehicles, then passed through a short miniature park between the small downtown area, and Saffron City, and made her way to the cafe where they agreed to meet.

At one corner of the cafe, where they could see the entrance of Saffron Tower, and almost the top, Brock and Drew were curled up, talking quietly about their plans on a napkin when Misty approached, beaming with confidence.

"Yeah, you guys _really_ kept an eye out." She chided, looking at the two of them while their backs straightened.

"That was fast!" Brock announced while Misty budged into the seat beside him and dusted off her hands and removed her glasses.

"Yeah, it turns out I have the authority to have everything we go over in those meetings emailed to me. I think I also scared Lance."

"No way." Drew discarded her comment and Misty grimaced.

"Okay, but I definitely made him mad."

"What?" Brock contained his shriek. "What happened to going in and leaving without making a scene?"

Misty's face scrunched up an she twisted the napkin they were writing on to herself to read. "I guess Ash rubbed off on me quite a bit after all." She muttered, clearing her throat. "I couldn't sit there and listen to them want to make changes to Kanto, when they're so clearly what's _wrong_ with Kanto."

Brock could understand at least that, and sighed. "Well, no one came through a window, so we're good there."

Misty grinned at his words, and looked to Drew who sat back with his arms folded.

"I was also thinking, while I'm riding this emotional high, and you _know, before_ I get scared, we should walk into Saffron City's Silph Co instead of going to Celadon City."

"What? Why?" Brock questioned eyebrows raised while Misty pursed her lips and sat back.

"I was just thinking, what we _need_ from Silph Co can probably be found at any of their branches; we just need information, and between the three of us, I'm sure we can find some way to hack into a crappy computer once I get us inside."  
Drew looked horrified, his eyebrows twitched and he licked his lips and glared at Misty.

"Actually, that's not a bad idea. If we're riding off your emotional high, maybe we could even _ask_ for the information to be sent to you under the guise that you want to provide them with more funding?"

"Or" Misty gestured with her hands. "We have Drew here, who speaks on behalf of Dawn; maybe we could say that Sinnoh is looking to build another Silph Co, and we need layout codes and information for the coordinator champion?" Misty grinned at Drew who flinched, then relaxed into a sigh.

"That actually might work."

"That's great." Misty chirped, "But if we don't hurry, they might start painting me as a crazy person." She said, rising from her seat and gesturing for Brock and Drew to follow her.

"We're going now?" the young men asked in unison.  
"Why wait?" Misty retorted and Brock scampered after her, grinning from ear-to-ear, and Drew who wasn't used to the antics of the former trio followed slowly behind.

"Now we're talking. Are we going to break stuff like last time?" Brock questioned and Misty looked over her shoulder at him.

"Where were you _last time_?" She joked, rolling her eyes with a clear scoff. "You sat on a _boat_."

"So does that mean no to explosions?" Brock looked offended, "Man, if Ash was here he would-"

"Are you two serious?" Drew gawked, glaring at them while they stepped into the city streets. "Do you really think _now_ is the time to make jokes?"

Both Brock and Misty looked back at Drew, the newcomer in this mess they called life, and then looked at each other for some semblance of retaliation. Misty didn't have words—before meeting Ash, she probably would have never been so relaxed to make _jokes_ about the situation they were in; but now...

"What's a better time than now to make jokes?" Brock's voice was sincere when Misty gazed up at him. "We might not get another chance to, after all."

Drew hesitated, partially appalled by their words, a little scared, and finally after a few blinks and a flick of his green hair; acceptance.

"Alright, but could you two not be so loud about explosions? People will stare."

"You'll get used to it. Brock and I did." Misty urged while wrapping her arms around his and dragging the two of them along the road to Silph Co.

 **Author's Note** :

(That's right, I did a mini POV from Charizard's perspective. I don't regret it)

I decided to bundle up the first part of this chapter as primary Ash POV, and the second half as primary Misty POV, just so you guys aren't jumping around a whole bunch. I was going to put them as separate chapter,s but I think this turned out okay?

The next few chapters felt really super rushed how I had them originally, so I've broken them up a little bit more.

As always, thank you for the reviews; also, holy cow, 300plus favs and follows? I am totally honored to have that be a thing. :o Thank you all so much for reading, and I really hope you're still enjoying the ride!

NINT


	48. Chapter 48: It happens

Locked Away, Chapter 48

With charizard leading them, the dropping temperatures were not as harsh. After what felt like a long detour finding a balloon, and hooking charizard up to pull them, they were finally on their way to the summit of the mountain. As they flew closer, a chill embedded deep into their bodies, and without knowing it, they huddled together. Pikachu and togepi were both shivering inside of Ash's jacket, and meowth, while clothed warmly himself, huddled with James and Jessie.

"How are you doing, charizard?!" Ash shouted to the pokemon and it tilted to one side slowly to indicate his concentration. From within the heavy fog they soared through, Ash could still see the gimp in the large dragon's wing. A small figment of the injury was indicated by a flinch here and there, and yet he barreled forward, pulling them at a reasonable speed. The fire type pokemon never ceased to amaze Ash, but he wondered _why_ exactly charizard was here.

Charizard was not very specific, given Team Rocket's presence, but Ash retained the gist of it. Labratory attacked, his pokemon fled. Were the rest of them okay? Did they leave together; what about Gary and Leaf... and May, and Max? Should charizard have stayed with the rest of the pokemon? Ash wanted to ask, but now was not the time or the place. The storm was already treacherous and growing worse every second. He was not going to endanger the rest of them with answers he could wait for. Even if he didn't want to. Fear consumed the small part of him that worried for his friends, but he had to stay focused on the task at hand. Big light blinding at the top of a mountain before a horrible snow-storm in the middle of summer. If that didn't scream legendary pokemon being disturbed, he wasn't sure what else would.

Reading the lines of stress on the young man's face, James laid a heavy hand on Ash's shoulders and pat him comfortingly.

"We're almost there." James assured him from beneath his heavy scarf. With a red nose from the cold, Ash turned to him, only to see the man pointing into the distance at a trail of black smoke from the tip of the mountain.

"Charizard, let us down at the top of the mountain over there!" Ash commanded, rushing away from the trio as charizard roared in agreement, but his assurance was replace with a sudden descent. Panic settled in when charizard's sudden evasive maneuvers, when he would have been fine half a year ago—resulted in his wing collapsing, and the pokemon spiraling quickly from the air, taking them with it.

"Wai— _Agh!_ " The world came crashing around them as the cloth balloon tilted and swerved at an awkward angle and the seven of them collapsed into the snow at the top of Mr. Coronet.

Charizard landed first in a heap of snow, half buried and unable to break his fall. Had Ash not been yelling—and falling himself, he might have remembered that charizard was already exhausted by the way his tail flickered when he flew—he came all the way from Kanto region on what should have still been an injured wing—there was no way this was easy for him.

It was cold, and Ash's body ached. The jacket he wore did little to prevent the invading snow from clouding his vision, and his legs felt heavy thanks to James landing on them with a loud, wheezing cough, and groan. On top of him, meowth was the only one to land with any sense of grace.

"..oww..." Ash groaned, thankful that at least the thick of the snow broke their fall. Ears ringing, back aching, and body growing ever colder, he almost didn't notice the innate lack of weight on his chest where it was before.

"Pika pi chu!" pikachu called while racing back over to his fallen trainer and digging his face out of the snow.

"pika!" he whined tot Ash whos vision only slowly returned. Starting with charizard, who gimped his way to sitting up, and then around and around again snapping wide.

"James, get up!" His voice was strained, yet powerful when he called to the former Team Rocket member who responded by rolling away and huffing. "Togepi and Jessie are gone!"

"Togepi, where are you?" Ash called, flipping onto his hands and knees. Every limb fell through the snow like a weight preventing him from combing through the area quickly, and now he was cursing the frozen water. Pikachu called for him again, the mouse was always an efficient lander—but the sudden intensity and switch in gravity while in the middle of the storm must have jolted them just enough...

"Jessie?" James coughed out, followed by the willful meows of meowth, who scampered about like pikachu.

Ash's vision was blurry, and his head hadn't caught up with him yet. The howl of the wind was his only visitor, and with the sun dead in the horizon, they weren't going to have much luck out here: he couldn't seen ten feet in front of him besides charizard's tail flame.

Beside him, charizard whimpered, and his mind snapped back to reality.

"Are you alright, buddy?" Ash questioned, rushing to the dragon's side who's strong huff through his nostrils melted the snow beside him. The demi-dragon's body felt like a furnace, and so while keeping his eyes on the area around him, he pet the distance of his tired head, to the edge of his injured wing.

"It's okay." Ash muttered; thinking that they may have rushed things _only now_. The black smog above them trailed as the only indication they were still going the right way. Their landing was a mess.

"You get some rest, I have to go find everyone else." Ash reminded charizard while kicking off in the snow, following after pikachu who glided over the ice.

"Togepi?!" Ash tried again, hearing James and meowth in the distance, "Jessie?!" Ash tried as well, a call that earned him the shriek of togepi's name from James and meowth's lips as well.

They met at the center of the landing, it didn't seem like they fell that far... Ash looked up, trees bordered the entire surrounding area; when they were in the sky, those trees looked like ants. They were lucky to be alive after that brutal landing... it wasn't even quite where they wanted to stop. Charizard passed another apology while pulling itself from the snowy ground, and against his better judgment, increased the size of his tail to work as a torch. A beacon in the dark.

James approached Ash, clearly distressed. "It's too cold to be out there alone."

"I know." Ash muttered, walking cautiously to the edge of the snow drift, they landed somewhere between a large forest enclosure and a cliff side, but near the path of the mountain slope. They could get to the top by day break if they moved fast enough...but if they were down two members, there was no way Ash was leaving.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu urged, colliding into Ash's chest with a thud that nearly knocked him over.

"You found them?"  
"Cha!" The mouse yelped, hopping back into the snow, barely light enough to prance over the top of it while James and Ash trudged through it about a yard south of landing.

In the distance, they saw Jessie seated with togepi in her arms on the branch of a tree—looking for them. How clever. Her hair was tussled, and her jacket was torn where she snagged a few branches on the way down; but her scowl indicated that she was _safe_ and mostly uninjured.

"Jessie!" James practically squealed, but the noise fell on deaf ears—Ash looked around him. The wind was too loud, too aggressive. Their voices couldn't carry that far.

"Pikachu, use a small thundershock as a beacon." Ash murmured, realizing charizard was just far enough away to blur his light source. Pikachu ignited a small zap from his cheeks that alerted Jessie and togepi nd Ash and James stuck out both arms to wave at them.

Her face was distorted from the gust, but relief washed over her.

Fear followed next, then she vanished in a white light.

"Wait!?" Ash yelped, prepared to run ahead but James grabbed him before he could, hearing the soft thud of the egg pokemon and Jessie hitting the snow beside them.

"Togepi!" Ash shouted, rushing past Jessie to snatch the tearful egg out of the cold snow. Where he was brave and determined, he was still an egg- _a baby_.

"Yea, just worry about the egg, you twerp." Jessie muttered. " It wasn't like I was the one who caught the damn thing." She added sinfully while standing up and brushing extra snow off her coat and boots. Up close, the tears in her jacket were more defined.

"I'm sorry, thank you." Ash corrected himself while the egg burrowed itself into Ash's jacket. "Are you alright?" He gestured to the very clear tears, and Jessie shrugged.

"Could've been worse." She smiled faintly while James and meowth snatched her into a short-lived, affectionate hug that she was hesitant to return right away.

"Thank goodness." "Meooww" They said in unison, releasing her as she nodded appropriately, then faced the mountain.

"...How did you two get so far away?" James questioned, pointing quietly at the shivering pokemon that curled into Ash's warm embrace, the same way he used to hold it when he was still an unhatched egg.

"I guess togepi can use teleport?" Ash mumbled quietly while prancing back through the snow to charizard. The faster they made it up the mountain, the better.

"No, he used metronome..." Jessie snarled. "We could have easily been blown up."

"but you got lucky—twice." Ash defended. "He was scared. He's not like us, he's still a..." Ash looked down to the egg who look ashamed of the situation. They had only ever been separated a handful of times, and generally, togepi was in trusted hands.

"Well, _a baby._ " Ash zipped his coat higher to be sure that the same mistake wouldn't happen twice. Pikachu hopped on his shoulder in agreement, and Ash threw his arm forward.

"We have more important things to worry about, we have a bit of a walk to the top of that mountain, so let's move." Ash pointed to the top and while Jessie and James would have enjoyed questioning him and his pokemon further, they followed in silence.

Their supplies stayed attached to the basket of the balloon, which was torn down the middle when they collected their hiking gear. Unfortunately, they were in for a cold evening, since the majority of the hike would be night time. Luckily for them, charizard assured them he could lead the way, _and wasn't too exhausted to do so_. He was clearly lying, and they all knew it. But emotions were high, and they were all tired, so they didn't argue with the temperamental dragon.

Up each slope was a new challenge, at one point, charizard carried each trainer up a small cliff side one at a time, they held hands to ensure they wouldn't be separated by the snow storm, and worked endlessly up what felt like a never ending mountain side until the sound of the howling wind died progressively, and the arrived at the first break in their mission. Hours later, with the sun barely peeking over the horizon, they arrived at the peak.

The top of Mt. Coronet was nothing like Ash remembered it. It was dark, and eerie and the entire place smelled like...gun smoke? All around them black fog dissipated slowly, and while charizard took the break as a time to collapse onto what was left of the concrete surface, the remaining group looked around. Here at the top, they must have stepped into the eye of the storm, because it was painfully silent. No wind, no snow, _nothing_ out of place.

A shrine once lived here, much larger than Ash ever _dreamed_ of it being, expanding far beyond the normal reaches of the mountain top—only now, the wondrous place was buried in snow, and smoke.

"Has...has it always looked like this?" Ash asked, and both Jessie and James seemed grim.

"...sort of." James answered, looking to meowth.

" _Homes of legendary pokemon aren't as preserved as they were in your dreams."_ Meowth answered back while flicking his paw beneath his chin, and standing on his hind legs, he pointed over the crest of the hill. _"But there might be somethin' more over there, the scorch marks aren't normal_ "

"They've already been here." James added nonchalantly while folding his scarf over his nose to hide his bitter expression. Jessie followed behind them, and Ash tried to put meowth's words at the back of his mind.

 _Places of worship weren't preserved in this world_ , but that should not have come as a surprise to Ash—people could not get close to legendary pokemon like he remembered—it was like Misty said, it was _years_ since the last one of seen spotted, and she herself never saw one until.. Ash shook his head.

"If they got here before us, that must have been the light that I saw." He exhaled, pikachu read his thoughts and bolted seconds before Ash did. "Maybe they were giving out a distress signal!" Ash shouted, rushing up the steps of the fallen temple.

James glanced at Jessie, who was surprisingly very quiet since reaching the summit, and then with her wave of dismissal, he and meowth both bolted after the hot-headed pokemon trainer while her gaze fixed on charizard who slumped tiredly against the rocks. Once they were at the foot of the steps, she removed the glove on her right hand and pulled it back to see what she suspected. Blood.

Funny, she didn't feel like she was injured at all—her body must have been numb from the cold. With a hiss of pain, she tugged her glove back over her hand, and assured herself it wasn't _that bad_ , a little swore. A branch must have cut her.

"...grrraa." The dragon groaned, seeing the blood on her hand while flicking his wing at her. Jessie nodded respectfully as charizard moved to walk with her.

"You and me both." She groaned as they both took a few uneasy steps forward.

The Spear Pillar, once a wonderous place of legend, with high roaming towers as far as the eye could see that sat at the top of the mountain, undisturbed for hundreds of years, now laid in ruins around them—years of disrepair ran fatigue over the godly monuments outlining the history of pokemon, of time itself—and only small images cast upon what remained of the pillars told a story of the legendary pokemon's heritage here.

"Dialga and Palkia were the first decent of Arceus, the godly pokemon..." Jessie groaned from behind them, a few steps behind now that the numbing sensation faded from her bones.

"They watched over Sinnoh during olden times of legend and... blahblahblah." She groaned watching Ash leap at the sight at the end of the stairs. It was nothing that Team Rocket wasn't already prepared for—what they were used to at this point, but for Ash, it was like being kicked in the chest.

"What happened to this place?" He hissed while falling to his knees in exhaustion.

Before him was a flat grove of snow. What was left of the grand arches was buried—ashes danced from former fires dying out, kicking up the black smog they saw from before, and destruction stared back at him. Guns, tanks, pokemon-catching equipment larger than his snorlax decorated the outskirts of the field, where for all intensive purposes, looked like a grand battle took place.

"They must have known we would come this way!" Ash groaned, slamming his fist into the solid stone below him. In under twenty four hours, Team Rocket established control of the two legendary pokemon, and ruined the peaceful region of Sinnoh.

"This is awful." James mouthed while meowth tugged at their pants legs, pointing to a rather destructive, metallic _monster_ that was cracked in half, and missing part of the engine. The culprit of the catch.

"I never thought they would get the machine to work." Jessie's voice cracked, alerting Ash to their stunned expressions.

"What do you mean?" he asked, glancing at the machine they indicated to. The base was buried in at least two feet of snow, but the lethal canon matched with metallic rings around the head of the ship reminded them sorely of how _selfish they used to be_.

"We helped make that!"Jessie snapped, throwing snow at the metal beast-their creation.

By this point, he should not have been surprised anymore, yet he was. "Why would you do that?"

"Power and greed makes people blind." James soothed, grasping her shoulders to calm her.

"But you guys weren't-" _yes they were, at least a little_.

"We were stupid, and misinformed, but it's not a good excuse." Jessie hummed, sinking into a squat to gather her thoughts. Meowth pressed forward, prancing over the snow with ease and arriving at the beast.

Maybe now wasn't the time, at the top of the hill, staring at their inability to arrive sooner—to prevent another poaching. Still, the scenario didn't make sense. He _knew_ he recalled them always pinning for Giovanni's affection, they should have been far from his second hand men. Because more than anything, they looked devastated by what they saw ahead of them. Not guilt. In fact, they did a _bunch_ of bad things for _good reasons_ , but never seemed remorseful unless someone—or something was hurt.

 _They were still bad people_ , Ash reminded himself, glancing over his shoulder to see the two of them huddled together, a stern expression over James' face.

"...what was Giovanni to you three?" _with good intentions_ , he argued as an after thought.

 _A boss, a friend, a confidant._ Meowth thought bitterly, and Ash snapped over at him to meet his gaze.

"A traitor." Jessie added, with an affirmative nod from James. "A liar."

"But why would you help him for so long? You three aren't _bad_ people. Look at what you made! You had to know this came with drawbacks—what in the world were you thinking helping him get the legendary pokemon!?" With each question, his voice grew louder, surprising himself with his outburst.

"Hey, we already told you we made a mistake!" Jessie sneered, but that answer wasn't good enough anymore.

"Why would you help him!?"

"Because we wanted to!" James hissed, alleviating the truth to Ash. "Because we wanted power, and fortune, and fame for all the years we were shit on by the system! But we didn't want _this_! We didn't _help him_ for this!"

Awestruck, Ash stepped away from James, who huffed in his own anger.

"You can think that fairy tale world you concocted for us in your head is true—but in the real world, we _are_ bad people! Look at what you've had to do to survive the last few weeks! Steal, cheat— _lie!_ We did what we _had_ to do to survive, and maybe for once it was _nice_ to be the ones with all the power! So we did help him, and yeah, we regret it now, but that's apparently not good enough for you _heroes!_ "

Shaking, James brushed past Ash to examine the surrounding area, leaving a stunned Ash facing Jessie, who wasn't as eager to move around. He didn't know them—at least, not outside of the _fake memories_ he made for them in his imagination. Shamefully, Ash looked down. Everyone's lives were different here—his, Misty's, Brock's; why not Jessie and James, too?

"...I'm.. I'm sorry." he said, but Jessie shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't care." She muttered nonchalantly, clearly detached from the situation. James had always been the more emotionally unstable in terms of guilty consciousnesses. "I don't feel bad for what we did—it's James you should apologize to."

Glancing down at his feet, which looked much more interesting than Jessie's knowing expression, Ash nodded and followed after James with a silent pikachu at his side. Ash was all too familiar with that look of utter betrayal and disgust on James face, because Ash shared it, too, when he saw himself in the mirror waking up at the hospital. Being ripped in two pieces and one half growing numb.

"James..."

"Don't worry about it, kid." he shook Ash off while digging through the snow to toss away some of the empty guns left lying around.

"Just go check out the area, see if we can find any clues."

 _But_ , Ash wanted to start, but knew that he made his mind up when he sulked away to find meowth clawing through some of the machine's hard wire. It was much too quiet for Ash's comfort, and he never felt like more of an outcast among the thieves. When his back was turned to James, ready to look for clues, the older man choked.

"It's just been a really long road for us."

"You slept in a peaceful world, content for ten years while Jessie and I...we had to live through this. Never knowing if we were making the right decisions—turns out everything we did was wrong. For the wrong reasons, for the wrong people. At one point, we were ready to take another person's life, _Ash_." James inhaled, the way that he spoke Ash's name made his skin crawl. _He_ was the one they almost killed, after all.

"If we _had_ killed you that day... it's possible the visions would have stopped, all of this mayhem could have been avoided and Jessie and I could have left Team Rocket...but..." James gazed at Ash, fire burning in his green eyes.

"We changed that day. I promise you." James both assured Ash of their intentions, and refuted the deep embedded distrust he had for them with one look and Ash nodded, lips twitching.

"Okay." then with one nod, they reached a new understanding of one another.

 **XOX**

An hour into the search, Jessie who sat the first part of their arrival out at the steps, made bold claims that there must have been another complex like Unova in the world. Otherwise, they had no place to put the legendary pokemon they were stealing—how they managed to take out, or even ward off Dialga and Palkia was a honest surprise to the both of them anyways. Since Jessie and James never gave them the information to find the two, the information must have came from Ash, and Giovanni was and has been collecting far longer than they expected. A capture like _this_ , didn't happen over night.

"Someone will notice though, right? When they send people up here to investigate." Ash asked offhandedly, but James assured him that anyone who would arrive at the top of the mountain would probably do so long after the storm cleared, and the evidence was hidden under miles of snow. _If_ the snow ever cleared without the balance of the two legendaries.

By the time the sun tore a small hole into the terrible, foggy weather above them, the permanent chill in their body was irremovable. Ash felt like a human Popsicle, even with charizard near him. The pokemon's tail grew dimmer each hour that passed, but when Ash brought it up, the pokemon would huff in Team Rocket's general direction, and fly off to be alone for a little while.

Pikachu stuck to the dragon like glue. Charizard was injured and Ash directed pikachu as his supervisor. The mouse also wanted to be ready in case Team Rocket came back at any time, to both defend his friends, and protect the weakened charizard.

Ash wished to hell and back that charizard brought his pokeball with him, but that wasn't the case.

"Togee brii." The egg eventually apologized for his behavior earlier. Sitting in the dark was terrifying enough, sitting with Jessie was jarring; even if the woman was _scary_. Togepi noted that Jessie was very nice, and sent his apologies to the woman who brushed the eggs kind words off. In the twinkle in her eye, Ash could see the appreciation, and wondered if anything was getting through to them.

"There's nothing up here, guys." Ash groaned, walking off in his own direction, away from the battle parts they tried to remove from the ancient ruins.

Unfortunately, for trouble-magnet Ash, moments after making the announcement and was a few yards away from the rest of his team, he slipped down a slope, and barreled quickly into the snow below. The ground went fast, the snow trickled to his knees, and he landed face first.

Just his luck!

"Great." he muttered while wiping his face clear of snow. Togepi let out a chuckle while Ash tried to dig himself out immediately. That's what he got for being too wrapped up in his own head about what was right and wrong anymore! Should have watched where he was going—but he was nothing if not clumsy!

"Togeee" The egg silenced his trainer, his spikes poking up from the collar of Ash's jacket, warning him of of another sound coming up the mountain.

"Did you hear that?" Ash asked the egg, watching the eastern entrance of the ruined Spear Pillar—or at least where an entrance and trail would have been if it wasn't covered in thick snow.

Down the path, a group of Team Rocket grunts made their way one grueling stomp at a time, holding familiar weapons that they found in the summit. Every nerve in Ash's body froze upon seeing them, and while the need to fight surged at every corner of his body, as did the need to to call for help.

He reached around for his pokeballs, only to find that thanks to being buried waist deep in the snow, they were inaccessible without drawing too much attention to himself—not that a moving, black blob in the center of white nothingness was hard to spot.

"What is that?" one of the grunts mouthed off, watching Ash squirm to reach the balls on his belt.

"It's a survivor!" They added, preparing to lift their weapons and Ash dug desperately at the snow while togepi popped from his chest to try and help.

 _Shit shit shit!_ Ash thought while the primitive aggression that every Rocket member seemed ot have crossed their faces.

'Aww—he's stuck." One laughed while Ash stared at togepi in desperation.

"Okay, togepi, if you have another metronome in you, now would be the time to use it!" Ash shouted loudly, hoping to alert his companions where he was while the egg faced the men, glowering.

"Or safeguard! That works with bullets, right?" Ash was _almost there_ , he only needed to reach snorlax, and the rest was history!

At the first gun shot, all ears twitched, and Jessie, James, meowth, and Ash's two pokemon shot from the battle ground, racing after the sound with charizard and pikachu at the lead.

"He wasn't supposed to go that far!" Jessie screeched, a full stride ahead of james before coming to a stop at the bluff Ash fell from. Below them, togepi's _best attempt_ at a secure safeguard deflected the one bullet, and left the men in chuckles.

"Wow, how _scary_!" One of them laughed egotistically, and Ash growled.

"Hey! Why don't you put those away and we'll have a real fight!" Ash yelled back, throwing his arms up wildly. Ash was mortified, staring down the barrel of a gun for the third time in his life. He thought it wouldn't be as terrifying, but physically unable to move, kicking at snow and _waiting_ for the stinging pain to meet his head made his mind go numb of other solutions. _Of course_ they wouldn't go easy on him, but if he could keep them joking and distracted long enough then—fire trickled above them, melting the snow before them instantly when charizard swooped down, dropping pikachu off in front of Ash's predicament, and directly before togepi—electricity ticking from every pour in his body.

Pikachu's hairs stood on end like sharp spikes, eyes dark and patience drawn thinly as the fire dissipated and charizard prepared to circle back around. Ash had never seen the pokemon so _angry_ before.

"Why don't you stick around for awhile?!" James sneered at the top of the hill, distracting the men while they slid effortlessly down the side.

"Would you look at that?" They laughed, backing up into a group formation. "The boss will be pleased to see that Jessie and James are still around."

"If you come peacefully, we won't hurt you— _Ahh!_ " the group screamed, their hisses causing a small avalanche to drop from the trees above when an electrifying wave cut through the air, unleashing a lighting bolt from a thunderstorm that landed directly against the men not once, but twice. Coursing through metal weapons, bouncing off each other, until the once threatening group of men crumpled to the snow.

 _Lifeless._

A long, howling silence tore through the group while they watched smoke rise from the bodies of the invaders. Their bodies twitched from the remaining jolt, as the watcher's blood ran cold and meowth and togepi looked alarmingly at the mouse.

His small claws were buried in the snow, tail raised threateningly while charizard whined from the sky above.

"...Pikachu." Ash called to his companion, breaking the concentration he trained on the smoldering pile of men before him, and quickly faced Ash with blurry vision.

"Pika!" It whined, not moving towards him.

This wasn't the first time this situation came up. During their flight through the underground tunnel, Ash gave the command for pikachu to attack himself—but he never imagined it was so _powerful_ against humans. The pokemon's cheeks surged with blue electricity when tears stung his eyes at Ash's hesitation, and he finally snapped in to hold the mouse close and brush his hands over his ears.

White noise.

 _An accident_.

"We told you to be careful!" Jessie scolded, approaching Ash while meowth checked out the situation with the grunts—no doubt, they weren't getting up _any time soon_ , but he poked at them regardless.

" _If they're here.._." Meowth wondered, rushing to the tree line while James and Jessie pulled Ash up with a heave.

"Togee brii!" The egg chirped at pikachu who had not moved from the corner of Ash's neck, ears down and huffing.

"It's okay pikachu." Ash muttered, refusing to look back at the damage the mouse caused.

There wasn't really time to talk about it, they _wanted_ to, at least touch base with what they just witnessed, but meowth's call beckoned for them, and they moved like a blur-time seemed to move dangerously fast.

" _We have a way down this mountain—and in style, too_!" The cat pokemon mewed up to them while prancing down a trodden slope that was used more recently than the trail they used.

Questions went without being asked, and they ran after them to see a small tank resting at the foot of the hill right before the members thought to climb up and they each released a sigh of relief. Meowth cleared the distance there, jumped into the machine, and reappeared within seconds.

" _And we got their next destination!_ " he sung happily, a note snagged to his claw before they all barreled down the hill and Ash called for charizard.

"But what about-!" Ash tried, but with a gentle nudge, both Jessie and James helped _throw_ him into the cargo of the vehicle, and climbed in after one at a time. Above them charizard groaned his displeasure of using enemy vessels, and Ash walked around in a blurry stupor.

"What about the bodies!?" He snapped out, alerting the rest of the group who fell into immediate silence.

"...we leave them." Jessie mumbled quietly, to which pikachu released a tired squeak and a slow wetness coated his shirt with tears.

"Togeee!" The egg assured pikachu, knowing well that he did what he did to defend Ash. There was guns pointed at his head, if togepi had the power—he would have.

" _Enough!_ " Meowth hissed, digging his claws into the control panel. " _we're unbalanced, pokemon feel it more than humans—stop whinin' and let's get going."_

What else could he say? Ash looked up at charizard who nodded daringly, high up in the sky once more, assuring Ash he wouldn't take any sudden crash landings until reaching the end of the mountain.

Ash stroked pikachu once more, who didn't relax the slightest at the information provided by mewoth.

"Where to, then?" Ash huffed, and Jessie and James read over the letter, a bit more open with Ash now that they were seated in protected cover, and not running aimlessly.

"Ecruteak City." They answered in unison.

Ash sat back with bags under his eyes, sleep pulling at every sore bone. "And what if we run into the ones that stole Dialga and Palkia?"

"Then we'll take care of it." Jessie responded while taking the protection of the tank to remove her coat and patch the wound she kept easily hidden. Ash watched when James panicked along side meowth who was driving.

He watched their expression, each line of distress, every angry turn of their lips, and their hands while the fumbled to close the wound. Coagulated blood decorated her under clothes, as well as the jacket she was wearing, but the wound itself was nothing more than a long cut—a tree branch snagged her on the way down.

But it was gruesome, he never thought something could bleed so much. Glancing down at pikachu, he still couldn't hear—after the gunshot, his ears were ringing, and he was sure that pikachu had panicked. Jessie and James didn't have weapons, they weren't equip to handle an assault, and pikachu thought faster than any of them—and reaped the injustice of it.

Ash swallowed down the knot forming in his throat, knowing better than to let the heat rushing to his eyes fall down his face in tears.

He wasn't sure he liked what this was doing to him. His insides felt all torn up on behalf of pikachu—carved out from stealing. Worst of all, he felt wounded because he actually felt numb to the situation. _Accepted_ that these were the things that were going to happen, and so soon after separating from the very people who kept him grounded for so long. Overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude that these were the kind of situations he was protecting the rest of the world from—protecting his friends and family from; and he knew pikachu felt the same way when he bit hard on his lip to contain his tears. _It wasn't an accident_ , but he wouldn't tell anyone else that. It would be their secret.

For once, Ash knew that it was _not_ coincidence that he stood alongside Jessie and James. What was necessary wasn't always _good_ , but it was right; and Ash had to accept that. _Especially now_. What would have happened if those men escaped? One of them could have been shot, their entire plan revealed, or _worse_. This wasn't a game—the wound on Jessie's back, as minor as it was—the bruises on Misty's legs—strong reminders that no one was safe.

If they couldn't take the plunge, they weren't going to win this. Determination and motivation wasn't enough—Ash couldn't talk himself up and out of this, he couldn't blindly pose his optimism to victory, and he couldn't rely on his luck anymore. This was real, and happening now. No place was safe until Team Rocket was gone.

Glowing brown eyes danced to the duo who made easy work of the small wound with just a fraction of the supplies other people would have needed and Ash inhaled.

"How are we getting to Ecruteak City?" He questioned boldly, the sound returning as they looked up at him.

"Hijack a plane?" Jessie mouthed, blinking playfully at James. Typically, Ash might have questioned it, _could they really_? But instead, he shook his head.

"There's an airport just outside of Eterna City with several smaller planes that I saw when I was there—it's fairly unguarded and thanks to the storm, a lot of them might be grounded." Apparently, he missed the part where they were joking.

"It's faster than a boat, and I'm sure we can fly it out of here."

Floored, James narrowed his eyes. "We'll have to steal it."

Ash wasn't sure what to say, he _knew_ that, but a fraction of his heart was still _so guilty_ for nodding as quickly as he did. "That's fine, we'll pay I back later—right now we need to focus on beating Team Rocket to the city."

"Which pokemon is located there, anyways?" Jessie asked while throwing her coat on over her cold shoulders.

"I'm...not sure, I never actually met it, you three know that." Ash exhaled. "But the legendary monument is in the middle of Ecruteak City, we can't let them destroy that."

"They won't...shouldn't anyways."

"They hid an entire region for _years_ , I think if they wanted to attack Ecruteak City, they could."

"That's pretty close to where you're wanted by the police."

"I'll just have to hide better." Ash mumbled, swallowing the lump in his throat. The air grew thicker as they rode, each bump rocking them back and forth and Ash exhaled.

"They're taking notes from the list that _I_ made at the nursing home—Ecruteak City was one of the last things I wrote about before turning my notebook in, there's no telling how many other legendary pokemon they have found—"

"Hey." Jessie reached out, latching her hands over Ash's shoulder. He was shaking violently, he hadn't even noticed.

"Relax, it's going to be okay." She assured him with a slow

"We're running out of time!" Ash snapped back at her, and she remained surprisingly calm when she shook her head.

"No, we're not. We have as much time as we need, _Ash_ , don't lose yourself in this." She breathed. "Like you said, we're going to take out the bad guys, and you're going to go home and have a normal life; so relax, you're not alone."

"You _and your pokemon_ have friends everywhere." James echoed her words, and while pikachu sobbed in his arms, Ash nodded once more—exhausted while his eyes stared widely at Pikachu in his lap, and tears pooled.

 **XOX**

"So...you're really wanting to get the rights to build _another_ Silph Co in Eterna City?"

"Yeah," Smoothly, Drew replied and smacked his lips together. "Dawn is very interested in bringing the life-line of pokemon training a little closer to home now that we've settled the issues between battlers and coordinators."

"Well," The man at the reception desk wondered while looking over his notes. "We don't have any available meetings with the president until..."

"Are you telling me that you're going to make Dawn wait?" Drew laughed, hotly flipping his hair and shaking his head venomously.

"Why do I not think this will ask—we could always ask your rivals—who were they...Aeth.."

"No, wait." The receptionist groaned, rubbing beneath his glasses. He glanced around the lobby.

"I can get you in to see the facility, and a meeting tomorrow."

Drew acted as if he has to think it over, puffing a strand of green hair from his face—sealed the false unimpressed appearance with a glance at his nails and resolved to huffing.

"Alright, we can do that."

"Oh thank god." The man muttered under his breath while Drew fought the urge to smile.

Behind the building, just past a dumpster where they _knew_ they could be seen by security footage—but also knew that the security guard was at lunch until two. After waiting for him to leave, they made their move to infiltrate the building.

"Are you sure we shouldn't have gone in there ourselves?"

"It would have drawn way too much attention if I walked in there flashing my title, Brock. We wouldn't be able to snoop around without being watching."

"...I guess, but what if Drew can't convince them to let him in?"

Misty hummed. " _Then_ I'll follow up with using my title."

Brock mumbled to himself about a faulty plan—neither of them knew Drew better than the few sentences Dawn made, and the time they spent traveling here—and in that short time, they discovered very little about the pokemon coordinator. He didn't like cheaters, or misconduct, and for some reason worked alongside Dawn. That didn't mean he was on the level of getting them inside Silph Co—what if he was a traitor, or something, and he turned them in-

The door creaked open to the left of them, and a purple jacket and green hair poked from the door, smiling.

"Did ya' miss me?"

"See—I told you Brock, nothing to worry about." Misty hummed gleefully while clearing the distance between them with a few short strides, and Brock right behind them. The back stairwell entrance was easily off the beaten path, so it was only natural that Brock and Misty be extra weary.

"Where is everyone?"

Drew stuffed his hands into his pockets. "They let me in by myself. To have a look around the first floor compound where they have all their goodies."

"...Why would they leave you alone?"

"Make enough of a fuss about personal space and hair care and anyone would get sick of you."

Misty narrowed her eyes, blinking a few times in confusion while Brock was appalled.

"Fair enough." Misty nodded after a time, knowing that half a second into her own sisters hair-topic, she was conked out into some distant, imaginary world _far_ away, if physically leaving wasn't an option.

"This is the stairwell we read about, Brock. We can take this up to the third floor where the scientist are operating. Maybe shake down a few trees and get some information." Drew realigned their sights while grasping the railing and starting up the first few steps. The rest followed.

"Are any of you tech savvy? Maybe we can just get the information from a computer." Though she knew that none of them were particularly skilled with computers—Ash had an easier time cracking the code of the one at the Unova facility and he was in a coma for ten years—she couldn't imagine what it would be like trying to hack a computer in the embodiment of technology.

"Guess we'll just ask around." Drew offered, though the look Brock and Misty shared made his skin crawl.

Then, Misty sneered at him. "Like that's going to work." she said once they stopped at the third floor.

"We'll look for someone out of the loop, and make them tell us." Misty chuckled as an afterthought.

"Are you nuts? We'll get thrown out of here?" Drew panicked, not familiar with her sense of humor, apparently.

"We're not really going to do that." Brock rolled his eyes, and Misty kicked the door open, checking around to make sure no one in the shiny, white, metal hallway was around to see them use the fire exit doors, and then one at a time they slipped inside. Her boots scuffed the white tile flooring, silence so deafening she thought she lost her hearing for a moment.

"...What now?" Drew pondered aloud, earning a _shh_ from the two others.

"Are you always so full of questions?" Misty whispered while Brock chuckled quietly and they made their way through one of the entries, and directly in front of a large, glass window.

Inside, at least a dozen scientists worked on what could only be every type of pokeball, studied the schematics of pokedex, poke-phones, and a ton of other blueprints they couldn't make out. Their heads turned in awe at the structure—how neat they were, lacking human emotion with robotic movements, step by step repeating the same tasks perfectly... and then coming to the painful realization that _they were_ robots; or at least machines.

"What in the.."

"What are you doing up here?" a pained voice interrupted Brock's interrogation of the scene, and the three of them whipped around to see a frazzled, blonde haired scientist dawning a pristine white coat, and cracked glasses.

"You can't be up here!" He almost shouted, flinching when Drew stepped forward. Then, the mind-numbing, heart racing, panic set in.

 _Think fast_! Misty shouted at herself and inhaled

"Y-you know who we are." Misty said weakly, and the man's distress turned to a slow deflation... That _wasn't_ the reaction either of them excepted at what was a _horrible_ attempt to get him to calm down.

"They never tell me when they switch messengers." he practically croaked, walking from the three of them, and down the white hallway into the other direction. "How can I work if they keep sending me..." And he rattled off comments that concerned each of them—and Misty blinked thoughtfully.

This man was awfully familiar for _some reason_.

"Is he talking about.."

"He must think we're with Team Rocket." Brock deduced.

"Go with it." Misty nodded, encouraging them forward by taking the lead.

They followed the man step by easy step until he stopped at an ajar door, and slipped inside. Inside, the room wasn't nearly as _clean_ or as _tidy_ as the rest of the facility—food crumbs were spread across the white floor, a sleeping mat was rolled out, and he was clearly alone when he took a seat at the desk and ran his hands through his growing, bright blonde hair, and then started scribbling down notes again. Still muttering.

"...Are you living here?"

"Can't leave." he added, voice shaking. "Won't let me, remember? I know too much." He sniffled. "Too much to know."

"He's nuts." Drew hissed, kicking away a soiled blanket.

"...No, he's a prisoner." Brock added sympathetically while he approached the boy much closer to Ash's age than his own.

"We're here to help." Brock muttered, stepping near the boy at his desk.

"You never help." He hissed, glaring at Brock with bight blue eyes full of disdain. Meanwhile, his hands prepared what ever information from the computer screen that he supposed they wanted, and Brock blinked several times. This scientist, who ever he was, wasn't _evil_ by any means.

"We don't work for Team Rocket." Brock said neatly, earning a shriek of panic from Misty.

"Don't blow our cover because you're feeling-" She started in on him when the boy wheeled backwards and looked at the three of them—coming to the realization himself that they weren't _dressed_ , or acting the way that any normal members did, and he blinked in dull confusion.

"He was awfully chatty a minute ago to be so quiet now." Drew remarked to the sudden silence, which broke through the scientists awe.

"Why are you here?" his voice practically echoed the intense heartbeat in his chest when he spoke and his shoulders craned backwards when Brock knelt beside him to watch him evenly.

"You have some information about a microchip being distributed through this facility that wants to disrupt all the peace in the world and we need a way to stop it." Brock inhaled, "Please, we need your help."

If there had been a clock in the room, a minute would have ticked by before the man gave any indication that he even heard Brock, first curling up as if his stomach was twisted up in knots, and then biting down on his already chewed up lips, and finally Misty's own heart gave a little.

"If you help us, we will get you out of here." Misty assured him determination coursing through her veins when his doltish eyes watched her.

"...Really?"

"How long have you been in here?" She rushed forward, grasping his shoulder. "We can get you out of here right now." seeing now what Brock saw the moment their eyes made contact, this man wasn't evil, far from it.

"...Can't leave." he said quietly. "No door."

Hearing that, both Drew and Misty spun around to look for the way they came in, and not-so surprisingly, they found that the door was in fact _gone_. Hiding flush with the rest of the white metallic walls.

"Well, _this_ could be bad." Drew remarked, but Brock wasn't phased by the news. They've been in worse. If all they had to worry about were some white, metallic walls, they would have never gotten this far.

"It's fine." Brock assured him. "We can get out of here, but first, we need that information."

"You can't stop them." the boy hiccuped, suddenly very upset by their insinuation. "You need to go!"

"You said there was no way out." Misty reiterated sarcastically, and Brock shot her a nasty glare to which she shrugged—it _was_ the truth, after all. They didn't need to panic yet, and the only scientist they ran into was a crazed, young man. This was by all means manageable by her standards.

"Okay, so we might not be able to stop them—but what's showing us going to hurt?"

After a brief internal conflict with himself, accented by his eyes, the blonde nodded, and pointed to the computer on his desk, then rolled that way.

"They keep me in here so I don't give out information. They're bad people, but I don't know what they're doing." he pulled up a few files, and even from their dim-witted knowledge, they knew whatever script he presented them with was coded.

"They keep the important stuff encrypted. I only get blueprints."

"That's.. that's very helpful, can we have a copy of this?" Brock asked politely, and Misty leaned over to view some of the letters—she couldn't be _sure_ of anything, but some of it looked like the information that was on that terminal in the Unova compound, and she was about to say as much when the boy clicked a few buttons to clear the screen, and then popped a CD from the computer and handed it to Brock.

"...That easy, huh?" Misty muttered, watching while the blonde once again retracted into his seat and exhaled.

"Maybe Jessie and James can read this?" Brock danced the CD between his fingers, and then slipped it into the front pocket of his vest between a sheet of paper.

"Can you help with anything else?" Brock asked him, and he shook his head.

Still, he looked familiar, his face was scruffier, hair longer and messy—face a little more thin than when she saw him last—but he was underlying familiar, and _by all means friendly without having a good reason to be_. What was that name Ash asked her to look up?

"Are you Clemont?" she finally managed, eyebrows raising.

He reacted in much of the same way that anyone who wasn't supposed to know his name might have, by shooting out of his chair, eyes wide and shoulders raised.

"It was a trick! You are with Team Rocket, aren't you! You were testing me and I failed." The sudden panic and terror in his voice made each of their hearts crumble and Brock stood up and glanced at Misty while she sought to rectify the response.

"No, no, no!" Misty raised her hands. "Honest, we aren't with Team Rocket—my friend—he knows you."

Now, he clearly didn't trust them. "Your friend?"

"You might not know him—Ash Ketchum ring any bells?"

Very slowly Clemont shook his head and Misty sighed. "It's a really _long_ story, but..."

What in the world would make him feel any better? Clearly, he has been living here for some time. Running the third floor, trapped behind white walls for _years_ , at least since that article that dubbed him the new engineer selected for the Silph Co. production—it was no wonder that she couldn't find any information on him outside of that. His name was everywhere, but never any photos.

"We're taking you out of here, okay?" Misty said reassuringly, but Clemont shot backwards.

"I'm not leaving, you can't make me!"

"Too bad!" Misty shouted, and where Brock agreed with her—the tactic was a little...

"No!" Clemont screamed, fleeing past Drew and out the door.

"Clemont, wait!" Misty called for him—she wasn't nearly as good at this as Ash. Ash could convince a house fly it was a dog, and she struggled with the basic human principles of convincing people to come with _absolute strangers_. Like that was a normal thing! Seriously, that was a skill only _he_ had.

"We can't make him come with us, you two!" Drew barked as the voice of reason. "We got what we came for, now let's get out of here."

"We're not leaving without him."

"You don't even know him!" Drew protested, confused by her behavior.

"But Ash does!" Misty snapped, looking over her shoulder heatedly at Drew who flinched.

"I'm going to go get him, you two get that door open." Misty shouted, heels stomping against the tile as the sound of her resolve.

"..Are you trying to get us all caught?" Drew muttered mostly to himself but Brock looked at him with quiet understanding.

"It's more than that, I assure you." Brock commented. "Anyways, let's get this door open." And with that, Brock enlarged a pokeball, and took a warning step back that Drew followed.

Down the hall, until she could no longer see her companions, she caught up with the ill-fit scientist, and snatched his wrist tightly.

"I said stop!" She hissed while he tried to pull himself away with grunts and groans, but compared to Misty's strength, didn't move an inch. He was paper thin.

"Leggo!" he whined like a trapped animal.

"Why do you want to stay here?"

"Because they're bad people!"

"We know that but-"

"They take people!" He screamed at her, eyes watering to the brim as unsolicited tears started falling from his eyes and she finally let him go, only to watch him fall backwards and wipe at his face.

"Who did they take?" Misty asked, kneeling beside him while he howled tears. Not much of a crier herself, she found her eyes watering in sympathy to the sudden explosion of emotions, and gently brushed her hand against his back while he wept.

"M-my dad." He sniffed, shoulders shaking violently. "And t-they threatened my mom and my sister."

"Oh no..." Misty muttered quietly while he shook like a leaf.

"That's why I can't leave, I can't let them hurt anyone else."

"...I understand but..." behind them, the sound of a violent explosion tore them from their conversation and Misty had to think on her feet. _What would Ash say in this situation_?

"Would you rather sit in here, _helping_ the enemy, or be out there actively helping your family, too?" She inhaled. "You can help a lot more out there than you can in here and if they're threatening your family we can help."

"You can't." he sounded so defeated when he spoke, that when Misty shook him, his glasses fell off.

"I might not be able to, but _you can do this._ Don't let them beat you! We can still beat them. I know you want to help because otherwise you wouldn't have even _thought_ about giving us that information—you would have turned us in! So come with us! Please!"

"You don't even know me." he groaned, trying to brush off her words.

"I don't!" Misty shouted. "But I know someone who knows you, and I believe in him."

"Misty, we got to go!" Brock shouted after her, hearing the faint hum of alarms springing off in every direction while the lights started to dim one at a time.

"Come with us." She urged once more making eye contact. She wasn't sure she was convincing him—after all, it was impossible to change the way people thought on their own. They had to want to.

"...Okay." Clemont finally muttered, and Misty dragged him to his feet and pulled.

"Then c'mon!" She yanked him down the hallway—much of the same way she used to be able to handle Ash when they first met after the hospital, he was a leaf, and she was a boulder.

"C'mon, they're going to know it was us!" Drew yelled while Brock returned golem to his pokeball with a rather obnoxiously proud smile.

"You're coming too?"

"Y-yeah." Clemont spoke, utterly surprised to see such a small group so fierce and actively fighting against someone who had three times more power than they ever would. His heart skipped into his throat, and his lip quivered when he finally came to a stop at the exit.

She nearly fell backwards down the steps when he wriggled himself from her grasp.

"I can't go." he swore. And they all stopped dead in their tracks.

"We've been over this!" Misty hissed and Clemont, with that crazed, delusional look in his eye gone, spoke with a new determination.

"They're going to see you three on the security camera, and it'll be only a matter of time before they find you." He inhaled. "I can make that go away—and then blame the explosion on an experiment—but you three need to go!"

"But-"

"I'll be okay!" He assured them, and while their time together was short—the change in his voice pushed them forward. They knew he would be. Misty was still persistent, as was Brock, but lucky for them—there was a third party pulling them down the stairs slowly.

"Just—just find my sister for me!" Clemont shouted, nodding at the three of them. "Her name is Bonnie! Tell her I'm okay!"

He hiccuped, the sound dying around them while he forced the tears at bay. "And tell that friend of yours I said thank you."

Misty's heart stopped in her throat, and found it impossible to speak walking backwards down the hidden fire exit, and Clemont cracked a smile.

"And thank _you_."

And like that, he disappeared once again, and they could hear him shouting about a fire and explosion, playing off the idea that _he_ messed up. And they were never even there.

As they reached the end of the stairwell, the three of them bolted out of there without a second thought, running from the door, through the small alley way, and down the street. On the outside, not a single sound wasw displaced, on the main floor, no one was stirred into a panic—but the once empty room of security guards was suddenly capsizing and so they veered into a side street.

For what felt like forever, the only sound either of them could hear was the thud of their feet, and beat of their hearts. Adrenaline fueled them to run, but it was the same adrenaline that brought that to a veering stop outside of the Saffron City forest. Huffing and puffing, they tried to regroup.

"I said to open the door—not blow a hole where a door _was_!" Misty finally snapped in her two cents, hands gripped tightly on her knees and breath caught halfway between a groan and a sigh.

"Technicalities." Brock wheezed, falling backwards onto the dirt and holding his heart. He didn't exercise nearly as much as he should have. Drew was in the same boat, but would be caught dead before exposing himself as not perfectly composed at all times. He inhaled.

"There was no way we were getting through that door without breaking it."

"Why didn't you mention it was a one-way!"

"Because the prints that we were given weren't very _clear_!" he shot back at her and Misty stood up straight and looked up at the tall tower in the distance. Not a single stone was out of place.

"...do you think he's going to be alright?" Misty asked aloud and Brock nodded.

"I think so."

"I hope so." Drew added, a reminder that while he never lost sight of the goal, _he still cared_. Misty smiled, and pat Brock on the chest before helping him up.

"But in the meantime—we have _good news_. We should try to get a hold of Ash as soon as possible." Misty hummed bitter sweetly and Brock nodded with a grin.

"We got it." He hissed, and then elation over took him, and he grabbed both Drew and Misty into a tight hug.

"We _got_ it!"

 **XOX**

All great achievements had to end—and for their small victory, it came much to soon.

"They said that they would call us when they got a chance—and I know Ash has my number memorized." she said quickly while they left the store on the small side of town. Misty's hair was pulled up, and a droopy cap was carefully place to hide her face while they made preparations to reactivate her phone.

"Do you think they've had any luck? If their luck is as good as ours.." Brock couldn't stop the smile. They had a few set backs, but in the end—if things remained as bright as they were now, it was only up from here.

Misty, practically giddy from her own excitement, shook while her phone did the necessary updates; delivering long-standing messages, phone calls, and two voice mails.

"Oh, I already have a voice mail." She hummed, quickly skimming over the information, and selecting the number that _wasn't_ her sisters number—which was the other voice mail that she received before they lost their phones the first time. The other was delivered only a few days after that—but she thought that because her phone was deactivated for so long, the messages were all inaccurate.

Still, as excited as she was, she had to stop her hopes from getting too high. Containing her glee, she played the message eagerly, and clicked the speaker button for them all to hear.

"..Huh." A young man's voice came on—too shrill to be Ash's, and _much_ too quiet. But oh-so familiar to the red head, and entirely new the Brock and Drew.

"I.. I don't know if you'll get this—but-" _Crash_. "Those guys I told you about, _they're here—_ they took the pikachus and..and.-Wait!" _screech-beeeep_.

The line was cut, and Misty's face went from the happy pink that it had been, to the lightest shade of white that Brock had ever seen her in.

"...Misty, who was that?" Brock asked, but she already zoned out—so much so that the new phone she purchased slipped from her fingers, and crashed to the concrete below. Brock shouted at her, but the sudden ringing in her ears prevented her from hearing.

 _They take people!_ Clemont's words echoed in her mind, causing a shudder while she bit down hard on her lip and the rest of the world fell away at the realization.

How _stupid_ were they to not realize what they were reading?

' _Contained'_.

They took Delia and Cole weeks ago.

 **Author's Note** :

Using that whole trainer feels what the pokemon feels there at the end (that's why Ash was so upset, in case it wasn't in-text well enough because I suck hahaha). I'm sort of out of touch with this, so I'm not sure how even this chapter was in comparison to the others. (What, it's been a month! D:) Hopefully will be right back into the swing of things with the next chapter ( maybe I'm jinxing myself?) Bit of tie ins to former chapters where I foreshadowed certain things, but this story is getting so long, I couldn't tell you how long ago those foreshadows were. xD

And, seriously, though, thank you for all the kind, and amazing reviews that have been left on this over the last month. You guys are truly amazing, and I'm very happy to know that you're all enjoying this story so much (And still reading it after such a long hiatus). And that hopefully you enjoyed the chapter. I decided I wouldn't split it up, just because you guys were waiting so long.

Really, thank you. I love reading the nice (and sometimes not so nice) comments people have made about this story, because it's been a lot of work to get this far. Also, since I didn't mention it last chapter, THANK YOU so much for anyone who has fav'd/ravorited this story. 300 plus is a huge feat for me and I'm so excited.

THANK YOU.

NINT.


	49. Chapter 49: Memories

**Locked Away, Chapter 49**

When Misty made the first phone call to her sisters, it fell to a busy message.

 _Hi, this is the Waterflowers, greatest actors, actresses, and battlers in this age, leave a message._

It was just like her sister Daisy to leave such a conceited sounding answering machine, and it only now made a gaping hole at where her stomach used to be. How could she not call her sisters immediately after what happened to her? She went missing for over a week, and they probably found out she was okay through the media, just like everyone else did.

Ignoring Brock's attempts to get a hold of his siblings scattered across the world, and Drew's murmuring, she dialed the familiar number once again, and held the new, slightly cracked, phone up to her ear for what felt like the first time in a million years.

"I can't believe they're taking people for leverage." Drew muttered under his breath from across the train cart. His arms were crossed angrily over his chest, and the slumped indicated a horrible ache in his head, formed by the sudden rush from Saffron City, to the bullet train to Viridian City with little to no explanation from Misty.

They weren't dumb, though. They knew that someone was taken, after some deducing and frantic listening to Misty rave about getting to a train as quickly as possible, it became far too common a knowledge that whom ever went missing was related to Ash, and quite possibly his mother. She didn't tell either of them much else, but Brock was grim and dark faced from the moment they received the voicemail.

To boot, Ash had not called them back, and they were missing a computer to scan the key information that Clemont gave them. They were derailing from the plan, venturing into the wrong direction, and possibly walking into a trap.

But Misty had to see it. While she never made any specific promises to Cole or Delia, she felt responsible for them in Ash's place. She knew that whatever happened to that woman and her children, it wasn't a fault of her own—even if she did not help the situation.

The message started to ring again: _Hi, you've reached-_ "Hello?"

"Daisy!" Misty squawked, exhaling the breath she had been holding for the last few minutes.

"Misty? Is that you, oh my god, where have you been? We've been worried sick! We heard you were back in the region but-"

"Stop right there Daisy, I know. I'm sorry. I should have called but—just listen for a minute." Misty inhaled sharp. "I love you three, more than life itself, you know that right?"

"...Right, but Mist-"

"Shh!" She hissed angrily. "That's why I need you three to be careful. Stay together, stay in the spotlight, do whatever nonsense you can think up to stay relevant. Throw parties, through tantrums, I don't care. Just stay visible."

A long pause echoed before Misty spoke again. "And if _anyone_ you aren't familiar with comes to bother you, call me right away and _run_."

"What's going on?" Daisy's voice, hard and hostile, like Misty's when she was in her infamous 'gym leader mode' beckoned honesty from her sister, but Misty couldn't crack.

"I promise to tell you everything later, but right now—just promise, okay?"

Another long pause.

"Okay."

"Thank you. I love you, Daisy."

"...Love you, too, baby sister." Daisy uttered quietly before Misty removed the phone from her face, and clicked the end call button, tears pooling at the edges of her eyes that she wiped away with her wrist.

Brock, seemingly having no luck at calling his family stared Misty down until the tension snapped, and he spoke.

"Why didn't you tell them what was going on?"

"They're safer if they don't know, don't you think? They probably targeted Delia because she did _know_ something. Daisy, Lily and Violet are harmless."

"Not harmless as a means to blackmail you." Drew was quick to point out, earning a nasty glare from the cabin's red-haired devil.

"Where do you think I learned to survive at? I'm not worried about them." Misty breathed. "But I needed to warn them. I don't know if Giovanni is listening in, but I can't take any chances."

"I know." Brock mumbled, slinking back in his chair, and looking out the window at the passing trees. His father was a casualty of whatever war took place before the events now, poisoned even on his death bed, and left to rot. He understood leaving her sisters out of the loop.

"What about you, Drew? Do you have family you need to call?" Misty asked the green-haired compatriot, snapping him out of the daze he was in when he shook his head.

"No, no one." The infliction of dread in his voice left little to ask more questions. An orphan perhaps? Misty didn't know much about him, only what few stories Ash had shared, and she hardly remembered a family name.

Lost in a train of her own thoughts, this new knowledge—an idea she should have already been at least partially aware of—in the light, her head lulled backwards, and she swiped at her face with the palm of her hand. She felt so incredibly tired again, even after their most recent victory. How long had it been since she saw Cole, again? A few weeks—since before the league party. _That seemed liked ages ago, now_.

"They control people... and what they can't control..." came rolling out of Brock's mouth, huddled against the wall of the train. _They kill,_ he might have said if the situation wasn't already so grim. Ash, who lost so much already, would not handle the news of his kin being lost so easily. The only hope Misty could cling to was the notion that _terminated_ wasn't written on their documents, not like on Professor Oak's. _They kill_ , she thought again, shaking her head until they cleared of nasty thoughts, and turned to the raven-haired boy, lost on an adventure, unaware of the dangers awaiting him at home, or the growing seriousness.

It was always _serious_ , but never dangerous, at least not really. Ash was a wanted criminal, she was a defaced superstar, and Brock and Drew were something of a nobody. Which only worried her more. If neither of them were in the headlines, they were touchable. Team Rocket— _Giovanni_ \- could hurt them.

"Misty." Brock mumbled, reaching out to squeeze her knee and look her in the eye, understanding the thoughts expressed on her face. "Don't worry, we'll be okay. You need to focus—we still have a lot of work to do."

"I know." Misty hummed at his assurance, looking out the window again, she thought she might have saw a glimpse of what looked like Ash flying on charizard, but knew she imagined it.

" _I know_." She said once more, mostly for herself than anyone else. The feeling of catastrophic dread at the edge of her heart. She understood it, the reason Clemont did not want to leave that lab. These people had far more power than they were letting on, and even though she would have liked to give up, sit down, and let fear consume her into silence—she couldn't back down yet. Not ever. They had to win.

 **XOX**

Arriving in Viridian City was a bittersweet moment, she had so many memories there.

Good, bad, _good_. Her first few moments spent with Ash were under the watchful eye of the city streets, lit with bright yellow lights and tall buildings. The buildings looked even bigger now, coming in from the bullet train's station. It was hard to think that the last time they had been on any type of train, they ended up jumping out of it.

By now, Misty felt that she should have been used to walking into Viridian City. The nostalgia and guilt long replaced with happiness and new memories. The best memories she had of Ash were here, of Cole, of Brock—before this _plan_ turned into this huge pile of chaos that it was now. The simple times that spared her a year ago were so fleeting as she marched from the terminal, out the front gates, and into the street without missing a single beat. Brock and Drew were at her heels, flicking glasses on simultaneously.

Misty barely remembered the walk to the new _Oak_ residence. They didn't speak, or ask questions, or take a cab. They marched silently through the streets, ignoring gleeful screams, and taunting insults. People either loved her, or hated her. There wasn't an in-between at this point. Typically, younger people favored her, knew her reputation and respected it, whereas older people viewed her most recent actions as irresponsible, and untrustworthy.

When they arrived, exactly three hours before sunset, her heart skipped a beat in her chest, staring down the same white, picket fence, slightly pink tinted, green grass and white trimmed house she saw so many months ago. An air of doom hung from every orifice, the broom Mr. Mime used to sweep the floor left unattended, and the lights turned off. Unloved.

She remembered hearing sounds of food steps, and talking—of Pokemon playing and the rustle of the wind in the distance; now, she heard nothing. The silence was deafening, and her throat felt tight and suddenly too dry to speak.

"...So this is her house." Brock mused, after months of traveling to talk with Agatha an Misty, they never stopped in to meet with Delia. Misty had a couple of times to visit with Cole—but nothing more than a handful. Delia was a sweet woman, but they didn't understand how she could disown Ash so carelessly.

 _Well,_ it was nice to know that it wasn't her choice—or at least, it didn't seem that way anymore.

"Yeah." Misty offered offhandedly while approaching the white door.

No need to knock, both locks were busted, and the door creaked open with barely a push. Misty flagged Brock and Drew to both stop and turned at them.

"...Just... give me a minute." Misty hummed with a faint smile before squeezing through the crack of the door. Dust penetrated her nostrils within seconds. The scent of dirt fresh with windy days and an unclean home. Unlike the last time when the house smelled of cinnamon, and flowers.

She didn't stop to look around, to check each crevice, or to listen to Brock complain that she should not go in alone—or that Drew insisted that she _had to_. And _to give her time_. Whatever they were speaking she was lost in the moment. This was where it all started—from the moment they came here the first time, their lives changed; not just Ash's.

She made a decision that day. To watch Ash's back no matter how much he fought her on it. She would always be there to help him, to care for him when no one else was around. However, and she didn't know it at the time, _she was wrong_.

Three steps up the stairway, her heavy foot steps gave long creaks as concerned companions flocked to the door to look inside, but not pester. It wasn't Ash who needed her—maybe at the beginning, sure, when he was still finding his place in the world—but it was _she_ who needed _him_ , and she realized it the very moment he left the Cerulean City gym in a huff.

Her first friend. Her _family_. He was as much family to her as her very sisters, and that meant by default that his family was her family—Brock, Dawn, Gary—they were his family, somehow connected spiritually through bonds she would never understand—but they were her family, because they were his.

At the top of the steps, she finally saw the struggle. A broken picture frame here, a cracked vase there. A broken door at the side entrance of the hall where she could see the find imprint of a boot breaking the surface of a wooden panel and she swallowed her heart down into her stomach.

Misty knew what to expect at this point—an empty house. No one to call to, or help. This happened a week ago, taken from their beds. She wondered if it hurt, if they separated them. Her cold fingers pressed against the damaged fabric while she stepped into the colorful room of Cole Oak, which looked surprisingly Gray.

His bed was moved, the furniture was cracked, his phone—the one she presumed that he called her from—smashed against the opposite wall, laying in pieces across his desk.

A part of her, small and terrified thought she might find a body when she danced around the room for clues. That's what happened in those serial killer movies, right? Motivation for the good guys to get serious—someone always had to die. Would Cole or Delia die? Would that little note written _contained_ be changed to _terminated_ because of their incident at the Unova facility? Would they hurt Cole? Did they hurt pikachu's family, or Mr. mime? She couldn't fathom what Ash would be thinking right now, and knowing that she would be the one who would have to break the news, her heart twisted, and she choked silently on her tears.

"Misty." Brock's cool voice called to her from the hallway, where he watched her slowly crumble to her knees, holding onto Cole's jacket—a memento she hadn't realized that she grabbed. "We don't have time for this; we should contact Gary...let him know something happened. We shouldn't stay here if..."

"He's just a kid, Brock." Misty croaked, head stooping low and hair falling into her face.

"I know." Brock muttered quietly. "But we'll find him. And we'll save him. But we can't do that if we don't figure out how to stop Giovanni."

His voice cracked. "I know it's hard, Mist, but—we need you, and we need to go before they know we've been here."

Misty turned slowly at Brock, her eyes as dark as sin when she sniffled quietly. A part of her, the child still growing up wanted to scream at him for being insensitive—but Brock knew better than anyone, after all. They wouldn't get anywhere whining over the past. Misty let the jacket slip from her fingers, and dusted her knees off.

"Call Gary, tell him we're on our way there. He'll want to know." She swallowed and licked her lips when fleeing the room. "They're going to pay for this."

"They will." Brock chimed in quickly, so fast Misty spun to see the anger in his squinting eyes.

 **XOX**

Saving the world didn't mean giving up who he was, or what he stood for. He knew that now. But he also knew that it meant adapting to the new world. It wasn't easy, and _sometimes_ he wasn't going to make the right decisions.

But he was getting better at it.

Since the incident in the mountain with pikachu, the mouse was more withdrawn, but level headed. Ash worried about him, but knew to give him some space. Hopefully, electrocution would never happen again, but he wasn't sure it wasn't going to be necessary. These men were prepared to kill them at any time. Pikachu was, _is_ protecting him. He only wished he couldn't take it so hard—not that Ash felt any better. However, the shock allowed for an exceptional amount of understanding that started with a swift entrance to the Eterna City airport—which, like Ash thought—was shut down due to the storm. While Ash, charizard, pikachu, and togepi waited near the fence line as Jessie, James, and meowth managed to commandeer a small, six man plane, he kept his thoughts to himself. Charizard was beyond exhausted, looking grayer every time he looked at the pseudo-dragon. Pikachu and togepi were worn out; physically and emotionally, and the egg had taken to sleeping in his jacket during the long wait.

Long gone were his reasoning that stealing was bad, and they would have to return the plane somehow. However, thirty some hours away, staring down the barrel of a gun, and riding down a mountain in a bumpy go-kart left his patience thin. Their plan: steal plane, fly to Ecruteak City. After all, no one would bother them with a fire breathing dragon beside them to guide the way.

No sleep. Exhaustion sunk in at the worst of times, but during the flight, they kept each other awake with pats, nudges, and other forms of physical contact mostly followed by loud shrieks of "Ow, that hurt!" but the sentiments prevented them from passing out. Surprisingly, meowth was the best pilot of the six of them, but given his nature, he was also the sleepiest. James took command of the flight when meowth grew too tired to handle.

Mindlessly, Ash paced back and forth when turbulence wasn't slowly killing him. He was worried about charizard, and so was togepi. Pikachu slept most of the flight—or tried to _pretend_. Ash knew better than to disturb the mouse though. Togepi was the one to point out that it seemed like charizard's scales were growing darker with every glance, and every hour they were in the air. Somehow, under the exhaustion built up over the last few days, Ash imagined his tail burned hotter than normal, igniting the very clouds around them.

Jessie and James did not talk much, they kept their voices down around Ash, but armed with the observation that Jessie and James knew more about his dreams than they were letting on, he gave them their space as well, thus isolating himself, with togepi sitting in his lap in the passenger's side of the plane.

Togepi played twenty questions with him, like a child mind have with a parent—the way that the egg used to ask Misty a million questions she would never understand. _How was pikachu, would pikachu be okay, is Jessie okay, are we there yet, when do we land, it's cold, I wonder if Misty's okay, do you think Brock is okay,_

 _Are you okay_?

"Yes, I'm fine." Ash told the small egg while patting it's head and glancing out the window. His eyes felt heavy, as if they could fall out if he leaned forward.

After a time, the storm had cleared, and shone bright light into the cabin, warming him from the inside out. He wasn't sure how far they were away from Sinnoh, but the green below reminded him fondly of Kanto, and according to meowth, they would be flying just north of the region to remain undetected—though, Ash was sure if someone was following them, they would have known by now.

In fact, outside of the rough landing that made every working muscle in his body ache, he was sure that they were safe, and warm, and _safe_.

"Some landing." Ash murmured while flicking his wrist against his chin, standing outside of plane _crash_. Jessie, James and meowth stumbled out of the commandeered plane, rubbing their aching heads while Ash pawed at his hips.

He didn't realize how much he missed the sweet scent of distant cherry blossoms and humidity of the Southern region until he stripped out of his winter clothes.

"But we made it!" Ash sung, dropping the jacket into the grassy plains without so much of a second thought. Jessie and James followed suit, dropping their heavy parkas and embracing the warmth.

Summer. _Real_ summer.

"I wonder if we should have stopped in to see how they were doing?" Ash added immediately after, looking to the east, where he could see in the distance the seemingly never ending towers of the Indigo Plateau.

"We would have made a scene." Jessie laughed.

"We used to fancy scenes, didn't we?" James chuckled while tugging his long hair back into a low pony tail, Ash spun around to look at them and cracked a wide smile.

"We're in uncharted territory, you know. Even in this world most people can't figure out this forest." Ash hummed hotly, knowing the were just north of Ecruteak City, the highest point of Johto.

 _"Give it twenty years, and there'll be infrastructure out here, you just wait._ " Meowth snorted, the last of the group to leave the plane. Since they didn't have any gear after the incident in the mountain, they were running on the rations that were left in storage from the owners of the plane—which had a gimp wing reminding Ash to cup his mouth.

"Charizard!" He shouted, waiting for the familiar roar.

"Toggii!" The pokemon helped as he and pikachu rested at the hull.

Following the cries of his friends and trainer, the ever-growing dragon swooped down with a twisted into the forest, and landed sloppily into the dirt. The injury on his wind was _fine_ so long as he was airborne, but landing and taking off were still proving tricky. _Especially_ landing.

Dirt flew up and around them, causing the plane to creak, and Ash covered his eyes and coughed at charizard.

"Nice, buddy." He swore while approaching him and dusting his hands over his hard scales. He wasn't mistaken, the glimmering, orange scales were turning a faint shade of black under his jaws, and down his shoulder blades. Without a proper nurse or doctor to explain what was happening, he felt his heart stall quietly in fear.

"Are you feeling okay?"

He roared proudly in response, eliciting a smile from Ash. If the scales weren't bothering charizard, then they weren't bothering Ash.

"Just checking—you have been up as long as us, after all—maybe even longer. I don't know how you can keep going. You have to be tired." Charizard didn't answer him directly, he just swooped his tail around the grass below, and in the warm, summer heat, collapsed aimlessly into the ground and let out a loud huff.

"You have a point." James said. "We should make camp here and come up with a plan before strolling into Ecruteak City. Plus, we're not going to be any good as sleep deprived as we are." At the last of his words, James' eyelids drooped shut, and Ash thwarted a chuckle.

"Right." Ash nodded, though he felt _fine._ The world was spinning a little, and his eyes hurt, but he was fine. After all, how could he sleep? The world was ending. Maybe. He wasn't exactly sure _what_ would happen at the end of all of this, but it was not good.

Beside him, Charizard huffed quietly, and leaned to the ground to rest his heavy head on the green, summer grass. Ash turned to him quietly, and twisted his hands over the dragon's formerly limp wing, where he could see the faint scarring of where the harpoon flew through his wing, and let out a steady sigh. After everything, here charizard was, flying once again, at his side. Where he should be.

"I don't have charizard's pokeball, so it would be better if he stayed here to rest." Ash smiled to the dragon, who would never admit that he needed rest, but silently accepted the offer and shut his eyes, giving Ash time for himself to think while the former Team Rocket members talked amongst themselves.

Pikachu took little time to find a space beneath charizard's wing to hide, where he poked out his head to see Ash staring down at him.

"Cha...?" The mouse questioned unable to keep eye contact with his trainer. Kindly, Ash knelt beside the two pokemon and rubbed pikachu's scalp.

"Of course you can stay here." Ash hummed, genuinely smiling. "And I'm not mad at you. It'll be okay. I promise." Pikachu looked to him with evasive, tearful eyes, and then looked away once more. His words didn't help much.

"It was good that he did what he did, any how. Otherwise, you might not be standing here." Jesse chimed in, but then immediately returned to silence with the look that Ash gave her—couldn't she see that pikachu was struggling with this? It wasn't everyday that pikachu accidentally electrocuted someone. Even if Ash knew it was necessary, as horrible and dangerous as it was—pikachu wasn't prepared to hear that. He felt guilty.

Ash stood up after a brief silence, and then looked toward the city, where he could see a large tower in the distance. Beside him, James and meowth had already started preparations for the campsite, gathering rocks for a fire, removing the rest of their supplies from the damaged plane, and laying the ground work for cover if it rained—not that it would, there wasn't a cloud in sight. The blue, open Johto skies were resemblance of Kanto region, and they made him homesick again. On cue, it was as if the twenty four hours he remained awake faded from his body and he waved to his travel companions.

"I think I'll go check out the city now."

"We should wait until night fall. You'll be less recognizable then."

"Yeah, but it will also be night, so everything will be closed Besides, they won't notice me." He sounded confident, overly so and so Jessie snorted.

"How are you so sure?" James asked, holding a couple of twigs in his hands when Ash smiled up at him.

"Because I'll be hiding in plain sight."

Then without further comment, Ash shrugged off some dirt, tucked his shirt in, adjusted his collar, and straightened his hair. He looked like a weary traveler, but nothing like the man-on-the-run he really was.

"If you're not back by sunset we'll assume you've been captured"

"Deal." Ash chuckled, and at the sound his pokemon peaked their heads up once again, and Ash waved his hand to them. Togepi maneuvered from the plane to follow after Ash, and hop onto his shoulder before his descent into the forest.

"You're comin' with me? Aren't you tired?"

"Togei!" The egg chirped determined to make sure Ash was safe since pikachu wasn't with him.

Sitting, watching as his back disappeared into the brush of the forest, James and Jessie looked to meowth, and pursed their lips quietly.

"Should we have let him go?"  
"If he's alone, they shouldn't notice him." Jessie murmured, though James seemed worried nonetheless, and looked to charizard and pikachu who hadn't moved. His gnawed on his lips. How strange it was for pikachu, of all of Ash's pokemon, to let him adventure out into the world alone. A powerful, little pokemon scarred by its abilities—left alone to sulk in guilt.

"I think you should follow him, meowth. That way if he gets in any trouble..."

"Meeoww." Meowth replied without missing a beat—having been on the same wavelength, he was already preparing to move forward while the rest of them were exhausted.

James leaned back slightly, where Jessie nodded to him.

"Now we rest, right?"

"Right." James groaned, but neither of them were tired any more. Not with Ash adventuring forward.

"Maybe we should go to?" he inquired.

"One of us should stay with the pokemon." she replied.

They shared a glance, then remembering the injury on her back, James was up a second later and Jessie fell backwards with a loud sigh. They couldn't just wait until night fall, could they?

 **XOX**

Ash tried to focus on his task at hand. The city was busy during late afternoon when he arrived through the northern forest, onto the trail leading into the heart of the city—the town square noted for its large statue of _legendary_ pokemon; long believed to be a myth, and of course, the burned bell tower that rested in the center.

Ash stood amazed at the sight, the timber and wood charred from the tip, down to the concrete and brick foundation—and yet it remained erect at the center of the city, a reminder of a simpler, peaceful time that seemed so distant. Ash inhaled, faintly recalling the time he spent here in his dream—the lore behind the tower.

"Some people though that it was Lugia who used to perch high on these towers. But it was actually..." Ash muttered to no one in particular,. He couldn't remember the name as he peered to the top, faintly recalling the dancing colors of a rainbow.

Approaching the base of the tower, though it clearly said to stay away on several signs. His fingers brushed against what should have been ancient carvings on the base—ruined by the weather, by time—they reflected the story of the beast of the sea, and the beast of the sky. Lugia's shape edged faint in the stone, but the sky warden was broken off ages ago. Once more Ash strained his eyes for the name, but nothing came. He knew the bird; the pokemon this tower belonged to. He had even seen it before..

"Toge?" The pokemon asked, snapping Ash back into reality.

"I've been here before." He explained, standing up as a young woman rounded a corner of the park.

"Hey! You're not supposed to be in there!" She shouted at Ash, who jumped at the comment.

"Oh!" he shrieked, looking at his foot steps, then stupidly at the sign. "I didn't know. I'm sorry!"

He stumbled back up the path, brushing his hands off on his knees and smiling stupidly. "Really need to start paying attention—I just wanted a better look at the place."

"Pfft, if you weren't carrying a pokemon I might have thought you were trying to deface the property." Her voice was shrill as a cat, eyes narrowed dangerously at him, then surprisingly soft when she leaned back.

"You were looking at the drawings?"

Ash glanced to the tower, and then rubbed the back of his neck to relieve his nerves, hoping that who ever this was—they wouldn't recognize him. "Yeah, they looked interesting—funny how it's still here—good ol' Tin tower."

"Tin tower?" The girl asked, glancing sideways at him, from where she was standing, Ash could see the perfectly round stomach below her folded fingers, and the long droop of a pink and red Kimono around her shoulders. "Where did you get that name?"

"...that's the name, isn't it?"

A pause.

"No." She giggled. "It's been unnamed for years! But I like that, _Tin Tower_ , it's almost suiting."

Ash cleared his throat, _he knew_ that she at least had the name wrong, but was unsure how to push the subject. "You wouldn't happen to know more about the tower, would you?"

Intrigued by his curiosity, the young woman with magenta colored hair smacked her lips before speaking eagerly. "Well, no more than anyone else in town—we have a festival every year to celebrate the great fire that brought peace to this nation—you know the history behind the three beasts, right?"

"...Right." Ash mumbled, though he vaguely recalled the information.

"The great phoenix once said it spread its flame to give birth to new pokemon, and destroyed the tower in the process. Many people believe that years ago, the great _Lugia_ once stood atop the tower alongside _Ho-oh_ and they lived together in harmony until... Well, that's the mysterious part, huh?" She looked to him with a bright smile over her pink features and Ash crossed his arms and looked upward with a puzzled expression. _Ho-oh_ , he wondered how he forgot the name for so long.

"I remembered the story being more like the tower burned, and so Ho-oh left, wasn't that why you built the new tower?"

The woman gave him a nasty look. "You think a tourist knows the story better than me?"

"No, sorry." Ash corrected while they both stared up at the tower for a few moments of silence.

His ears felt like they were ringing, and a hole somewhere deeply embedded into his chest felt like it slowly started to heal. _Ho-oh_ , he knew that name—that pokemon. The rainbow phoenix he saw only minutes before losing consciousness. Why couldn't he remember it until now—he approached the tower, saw the pictures, knew the lore, but the name was... _missing_. He didn't have time to consider why he couldn't remember the name before his lips started moving on their own.

"So, Ho-oh hasn't been around since...?"

The young woman scoffed. " _Since ever_! He doesn't _really_ exist—he's a myth, you know!"

"...Right." Ash hummed, but he somehow doubted that conclusion.

"It's a lie we tell people to bring in more tourist—honestly, I think the tower was burned down by a bunch of kids years ago."

"You just said-" she stuck her tongue out at him, and grinned.

"I was giving you a hard time." Ash scowled at her response, but she giggled. "Hey, why don't you come see my sisters? You look new to town and we run the gym here—it's not as prestigious as some other gyms, but we make due."

Only now, did the dots connect in Ash's head, and her name soared back to him: Sakura, the youngest sister of the gym leaders in Ecruteak City—one of Misty's good friends, well, _his version_ of Misty, anyways. How convenient he would run into her here, of all places. _How lucky_. At least he always had that to fall back on, Ash tried not to grin at her.

"Well, o-"

"Hey! There you are! We've been looking everywhere for you!" James voice bounded over the park, and the two of them turned to see him sprinting at them.

"You can't leave without letting us know, your dear mother has been worried sick!"

"..my _mother_?" Ash winced, imagining Jessie as his mom; a nauseous feeling followed. Beside him, Sakura giggled.

"Looks like you have company after all." She smiled gracefully, and bowed her head. "I'll leave you to it, then. If you decide to stop in, you know where to find us."

"Thanks." Ash mused quietly while James stomped at his side and waved to a graceful, and kind Sakura as she left. They waited until she was out of earshot before talking, and the smiles fell of their lips.

"What are you doing? You can't see the gym leaders!" James mouthed off and Ash brushed him off.

"I wasn't going to. Besides, I thought you stayed with Jessie? You didn't leave charizard and pikachu alone, did you?" Ash questioned skeptically, cross with James.

"No, we left them alone." He rolled his eyes. "Then what was that, she's a gym leader, too, you know. They _know_ you, twerp."

"I was getting information!" Ash urged, trying to contain the momentary excitement in his voice. "About—this!" he pointed to the tower and James looked up, amused.

"Who doesn't know about the Tin Tower?"

Ash licked his lips. "According to everyone in this town. It's not called the _Tin Tower_."

"What's your point?"

"My point is..." Ash folded his arms, and narrowed his eyes. "I remember the name of the pokemon I saw ten years ago. It was lost to me for whatever reason and she said it and it's like it was meant to happen..."

"Ho-oh, you mean?"

"You remember?" A stunned Ash nearly fell forward.

"Read it on the board on the way into central park. Whats so special about him, is that who they're after next?" Ash rolled his eyes in response and placed his hands on his hips.

"Why else would they come here?" Ash huffed. "Regardless, I know how to find him."

James was appalled. "What do you mean?" he looked around the area, begging to find the conclusion that Ash somehow came to. He just got here, but couldn't see anywhere that Ash might have been able to discover the location of the legendary pokemon.

"What do you mean you know where to find him?" James asked once more as Ash started off back to the forest, around the walls created to protect central park, and back toward their makeshift camp. James scrambled to keep up, and meowth appeared beside him just as confused.

"This is where _they_ will be soon!"

"Yeah, well let them come, they won't find anything here."

"Why won't they?" he shrieked, voice reaching a new pitch.

"Because I never knew anything about Ho-oh—no one did...does—just trust me, okay?"

"Just _stop_! Think about what you're saying, kid." James stepped in front of Ash, keeping his arms out to prevent Ash from walking any further, and stopping this _insanity!_

"We need to leave now if we're going to get there in time." Ash tried to move past him, but James latched on, and practically pushed Ash backwards. He didn't respond so happily to the shove, and barreled forward himself to take a swing at James. Easily enough, the experienced fighter swooped past Ash's arm, and pushed him off center. Togepi jumped before Ash landed on him, and squeaked out the moment he slumped to the ground.

"What's wrong with you?" James questioned suddenly. "First suggesting the stealing of a plane—staying up for hours, running off into the city and leaving your pokemon behind! You're reckless."

"No." Ash muttered, sitting up and holding his stomach where James shoved him. "I'm finding answers—we're out of time, James."

"No, we're not. Look around you, twerp." James pointed to the serenity of the forest and knelt down in front of Ash. "We need to be smart about this, if we're not, we can't save anyone. That includes sleep, and eating, and making rational decisions."

Ash couldn't meet his eyes. "I know..."

Wind dusted around them, and that flighty feeling in his stomach passed over time, leaving him with an urge to scream, or stomp his feet. Togepi waited patiently beside them, ticking his arms back and forth nervously while Ash sniffled.

"Pikachu k-killed people, James—and have you seen charizard? He looks sick—his scales are changing colors, and Jessie got hurt. What's going to happen in the next week?"

"If it's not one thing, it's another." James muttered and Ash glared at him.

"Well-" Ash muttered. "I know how to find Ho-oh..."

"How?"

Ash grew visibly uncomfortable now, imagining that it would have been easier to just go, rather than to talk it over. They needed more action if they were going to come out on top. To think one step ahead of Team Rocket, and he finally had the chance to—a strong gut feeling.

"Do you remember Shamouti Island?" Ash asked, twisting his fingers together while he looked at the dirt shifted beneath him. Clearly a sore subject for the young man.

"Of course I remember."

"Yeah, well, I remember _saving_ it. When I last saw it, the place was drowned in water—which means whatever happened, Lugia wasn't there to save them. I _wasn't there_. They knew that I wouldn't be, and they won. The only chance we have to beat Team Rocket is to be one step ahead of them, and that's on Valencia Island."

"So...you know where to find Lugia?"

"No...Maybe, I haven't thought that far—but I know how to find Ho-oh."

"Which is also on Valencia island?" Confusion laced James tone while Ash stood on his own.

"Yes."

And apparently, Ash didn't realize how crazy he sounded while he trampled back to camp with James hot on his heels.

"There's a painter on Valencia Island, Tracey, who painted a few pictures of the pokemon. He could know where Ho-oh is."

"Or we could find the clues in Ecruteak City."

"But they weren't there in my dreams, James. No one knows where or how to find Ho-oh."

"So you think some pokemon _watcher_ does?"

"He painted pictures. It can't be a coincidence."

"So say he does know—what's stopping Team Rocket from getting there first?"

"Which is why we need to leave _now_."

James watched the way his shoulders rose, then fell, and shook his head. "Jess isn't going to be happy about this, following a gut feeling."

"You said my dreams were how we were going to find the legendary pokemon—well, here we go. Trust me."

"We said that, yes-" James licked his lips, still trying to reason with the young man. "but you never actually _saw_ Ho-oh, how do we know they're not after the legendary beasts in this area?"

"They already have them." Ash noted, and James shook his head.

"And you know that...?"

"Just...I just do, okay? We need to go to Valencia island again and talk with Tracey."

"I just really think you're not thinking this through..." James said as they reached the camp again, where Jessie had been sitting, reading a map when the four of them burst into the clearing.

"Well if you don't want to come, you can stay here!"

"What's going on?" Jessie asked.

"Nothing, Jess, he's just... acting a little...crazy."

"I'm not crazy! Tracey _saw_ Ho-oh, he had to have in order to paint those portraits of him! We're not going to find anything in Ecruteak City, Jessie—you have to believe me."

Jessie, unaware of what had been happening looked to James who sighed. "...We haven't checked yet." she argued lightly. Ash threw up his arms.

"Then you three can check while my pokemon and I go to Valencia island! We'll just meet up again later."

"You can't go alone." James shrieked, cornering Ash who, with charizard's support and height advantage, seemed more menacing, almost hysterical.

"I can—besides, you two can wait here and try to stop Team Rocket—maybe find out where they are keeping the other legendary pokemon."

"How did he get this information?" Jessie whispered into James ear while Ash carelessly threw a pack of rations together.

"Gut feeling, Jess, he's gone nuts."

"Ash," Jessie called to him, in a voice almost motherly. She never used his name, it made his heart ache. "You're freaked out—did something happen?"

Ash stopped instantly, mid-way through shoving his jacket into a borrowed backpack, and faced them with a bit of surprise. Nothing happened, not really. He saw Sakura—remembered Ho-oh's name—and realized Ecruteak City wouldn't be helpful. At least, not until Team Rocket came in, destroyed half the city for information, and they would still be empty handed.

"Nothing happened."

"Then how can you be sure?" Jessie tried to rationalize his thinking, but Ash couldn't explain it with words.

"I'm not." He said honestly, throwing the backpack over his shoulder. "But I know I can get there and back in a few days. After that, I'll meet back up with you here and we'll figure something out."

"What if it's a dead end?"

"Then you three are still here to watch for Team Rocket and find anything that we missed—it'll be faster this way."

Still, they shook their head and looked concerned for his well being.

 _I think he should go_. Meowth spoke from behind them, finally piping in his opinion once they reached a silence.

 _He has a point, if there's answers there, we can hold down Ecruteak City. It's best to leave no stone not turned._ The cat meowed, though neither adult present was pleased with the situation other than Ash, who was grateful to have meowth on his side.

"But how will we stay in contact?" James questioned rubbing his face. "It took us forever to track him down before...and if something happens to him..."

 _We'll decide on a rendezvous point. Some place close._

"If Team Rocket comes here, we might not be safe at this location." James groaned, flicking his bangs from his face, and looking into the distance.

"Then lets meet closer to the dense forest beside Mount Silver. There's a small town near the base of the mountain—we can meet there in a week." Jessie showed them the location on the map and the three of them nodded.

"And if he's not there in a week?" James questioned, looking up and down at Ash, and then his pokemon who seemed concerned, but unshaken because of their belief in their trainer.

 _Then we will assume the worst and keep moving on without him._

Ash gulped, but nodded.

"...Sounds fair."

 **Author's Note** :

I tried so hard to get this updated before the New Year (I know it's not my best written chapter, but I've written this at like a million different times, and this is good enough), life has a funny way of preventing updates. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR REVIEWS. I'm sorry I haven't replied to some of them, but man, I'm so glad that many of you are enjoying this story as much as you are, and I hope that this chapter was worth the wait. I love you guys, and you all give me such wonderful inspiration.

Happy New Year.

NINT


	50. Chapter 50: All roads lead here

**Locked Away, Chapter** 50

Traveling by himself again was a foreign feeling. The wind rushing against his hair while he flew over the Kanto region right before night fall was refreshing, and overly freeing. Apart of him, buried deep in his chest, wondered what would happen if he never came back. If he suddenly disappeared. Not that he wanted to, but the hanging dread over his shoulders was unfortunately a bit damning, and now that pikachu had done little but sulk in his jacket, he was feeling less like this was an exciting adventure, and more for what it was. Him, and a few of his friends, against the world.

He thought that he might have seen Saffron City in the distance, but he kept away from large city centers—even if the idea of swooping down for a few seconds, _just to see if he could see them_ , was tempting. He had a goal, a mission to tend to, and only had a week to complete it. Time was of the essence, which meant short hellos with his friends was out of the question.

"How are you doing, charizard?" Ash asked, brushing his hands over some of the darkened scales, and the fire dragon roared in anticipation, keeping his flame low so that they couldn't be spotted past the clouds. Even in the dark, miles away, he could see dark clouds hovering dangerously over Sinnoh in the distance.

Darkness shrouded the region—the citizens must have been terrified. Which only made his impulsive behavior worse. Misty and Brock were the ones who planned out every step. Ash acted—the same way he torched the pound, jumped from the train, infiltrated Unova. He knew that thinking was important, but sometimes, gut instincts were just as important—and he _knew_ he was right in following his instincts to Valencia island. It had been so long since Ho-oh was a prominent figure in Ecruteak City, so much so he was nothing more than a myth. What little information that could be found was more than likely outdated, worth nothing more than the paper it was written on, or the wires it was connected to. Ash had real intelligence on the matter, someone who has seen Ho-oh, and if Team Rocket was as smart as he thought they were, they wouldn't be letting Tracey slide out from under their radar, either. Especially not so close to Shamouti Island. Assuming Shamouti island still had anything to do with this. He didn't exactly wait around to ask questions; somehow, the implication made him feel gutless and sick.

A whole island _gone_. What else would happen before they saw the end of Team Rocket? Because there was no way Team Rocket didn't have some hand in that. Was Lugia captured like Palkia and the legendary birds? If Ash wasn't here to save them...

He recalled what the nurse told him so many months ago, about a horrible flood and his head swooped quietly against the wind. What little time he had dedicated to finding the legendary pokemon seemed so empty now. How were they to know that any of them were left? It wasn't like they had a list.

No, they needed the upper hand.

Ho-oh was the only pokemon Ash _knew_ they couldn't find right away. And he would be damned if they did.

 **XOX**

Arriving on Valencia island in the dark was different than when he arrived by boat. Tourists were no where to be seen, the bustling city was full of drunkards and late-night party goers heading home, and he questioned the time it took him to get here. He left Team Rocket shortly after his revelation, and the flight took no more than twelve hours.

It would be day break soon, and he and his party were exhausted. He couldn't remember the last time he had a full night of rest—not true, he remembered the last night well enough, Misty was there—but the few weeks she was gone felt like years and he only now realized the weight of his own feet.

Ash was tired. Togepi long gave up the conscious fight, and pikachu as quiet as he had been, was now the most vocal of the group—arguing that they find a place to sleep and rejuvenate, or they wouldn't be any good talking with Tracey.

Ash peeked over the horizon line, past the city, and over the glowing sea—the morning sun peeked strands of daylight over the horizon, and he rubbed his face and sighed. It would be best to wait until nightfall to meet with Tracey, especially after his last attempt at doing so. Plus, he wasn't planning on walking in there, infiltration seemed to be the only smart move he had left—after all, Ash was still a wanted man. He hadn't the time to check if Misty cleared his name or not.

"Pikapi." The mouse croaked, pulling on his pants leg to keep him away from the trail he was nearing. Cluing back into the moment, he heard the sound of distant footfalls and rushed the remaining pokemon back into the forest. They walked for a ways, pasted tangled vines and pebbles before reaching a small enough clearing that they wouldn't have to worry about charizard's flames.

"Alright, we'll stay here until night fall." he urged the pokemon, thought he did not particularly like waiting, he wasn't willing to risk the chance at being seen this close to Tracey. Charizard fell into a slump beside them, head low and body submerging into the earth. His scales were charred down his back, over his small claws, and gentle eyes watched Ash kick around dirt to lay out his sleeping gear beneath a tree. They didn't have a lot, a few blankets, a mat to sleep on, and a change of socks—but he made due with it as he laid the mat down beside charizard and flopped down onto it with thud.

Silence filled the space between them, complimented with the sound of chirping birds and forest creatures, Ash's head rose to see pikachu once again. The mouse had simply been standing at attention, watching the forest for intruders when Ash stuck out his hand.

"Pikachu, c'mere." he mumbled quietly, watching as the mouse slowly turned. He wiggled his fingers, gesturing for the pokemon to come forward to him, and with slight hesitation, the pokemon gave in and stumbled slowly to Ash. Without warning, Ash swooped the rodent happily into his arms, bundling pikachu up beside togepi and rolling onto his side to squish them together happily.

"Get some sleep."

"Pika pika chu." The mouse argued.

"I'm sure if someone sees me sleeping out here, they won't bother me with charizard beside us."

The dragon grunted in agreement.

"Now get some rest. We'll all need to be ready for tonight."

 **XOX**

Misty tried to put the images of the happy, Oak home laying in destruction out of her mind. They were only a few minutes out from Pallet Town, arriving by train, and she had no time to wallow in what little she could do for the family. She, Brock, and Drew had to find out what was on those discs that Clemont so happily gave them. Thinking of Clemont only made her feel twice as sick; how brave had he been to give them this information, even with his family on the line. She wished she could help him more—but to do that, they needed to cut off the head of the snake—Giovanni.

Then the rest would fall.

"We're almost there." Brock announced, pulling on his coat as Drew stood to examine the hallway of the half-empty train cart. Not a lot of people traveling to Pallet Town anymore, it seemed.

"Have we thought about what we're going to tell Gary? We haven't even called to officially let him know we're back." Misty spoke authoritatively while collecting her vest in preparation to depart from the train.

"We will figure it out when we get there. Maybe he already knows?" Brock guessed while Drew lead them down the hallway to the exit doors and watched the quiet town fly past them as they drew to a stop. Misty hadn't considered that Gary already knew, and if he did—why wouldn't he inform them of it previously?

Gary would have known better than anyone that Ash would want to know, the same way that Ash wanted to know where his mother was—and Misty kept it from him. Only now, she didn't know where they were, and if Misty remembered how that news went through Ash the first time, she wasn't so certain she wanted to tell him or anyone. Ever. And yet,

"We need to tell Ash, too."

"Let's just focus on one thing at a time." Misty deduced, scratching at her arms while they stepped through the opening doors and into the train station. Her stomach had not felt the same since they boarded the train. She was nauseous all the time, and contemplating throwing up. Nerves were an unfamiliar feeling for the redhead, long ago she swore off her anxious ways, and yet here she was.

Without speaking or stamping their tickets, Misty lead them away from the quiet station and down the sidewalk until coming to a halt at the foot of a hill. Standing at the top was a dimly lit laboratory, gray bricks, and low cut trees that reflected in the daylight. The last time Misty had saw such a thing, it was at night time—and looked twice as menacing the first time she had to walk those stairs. Back when everything was peaceful, and simple. Why couldn't it have stayed that way?

For a fleeting moment as they traversed the stairs, she thought of the family that moved into Delia's old home, did they know of Delia's disappearance? Did anyone know? More importantly, did anyone care? Cole's school had to have known he was missing, and yet she walked into that house under the pretense that the police didn't even bother to check—and there was clearly a struggle there.

When the group arrived at the top of the stairs, Misty inhaled quietly, and looked forward to see that the door had a proper imprint of a foot near the handle, the window at the right was cracked, and the flowers that were so neatly tended to were smashed.

"They don't take very good care of this place, do they?" Brock muttered under his breath, and Misty shot him a quiet glare that he missed. No, Gary took amazing care of this place, so when she knocked and no answer came, she backed up.

"Gary, it's us, open up!" Misty called in, cupping her mouth and looking around. Catching on now, the boys immediately fell to her side, and Drew tried to peek in through the window blinds.

"I can't see any movement."

"Try the door." Brock offered, reaching for the doorknob and jingling the handle. Locked, as they all should have suspected.

"Maybe no one is home?" Brock said quietly, wondering if they picked a bad time—or should have called first. Misty was the only one in disbelief as she hoped from the main entrance trail, and to the pathway located to the left of a set of bushes that would wrap around to the back of the lab.

"Misty, where are you going?" Drew hissed quietly, looking around, especially down to the street, if anyone could see them. Actually, they were on a hill—probably the tallest hill in Pallet Town, _everyone_ could see them.

"Gonna see if he's okay, you comin' Brock?" Misty asked while tracing around the back way with Brock shortly on her heels, followed by an estranged Drew. He couldn't get used to this. Breaking so many rules for the _greater good_.

As they group ventured around the house, they could see that they clearly were not mistaken. Something happened here, otherwise, so many windows wouldn't be broken. Misty counted five, at least one of them needed to be fully changed as she wrapped around to the backyard and came to a complete stop.

The grass—what was left of it—was charred and black. Like Route Twenty-five had been before she and Ash came tromping through it. Eyes darting around the area, taking in the sent of soot and ash, she rushed forward, up the creaky, wooden steps, and past the empty fields of pokemon where amber eyes pierced her at the back entrance.

"Gary-" Misty exhaled, nearly toppling over in fright.

"Why didn't you say anything when we called out for you?" She breathed, lucky that Brock was behind her to keep her standing.

"Wasn't sure it was really you." he replied with no lack of discourse. He threw away the bit of wood he clung to, and then melted back into his house, where he stuffed his hands into his pockets and returned to the counter top, holding his head.

Only once he was out of the way, and the dim light flashed through what was left of his curtains could they see the damage; like Delia's home, the lab was destroyed, tables were smashed, picture frames were torn off of the wall, and what she could assume was his research was torn up, and strewn around the building. A scent of musk stronger than she could recall, replaced the former cinnamon and apple flavored scents, and she refrained from holding her nose as she approached the beaten man. His face was several shades of purple; his right eye practically swollen shut and partially covered by his auburn hair. He looked weak, and fragile, and torn between confusion and anger. When he licked his dry lips, the moisture didn't help the dehydration he was currently under. His sleeve was bloodied at the elbow, sprayed with some kind of black ink, and his outfit was torn and untidied. Like he had been in some kind of bar fight. He smelled like it, too.

"When was the last time you showered?" Misty asked, concerned while Gary threwin back another tan colored drink, and poured himself another without reply.

"Arceus." Drew muttered, the last to enter the war zone. "What happened here?"

"Well, let me _tell you_!" Gary snapped, snarling. "See it all starts with a little boy name _Ash!_ "

"Hey." Misty growled in Ash's defense, but Gary didn't hear her, or simply didn't care.

"I helped him, and look what it got me! Just look at this place—it's ruined!" Gary threw his arms up for emphasis, while Brock and Misty chanced a look at one another.

"Did...did something happen?" The look he gave her in reply was something akin to an evil eye. Lids half closed over his eyes and eyebrow twitching angrily.

"Take a wild guess!"

"Team Rocket?" Brock asked.

"Bingo! An award for the gym leader!" Gary shouted, and Misty had enough.

"Shut up, Gary! If you don't tell us what happened, we can't help!"

Suddenly, what was left of the house grew quiet, and before he managed another snark reply, he shuffled back into his bar stool, and swished another drink down to numb the pain. He looked miserable, and hurt. It wasn't even the physical damages that made him appear soft, but the mental.

"They took Leaf." he finally coughed up, making no eye contact whatsoever. "I don't know where May and Max went, and according to Team jack-asses, I'm being watched now." He inhaled to clear his head, then exhaled when he looked at their aghast faces.

"You need to go before they come back."

"No way. We aren't leaving you here alone."

"I'm not going without Leaf." Gary hummed, sitting back but before he could take another swig of his beverage, Misty snatched the bottle, and handed it off to Brock.

"Why would they do this to you? If you stay here like this, we'll have no chance of finding Leaf. How long ago were they here?"

"Few days ago." Gary mumbled, slurring his words slightly as he rested his chin on his folded arms.

"Well that's a start." Misty looked over her shoulder at Brock. "Will you go grab him some extra clothes? We'll need to find somewhere else to use those discs."

"You got it." Brock hummed, grabbing Drew as they moved into the bedroom area to fetch a new wardrobe for the new professor.

"I'm not going." Gary urged while slinking away from her grasp. Misty hung back.

"And you're going to stay here? And do what?"

"Don't know." He mused, keeping his head on the counter. She released a sigh. He was so frustrating.

"They took Delia and Cole, too." She said, her words immediately catching his attention. He sat up to look at her with sober eyes—scared eyes.

"And they're going to take more, or do more, unless we act. Cle-"

"Don't say anymore here." Gary warned her, standing up to wave her forward. She followed closely after him right as Brock and Drew emerged with a handful of clothes. It wasn't safe to speak here, she figured, based on the way that Gary pushed them through the living spaces, to the side entrance, where Gary grabbed a fresh lab coat.

They made it so far as opening the door when they were stopped by unwanted visitors dressed all in black. Arms folded and smug expressions over their pale faces, Misty fought back the urge to gag at their appearances and Brock and Drew froze on the spot. She was all too familiar with the all black outfits, donning a small red insignia over the left breast. Their faces were covered with large hats, and dark sunglasses where they stood only inches away from the group at the connected back road into the deep country side of Pallet Town.

They should have taken the front door, Misty thought while forcing her eyes not to roll.

"Well, well," one of the men spoke in a deep voice. "Look what we've found here, Ms. Waterflower, Professor Oak." the grunt nodded to them, as if he weren't pointing a lethal weapon at them, concealed under the folds of his jacket.

Gary was the most angered by his appearance, but Brock and Misty remained stoic. Drew seemed to shrink behind them, observing the situation as it unfolded.

"We're here for pick up. That's you two." He grinned an all-knowing, disgusting grin.

"Well, we're not too interested in going with you, so why don't you just go back to where ever it is you came from?" Misty countered, while Gary sobered up real quick.

"Doesn't sound like they're going to come easy..." the one partner said to the other, while the one with the gun smirked. "Guess we'll have to make them." And like white lightning, the gun pointed past Misty and Gary, to Brock who stood unknowingly behind them. At the back of her head, Misty's instincts screamed at her to move, throw out a pokeball, suddenly become bullet proof because what she feared was all too correct. Even if she wasn't touchable, her friends were. _Damn it_.

"Mightyena use take down!"

"Glaceon, ice fang!"

A sudden blur of white light enveloping the man's arm in front of them and complete blindsiding the Team Rocket members, ice formed, and then burst into a thousand tiny pieces when a gray and black wolf-pokemon jumped perpendicular from the side of the trail, and shoved the members into the ground.

"We need to do this quickly, Max!" May's voice pierced their ears while she emerged from the green brush beside the lab with Max on her heels. Misty wasn't sure if what she was seeing was correct when the pokemon jumped and snapped at the Team Rocket members before her. In the back of her head, she could only scream that pokemon attacking humans was a class one violation, but the rest of her body thanked the heavens above for their arrival, and she could tell by the expression of the rest of her companions faces that they agreed.

Acting without their trainers command at first, both pokemon prepared a follow-up attack before the rejected grunt members could find their footing, they were left unconscious after another take-down, and froen to the ground with one of glaceon's ice attacks.

"C'mon, we need to go!" May shouted after them, especially grabbing Gary by his arm and jerking him up, and away from the door step. The rest followed after a brief bout of confusion.

"but—we can..." Misty muttered, pointing back at the members. "Interrogation."

"There's more coming!" Max called while following up at the rear with mightyena at his side, almost as large as Max was; standing close to six feet with a growl that made Misty turn around to face Brock and Drew who shrugged and ran after May.

With the grace of a dancer, and the force of a wrestler, May jogged through the forest leading south to the dock, while still dragging Gary behind her. They made no stops, and spoke little as they ventured past rock and tree, and felt lost. Misty had lost all track of where they entered the forest, and where the exit was—and found herself swallowed up in the serenity of it all before coming to a rough stop, in a patch where they found folded sleeping bags, and a dusted fire.

May released Gary, and spun around to look at the four of them while Max came through at another point.

"I don't think we were followed, but it might be safer to leave here."

"Done." May nodded to her brother while Max moved to pack up their belongings. Misty glowered at the scene.

"You've been staying here?"  
"Oak's place was being watched—you would have seen that if you paid any attention."  
Misty scowled. "Since when were you an army girl?"

May blinked at the accusation, then with a familiar motion, she flashed Misty a badge, and tucked it away into her back pocket. "I've been with the rangers since I was fifteen. Poachers and those weird guys aren't very different—they're just waiting for people instead of pokemon." She clarified while turning with a flick of her wrist. Her hair was tied up into braids to keep it out of her face, and a red bandanna wrapped up, and around her head and Misty slowly clued in.

"You must be May-" She barely got out before Gary stood up.

"What happened?"

"Well, they tried to take us—we got away. We've been trying to find where they took Leaf ever since." May hummed, "And, watching the lab, of course. When we saw you guys come into town we were concerned though." May offered her condolences with a look of her deep blue eyes, and then returned to her business. Once their bags were packed, in a record setting time, the questions started once again.

"How did you know we came to town? Or who we are." Pointing upward, May answered Misty's question as a flying pokemon circled the sky and squawked at them from up above.

"Red hair, bossy attitude—you're hard to miss, Misty." May stuck out her tongue. "Honestly though, after what Ash told us about you, I thought you'd be taller—or scarier."

Misty's face paled, then as she turned a shade of red and covered her face Brock chuckled finally, breaking the tension.

"Thank you." he offered up while Gary threw up, literally. The world around him was spinning, but he couldn't admit that freely. No one else seemed to notice his agony.

"Why is all of this happening? I mean, we were having a normal day and then out of no where these guys come and kick open the doors of the lab, asking about Ash, and threatening Gary—What's happening?" _Right_ , Ash never told May and Max about their little outing; this was all new to them.

Misty eyed Brock, wondering herself when things got so bad. After all, they spent months living safely while they prepared for this—now it seemed like everything was falling apart. What was the tipping point? Unova? The party?

"They must feel threatened." Brock suggested. "It means we're gonna win." He added smugly.

Still confused, and clearly left out of the loop, May raised her eyebrows, and then twisted her head around to see a not-so-graceful, covered in mud, green-haired contest-dweller cleaning the mud off of his shoes and pursed her lips in anticipation of a snark comment, but Gary interfered.

"Enough about that." he coughed, wiping his chin. "Where did they take Leaf?" he asked, looking sicker than he did before.

Now it was May's turn to look toward her brother, who frowned. "Well, it's about half day away. I tracked them from the forest entrance to the docks but her scent dropped off after that."

"Her scent?" Drew finally thought to chime in, and Max gave him a strong look of disapproval—of course he was talking about mightyena.

"Then let's go." Gary said stubbornly, squeezing his knees while he rose.

"I don't think you should-" May tried honestly, but Misty kept her hand down for her, and shook her head to the brunette as if saying 'don't'. Hell would sooner freeze over before Gary didn't take the first leap to find his wife. Understanding the look, May removed a bottle of water from her pack, and followed Gary to hand him off the bottle.

"So we're playing search and rescue now? We need to read what is on those discs that Clemont gave us." Drew barked, once again the voice of reason in the distance.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure they're up for it." Misty hissed quietly back at Drew.

"Then we go without them. We were only there to use his facility, not watch after him."

"Hey." Misty shot at him, "They just saved our lives."

Right, but they wouldn't have needed saving if they didn't see Oak in the first place. Drew bit his tongue. He was no stranger to the realization they were presented with earlier: he and Brock were expendable. That man wasn't going to shoot Misty or Gary, he was going to shoot Brock, or Drew; or anyone else, _anything else_ that stood in the way, and he wasn't exactly keen to figure out when his luck would run out—especially running with these two.

"Besides, we're gonna want Gary with us—he understands these chips, too, since he's a researcher." Brock clarified, and with two votes against him. Drew nodded and tried to hide his fear with his resolve.

Maybe it was because Brock and Misty were no longer strangers to it, or maybe they were too tired to feel the sting of panic at the back of their mind—but they weren't scared. Long ago, their fears were replaced with anger, and drive. They were tired of being afraid, and so they let frustration drive, and anger in the passenger seat.

 **XOX**

The hike seemed to drag on forever, spanning between Gary slipping over his own feet, insisting he was okay, and May losing the trail more as daylight fell behind the horizon. Max was far more helpful that she imagined him to be. Mightyena practically held the new professor on his feet when May found him too distracting. And yet, they kept going. Pure adrenaline kept Misty's legs pumping and her mind focused. When she would waiver, she liked to think that Ash was having an easier go at this than they were. That he was off finding legendary pokemon left and right; and maybe staying in some grand hotel with Jessie and James—far from a dimly lit forest with death lurking around the corner.

She could at least hope, right?

"We're almost there." May called while stepping over a fallen tree. The rest of them shambled over it, especially Drew, who was displaying his dismal ability to maneuver in the forest. Misty also used the thought of Ash to keep her mouth shut about the many hundred of bug pokemon that circled them—while she saw truly scary, and mortifying things since meeting him, the jolt of panic she felt when a caterpie wriggled down a tree was a habit she had yet to kick.

Brock was no help, either. Distracted by his own thoughts, whatever they might have been, he kept to himself. Thus leaving them quietly trekking through the forest, in hope that they would find their destination.

At May's recent announcement, Gary, who was struggling through the onslaught of an early hangover managed to keep up with her pace as they swerved through the last of the forest, and found themselves staring at an empty dock—with one boat in the distance. Max pointed.

"My guess is that she's on the boat—but I can't be sure."

"Then we'll check!" Gary emasculated quickly, jumping from the tree line and toward the ocean. He was already removing his jacket and partially his shoes when Misty grabbed him by the collar and stopped him.

"Let go of me!" He shouted, sounding more like Ash than he probably meant to. "What would you do if it were Ash!?" he really looked at Misty to see that she wasn't full of disagreement with his plan, but holding up a pokeball instead and slowly releasing him so he could calm himself down.

"Remember, I'm a water pokemon trainer. We don't have to swim there."

"I think we should wait until morning. Rescue missions can go wrong if we can't see what we're doing." May suggested, hands on her hips.

"No, we can't leave her there any longer than we have to." Gary mused in a short panic, worried that no one else would side with him. He must have felt guilty for waiting this long to go after her. Misty could relate to that, and show him a weak smile.

"He's right. And if we go at night, we can surprise them." Brock reassured Gary with a pat on the shoulder.

"Great, then let's go." Misty zipped her pokeball through the air as it cracked open with red lightning, and a large, shelled pokemon emerged from the ball, practically singing as it formed. A large lapras stared back at them, bowing her head to Misty who pat her forehead and then looked to the group.

"Only three of us can go. Any more and it weighs her down too much." Immediately all hands but Drew's went up to volunteer for the crazy boat ride, but Misty cracked a smile. "...and by three, I mean May, Gary and I."

"What-?" Brock gasped and Misty shrugged.

"It's Gary's wife, and May has done this before." May nodded to Misty's reply.

"Besides, you have those discs, if something happens—not that it will, you can still sort this out."

Brock didn't look as confident as Misty did, however, and crossed his arms in disagreement with her plan, but said nothing. She was as stubborn as Ash was, she wouldn't change her mind. Behind them, Gary was already halfway on lapras when Misty and May both jumped onto the pokemon's back and smiled at the group.

"Max, keep everyone at the tree line, just in case they saw us. I'll throw up a flare if we're in trouble." She waved a red cylinder at her brother who smiled weakly at her as lapras departed, leaving the rest of them behind.

"We'll see you soon." Misty smiled and Brock waved quietly. He said he wouldn't leave her side, she knew that. Two weeks in, and they were already breaking their promises to one another. She eased the thought by reminding herself that they had to. If Leaf could be saved, they had to try.

"We should keep an eye out for traps, or if anyone is on board." May hummed, and Misty thought that beneath her serious tone—she might have been having fun. Rangers were declassified as a necessary member of society and the pokemon league a few years ago—she couldn't have been one for longer than a few years before her license was ruined by what Giovanni had planned for them all. Gary no longer looked sick, or disturbed—or angry. His surprising calm made her question what he was going to do once they reached the boat; and the way he held onto the pokeballs he stashed in his pocket worried the redhead.

"Remember, we want to get the jump on them." Misty said quietly, keeping her voice down as lapras cut the hour it would have taken them to swim down to minutes. They could go up the side, check on the deck and circle back around to-

A sudden click filled her ears, May heard it too because they shared the same, brief look of concern. Then, a tremor beneath the surface of the water burbled beneath lapras, and the boat only yards away from them cracked at the bolts, revealing light and smoke—all blinding and deafening before they were sent flying backwards at the mighty explosion.

 **XOX**

Ash woke with a start, wild eyes looking into the dark forest and chest heavy. Beside him, togepi looked about the same. Tears welled at the side of the pokemon's dark eyes, and before Ash could grab him, he started to cry.

That was okay, Ash felt like crying himself, and had no way of discerning why. "H-hey." Ash stammered, picking up togepi and rocking the egg while it wailed into the darkness, waking pikachu and charizard. The mouse was at their side instantly, but charizard was slow to rise from the ground—looking a bit green around the eyes he huffed into the darkness and illuminated the scene with his tail.

"It's okay togepi." Ash soothed, rubbing the pokemon's shell and humming to himself. Keeping his mind occupied with thoughts of what he was going to do next. He didn't have nightmares—he didn't dream—so waking up so horribly was like being thrown into a icy bath in the middle of winter without warning. Maybe he was too stressed out? The last few days were full of sleepless nights, after all. Before resting here—he hadn't slept in three days, maybe four. His body, even after sleeping through the day felt sore and tired. The last few days catching up to him, he assumed. If only that philosophy Misty was concerned about applied to sore muscles. He would love if those healed a bit faster than normal.

Once togepi had drifted into a slow whimper, and then eventually into quiet sniffles, Ash looked to his companions.

"Well, guys. It looks like it's time to roll." he told them with a sigh. Using the palms of his hands, he rose with a few cracks, and a quiet groan until he was standing straight, and looking at the city lights that gleamed over the tree line.

"You think you'll be okay out here charizard?" the pokemon nodded, then placed his head back down while Ash gave him a brief pat and pikachu crawled up onto his shoulder. Togepi wouldn't let go of his arm, so it looked like he would be lugging the egg around. He didn't mind, he just wished he could shake the daunting, horrified feeling in his gut—maybe he was just hungry. It had been awhile since he last ate.

That should be his first stop.

"Actually, why don't we grab something to eat?" Ash suggested to his pokemon, only to find that unlike him, none of them were hungry. In fact, pikachu looked like he might be sick at the idea of eating, and charizard was far too tired to care either way. Again, togepi wouldn't let go of his arm.

"...never mind, let's just go see Tracey."

By the time they found themselves a block away from the large gate that protected Tracey's manor, Ash could hardly walk he was so starved. His knees were weak, and on top of a lurching feeling, his arms were heavier than togepi and he wished for once that the pokemon would carry himself for the first time since leaving the nursing home.

"Pika chuuu." The mouse pulled on Ash's hair to point him towards an open diner to the left of them. He drooled, or at least it felt like drool when he marched to the diner and stuck his face to the nose. Inside, only a few people were eating—mostly natives of the island since they were normal clothes and didn't seem effected by Ash's appearance at the window.

After an amusing time stumbling over his own feet, he found his way to the entrance, and let himself inside. Only to be stopped by a very large waiter.

"Do you have money?"  
"Excuse me?" Ash gasped, blinking at the man.

"Money? Do you have any? Entrance is for paying customers only." His voice sounded three octaves too low, and Ash brushed his hands against his pockets only to realize he was, indeed, out of money.

"Uhh, well."

"No money, no entry." Then the guy grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, and redirected him to the door.

"What's the big deal!" Ash shouted, trying to twist his way out of the large man's grasp before he went flying from the doors, and onto his butt outside. Pikachu turned around rapidly upon hitting the ground lighting up his cheeks, but was stopped by Ash.

"Don't worry about it, bud." Ash grumbled, taking a few minutes to assess his situation. At least they didn't recognize him—but how could they—his reflection screamed homeless. He didn't look like a weary traveler anymore, instead, his questionable musk and charming smile were covered in dirt, stained clothes, and unkempt hair. His hair poked out in every direction without his trademark hat, and he brushed ratty gloves over his head to mat it down slightly.

"Chuu." The mouse mumbled, assuring Ash that he looked fine—a kind lie.

"It's fine. Let's just do what we came here to do and be gone." _but he was so hungry_. Ash stumbled across the street once more, noticing for the first time that his stumbling could have been confused with being a drunkard and straightened up to keep attention off of him—because there was a lot more than he anticipated.

What, had they never seen a homeless person before!? Not that he was homeless...well, technically... he was only couch surfing last he checked and...

"Watch it!" Snapped a lady he almost ran into, and Ash flipped around tossing out a crappy apology. He had to pay attention!

Yet his mind was frazzled and he felt disjointed as he made his way to the manor he knew so well. Well, from the outside, he barely made it to the fence line before being escorted off the premises last time. _Focus_ he chanted at himself; things would be different. He was different, and better prepared.

Keeping to the shadows, like Jessie and James taught him, Ash swerved into a shrubbery located south of the main entrance, and ducked away from view of the entrance guards. He would have to go up, then over the fence and up again quickly. That, or he would need to find a place to hide away from the noise he might create. Humming quietly to himself, he peeled back a bundle of twigs to see his target, an ajar window on the second floor. Ash would have to climb to the top, no problem, Ash was an amazing climber, but it was getting there.

"Cha." the mouse poked his head in the direction of the large security men, and Ash nodded.

"That's not a bad idea." he said, looking to his long-time companion. "You be a distraction, and I'll run for the window. Meet us up there?"

"Pika-chuu." The mouse purred, bounding away from his trainer and hopping into the open. Once he passed the guards, Ash sprung forward, watching lightning spark where pikachu left a bright, distracting trail.

"Get outta here, you stupid rat!" One of the guards shouted, covering his eyes. Ash took this as his moment to sprint, then leap, and twist himself over the tall metal fence. His feet hit the ground with a thud, followed by an exasperated grunt from one of the guards. Ash peered over his shoulder to check if the guards had heard him or not, and verifying quickly that they didn't, he bolted up the side of the wall, clinging to the stray bricks that poked out, and fought and pulled himself up through the dimly lit window.

Ash tumbled inside, grace and cunning skills put aside as his legs slipped, and his nose felt the hard wooden floor beneath the window sill.

 _Ow_. He groaned internally, followed by a quiet moan as he flipped himself over to look up at the ceiling. Moments later, pikachu pounced onto him through the window, landing with a heavy breath and Ash holding his stomach in resolve.

"Thanks." he mouthed sarcastically to pikachu who hopped elegantly onto the wood floor to examine their surroundings. Ash turned onto his side and unzipped his coat for togepi to roll out of. The egg bumbled ahead, prepared for action, but upon seeing that they were located in what looked like an empty study, whined to his trainer. At the corner of the room laid a a large brown easel, and a million different canvas', hundreds of different colored paints coated several sheets of paper, paint brushes, pencils, and pastels were strewn across a sea of jars, and Ash found himself questioning how anyone could work in this—where they would start.

Paintings of pokemon, of people, of nature were hung in every direction, and while Ash struggled to his feet to observe the objects closer, a cough from the corner of the room brought him back to his senses—only to be dulled immediately by the intense gaze of dark eyes.

Tracey stared back at him, arms crossed awkwardly, and mouth formed into a scowl. Ash gulped.

"...Hey."

"You have one minute to give me a good reason while you're here." Tracey eased to his pocket, where Ash knew there was a cellphone—or a weapon, he never knew what to expect anymore.

Frozen, Ash struggled to form a second as Tracey counted down maniacally.

"Ho-oh." Ash blurted out. "I need to find Ho-oh."

Suddenly, Tracey's hard gaze evaporated, and a large, undying smile pulled at the corners of his mouth.

"What do you need to know about that pokemon?"  
Ash hesitated as Tracey approached, only now did he notice that the artist was wearing a tan colored apron covered in a full color wheel of paint splatters. More importantly, he didn't seem to mind Ash at all.

"Everything...anything, really." He stopped to collect his thoughts. What could it hurt to tell Tracey what he was doing. "I'm trying to find him, actually."

At that, Tracey gave him a crooked look, followed by an expression of puzzlement.

"Find him, huh? But he's not real, you know." Tracey almost sounded sarcastic.

"He is, too. I've seen him." A determined Ash replied.

"Really?" Tracey's voice pitched coyly. "You've seen him?"  
"Haven't you?" Ash gasped, only to be answered with a casual shrug as he slid a few strokes of his paint brush against a new canvas.

"Are you sure you've seen him?" He asked wearily, and Ash found both is patience, and his temper suddenly very short.

"Yes, ten years ago in all of the legendary pokemon's rainbow and golden glory—now can you help me find it or not?"

A pause, followed by the slick noise of wet paint dripping down the canvas, and then Tracey turned to him, staring blankly.

"I've never seen him." He said reassuringly. "But I've read about him. I've read about all of the legendary pokemon, actually."

Ash didn't move while Tracey tossed aside his paintbrush in favor of rummaging through a list of unorganized canvas, and Ash swallowed hard. His palms were sweaty, and a part of him wanted to tell Tracey what he had told everyone else about his past, but the words wouldn't come. Tracey wouldn't remember, no one did.

"I read about Ho-oh while I was trying to find out more information about the guardian of the ocean, _Lugia_." Ash's ears twitched at the name, and his eyes glued to Tracey's back.

"...A few years ago, Lugia supposedly flood several islands than disappeared. From all of the legendary pokemon, he was one of the most well-known. It turned out that he and Ho-oh had a connection." As he spoke, he removed an unframed canvas painting of the two birds depicted with the beasts below and the three birds in the distant background. Lugia was drawn to great detail, where Ho-oh was painted in golden rainbows.

"Legend says they balance one another. I always hoped if I found Ho-oh, we could bring back the islands that we lost so many years ago, you know?"

Ash didn't know, in fact, it sounded crazy. Even if they did, everyone on them was dead, anyways, weren't they? Alarmed at his own thoughts, Ash cleared his throat.

"Why?" Ash questioned, and Tracey shrugged while setting the painting down.

"Research, money, fame—my family." He breathed. "It's a bit unnerving, my family, they took a trip that same week when the weather went cold—no one else seems to remember it. When snow came down in the middle of summer, and the waters spun violently and froze over, taking away everything." He breathed a quiet, shaky breath. "But I do. I can't forget."

Exhaling, Tracey looked at Ash.

"So why do you want to find him?"  
"I wanna save the world." it didn't seem fitting, after Tracey's confession, but the words fell from his lips without hesitation, without remorse. Honesty was Ash's second nature, and as it appeared, so was it Tracey's.

"Great, let me write down a location for you."

Ash beamed. "Really?"

A scoff followed, "Pfft, no, I've been looking for him the last five years—if he's even really real—you think if I knew where to find him I would be here?"  
Ash looked around, remembering the lavish setting. Well, _yeah_. Ash wanted to say, but refrained from that, and instead looked to Tracey with warm eyes. Ash wasn't kidding.

"There was a myth, a long time ago—something about Mount Silver, but it's crazy. Normal people can't survive up there."

"What do you mean normal people can't survive up there?" Ash hummed, blinking innocently at Tracey who looked at Ash as if he grew another head.

"I mean, it's worse than arctic levels of freezing. Thousands of people have tried to the top but froze or failed. So, hey, unless you're some chosen person or a super hero, there's no way you can survive the cold." After a pause, Tracey continued his rant. "Ho-oh is supposed to be a phoenix, of course _he_ can, his blood is more than likely fire. But Lugia? Oh man, there was no telling where he went. Flood the world, kill thousands of people then disappear—yeah, some guardian. See, not everyone thinks it was because of a pokemon—some natural events, but _I_ know. I've read all the text books, there's no way this was..." Tracey mumbled offhandedly, no idea the information he provided for Ash.

Staring wide eyed, Ash and his pokemon, who stood behind him until now were shocked. _Some chosen person_. Ash was chosen at some point, wasn't he? Grumbling and grunting under his breath, Tracey returned to his painting,

"You know, actually, _you_ look kind of familiar, you know? Have you ever been here-?" He stopped realizing that he was standing alone in the large room, Ash was no where to be seen, but he noticed at the window's curtains were pulled back further.

"...Weird guy." Tracey muttered, but then turned back to his business.

 **XOX**

Ash rushed into this. On top of charizard's back, who fought with the whipping wind and icy gusts flinging snow into their eyes, he started to reconsider his options. At first, he thought Tracey might have been exaggerating, _no_ , he convinced himself that Tracey was exaggerating. Mount Silver couldn't be so bad. There were no articles written about it, and hundreds of people fancied the landmark—but the further Ash flew up, the further away the top seemed.

The harder it was to breath.

There was no way anyone lived up here, pokemon or not. If it wasn't the freezing cold; the inability to breath or grow food would be a close second reason. Plus, the feeling that his blood was turning to ice beneath his skin might have eliminated any right or reason. He lost the ability to hear long ago, lost to the whistle of the wind and the focus on charizard's flame. He never saw the dragon's flames burn so bright; a mixture of bright oranges and blues guarding him.

Still, he felt consciousness slipping with each feet they traveled up.

"Keep your eyes open." he said to his pokemon, though he knew that both togepi and pikachu retreated into the safety and confines of his jacket hours go; and only charizard seemed to be seeing straight. Ash hadn't opened his eyes in the last hour—convinced they would freeze without warning; and it was only when the flight upward slowed to a measly crawl, and icicles formed on charizard's scale, did he consider this a bad idea.

 _Chosen,_ was a very particular phrase that Tracey picked—it couldn't have been by coincidence. Ash was dubbed the chosen one in his dreams—more than a superiority complex, maybe it meant something? Now, he thought he was being crazy, and should have consulted Jessie and James about this decision, but somewhere between excitement and a time crunch, he left rational thought at home.

 _Home_ , it seemed so far away now, where ever it was. Oddly enough, as his body felt frozen—and he was sure that charizard had finally stopped and his breath hitched permanently in his chest; he thought of _home_.

Home was a young woman with red hair throwing out insults while working on battle techniques. Home was an older gentlemen complaining about a lack of proper cookware. Home was a bundle of yellow mice running circles around him, and a young boy staring up at him in amazement. _Home_ , was an elderly woman knitting outside while Ash threw rocks into the stream outside their house. More than a place, it was the people around him—the ones he couldn't live without—good or evil. He wanted to see them again more than he wanted to breath.

His eyes drifted, and he barely felt the chill of his arms falling from charizard's neck, or the thump of the frozen ground below as his body fell catatonic. This wasn't a good idea, none of this was. He was so desperate the find an answer that he threw caution to the wind, gave up his outstanding morals, put his pokemon and his friends and himself in mortal danger—and now.

Well, he couldn't really think about now. Thought was hard and the light of the snow around him dimmed darker, and darker until his noisy thoughts were his only beckon—and then...

 _Chuuuu!_ And spark soared through his body, connected to each nerve as his eyes peeled open one at a time to see nothing but the blue sky above him, and a swirling storm of clouds around him. Somewhere off to the side—Ash wasn't sure—he heard pikachu preparing another shock, desperately calling to his trainer while Ash finally gathered the rest of his strength to sit up on his elbows.

The eye of the storm—the top of the mountain. _Or at least what looked like the top of the mountain_. Ash strained to sit up further, but his head was spinning and his body was still numb—not numb, covered. Charizard had taken to resting his long neck over his legs to keep him warm, with his tail curled up and around, hovering over Ash's head. At first, the prickle of grass against his bare arms was unbelievable—grace on top of Mount Silver—now he _knew_ he was delirious.

Until he saw piercing, yellow eyes staring down at him from a perch only meters away.

 _Ho-oh._

 **Author's Note** :

THE LAST LINE IS A PUN, GET IT? "Uh-oh, equals _ho-oh_?! ha..hahha... ehem.

Have I mentioned how much I love you all? To anyone who has made it to chapter 50, new and old readers. You all... just. Wow. Thank you. 420K plus words, 300 plus favorites and follows, and almost 700 reviews. Thank you. Thank you all so much. We're are drawing near the 1 year mark (Jan 30) and while I wanted, and planned for this story to be finished way before that, I'm full of nostalgia about how far we've come, and how far the story has come. The end is almost here guys, I've been writing non-stop between work and school, and after making a few adjustments, we're almost there. I can't help but feel the reason I've been so antsy to write is because finishing a large story is hard, rewarding, and so very nerve-wracking. I'm not ready for this story to end, but all good things have to. (I feel like I'm stalling on purpose)

So, I'm asking for you to leave a review regarding your favorite moment or moments in the story, and any questions you've had, and I'm going to reply to all chapter 50 reviews.

Thank you all for your continued support

NINT


	51. Chapter 51:The name your mother gave you

**Locked Away Chapter 51**

Ash didn't move, didn't breath, didn't think.

A giant, thirty foot— _fifty_? Ash couldn't be sure, as he wasn't the best at sizing up terrifying adversaries _._

A massive bird with talons the size of charizard, lumbering only a few feat away with a long, crooked beak and snarling nostrils. Not to mention feathered wings with gold and green trims matching a flowing gold crown of feathers on top of his head. His eyes were bloodshot beneath yellow holes that bore into Ash's very soul. The massive creature was far from a golden illumination of rainbows that he remembered, and seemed more like a stray demon from some biblical terror. Its wings were tucked tight around his body, easily twice the size of Moltres and Ash didn't dare move. He didn't know how pikachu was able to sit up on his hind legs, _just in case_. Maybe the mouse was some hidden representative of Ash's courage, because he was feeling pretty cowardly at the moment.

"Uh.." Ash croaked, but he was answered with Ho-oh screaming.

Ash, pikachu, togepi an charizard fell backwards, holding their ears. Knives on chalkboards were nothing compared to the mind splitting hell that echoed in through his ears and rattled his brains until he felt confused and tired and was lying flat on his back once again. Beside him, Pikchu had huddled into a fetal position, tugging on his ears, and while the massive creature screeched once more, this time lifting off of the ground, cutting into the grass by leaving huge concave gaps where he was perched prior, Ash tried to focus.

Charizard and togepi had the worst of it, their arms didn't reach their ears, and so Ash sacrificed his own hands to scoop both charizard's and togepi's heads under his arm.

"It's fine, guys!" Ash screamed as Ho-oh circled above them, matching the massive, whirling motion of the storm.

It was too quiet here, the screech was probably no more than a whimper down below—how ever far _that_ was- but here, the clouds were a wall that bounced angry sounds from every corner and shook their very breath from their bodies.

Once more was enough, and Ash was shouting;

"Stop!" He yelled, breathless. Liquid trickled down from his noise, and it wasn't until the fluid touched his lips did he realize it was blood.

" _Stop!_ " he shouted louder, squeezing his pokemon tightly—if this hurt him—he couldn't imagine what it did to them. To pikachu! Oh man, pikachu! Ash fought against the ringing in his ears to grab at the pokemon who started to shake violently and capture him beside him as the demon bird above circled once, then twice like some kind of scavenger, and then finally touched back down, kicking up a rolling dust storm that picked Ash up off the floor. Thanks to charizard, he remained grounded, but barely.

"Please stop!" Ash shouted again, his voice weaker in the wind as he touched back down to peer up at the monster. At least Ho-oh wasn't breathing fire, or directly attacking him like Moltres had.

The mind splitting ache in his head, and making him bleed wasn't much better, though. Ash wiped his nose and glared up through slanted eyes at the bird.

"I need your help!" in return, Ho-oh's head titled ninety degrees and Ash's fists curled tightly. "Please, my friends and family are in danger; I need your help to stop Team Rocket and Giovanni and they're coming to try to steal you, and they can't do that! I want to save you—and the world and-!" the words spilled out uncontrollably, and Ash thought he convinced the phoenix until his wings opened, revealing a blinding assortment of reds, yellows, and greens, and knocked Ash back down.

 _So they've tried!_ The voice was a deep, heavy voice inside of Ash's head that made his knees weak and stomach churn. Mixed with the voice was the shared image of the experiences of men and woman trying to climb to the top of Mount Silver to reach Ho-oh, and failing. His head ached fiercely, and he crumpled to his knees and started hacking.

Along with the cough, his chest tightened as if he were suffocating. Was it suddenly harder to breath, or was this the true power of a legendary pokemon? For ten years Ash played fodder to meeting most of the legendaries in existence, and for the second time meeting one in real life, he felt like spaghetti. Like a blowing pile of ash in the wind, and sick. He felt sick.

He started dry heaving after.

 _You come to me for selfish reasons._ A scream that Ash wasn't aware was his own until he was grabbing his head and gasping rang in his ears.

 _Humans are always creating wars with themselves, wishing only for things that will make them better than other humans. Humans are weak, you are weak_!

"I am not!" Ash choked, but he didn't sound very convincing; his voice was barely above a whisper, and his mouth and throat were bone dry.

 _You seek my power for glory_

"You're wrong, these men are evil!"

 _All men are evil! You think you are the first human to seek out my guidance? You are all the same!_

"I didn't come all the way here for you to reject me!" Ash roared, digging his fingers into the grass below. "You have to help us!"

 _I-_

"You owe me!" Ash shouted voice cracking and finally silencing the psychic presence of the bird that threatened to crush him. As the buzzing in his head faded, he collapsed onto the ground in a sigh, and pikachu and togepi who recovered from the previous voices raced to their trainer in concern—clearly, Ash had been the only one affected by whatever Ho-oh did to him.

That didn't mean his pokemon weren't protective of him. Ho-oh was triple the size of charizard, and yet he was still huffing in preparation to take on the massive bird. With any luck, they wouldn't have to.

 _Owe you?_ The bird snarled, his voice no longer causing pain.

"Yes? Because... because it's your fault." Ash gestured to himself, as if referring to his age, his life, _everything_. "I saw you, after that blast outside of Pallet town on my first day as a pokemon trainer. I was barely conscious and I saw you, flying above the route one's forest eleven years ago. Only hours before I spent the next _ten years_ in a coma!"

Having regained his determination, Ash sat up on his heels to glare at the phoenix. His eyes told story, of years of surviving a world that faced wars and tragedy, of fear and dictatorships; and finally, of distrust and acceptance.

 _I have no memory of this_.

"Before..." Ash breathed, struggling to his feet and exhaling. He thought he would collapse, but would never show that to Ho-oh. His head ached terribly, but he withstood the temporary pain. "Before I passed out, I saw you...and I...I think I wished...I think I wanted to do this—that—forever, and then I spent ten years comatose, reliving the same year, or the same experiences, meeting new people and pokemon that exist in the real world but can't remember me. I can remember them though, every single one of them! Everyone but you, and your stupid golden rainbows." he growled, tears stinging his eyes and he looked down to pikachu and togepi, heart racing.

"I...I wasn't here to save anyone—to protect my friends. I've lost family and companions because _you_ stuck me in that stupid slumber!" So maybe his internal drive to see Ho-oh wasn't only about saving the world.

 _Selfish_. Ho-oh countered, but Ash found the sound of the pokemon's voice soothing rather than the former distressing, numbing sensation. Ash sniffled, and shook his head.

"So you did it, it was your fault?"

 _No_. The answer was too abrupt, too uncertain and Ash felt his resolve crumble and his shoulders slouched.

"What do you mean _no_? What else could do this?" Anger flashed in Ash's eyes. He stood up.

"You did this! You had to!"

The bird was angry again, rising and twitching with each shout. _You did this to yourself! I only bestow what eternal happiness is deserved._

"And I deserved to be in a coma for ten years?"

Ho-oh didn't understand the complaint.

 _I do not control the terms of my gift._

"How about that it was a double edged sword! I didn't want your happiness!"

 _Than maybe you'd rather be dead!_ he lunged forward, large, feathered wings gushing in the wind around him, but this time Ash didn't flinch at the legendary pokemon. He stood his ground, eyes dark.

"You took away my life! Eternal happiness would have been letting me see my mom; see my friends! Your _gift,_ " he spat at Ho-oh, "Put me in an unreachable coma for ten years! Do you know what it's like to watch everyone else around me change while I stay the same!?"

The beast gave him a look, as if no one would understand that saying better than he could, but he did not interrupt as Ash shook in rage.

"When I died-" Ash was surprised by his own words as everything suddenly rushed back to him.

 _It's a miracle. The doctor said they don't know exactly what's going on. He's healing too fast. You're sure you're okay? No exit wound. No damage. No reason not to wake up._

He should have been a vegetable, by all accounts. He should have been dead. The difference between being shocked and being electrocuted, as Ash saw only hours ago, was that people didn't stand back up after the latter.

Ash felt his blood run cold, staring up at the beast.

"...what was I?" His question changed, followed shortly by: "Where was I?" his chest tightened.

 _Sometimes a gift isn't what we need; but only what we can offer._

"So...you saved me?" the words felt wrong coming from his mouth. Had he really... _died_ back then? How he survived, by the skin of his teeth, not only the blast, but being carried an hour to Viridian City—he shouldn't have been.

Again, the legendary beast shifted, then relaxed. His feathers rest flat against his body framing the thin nature of his avian form.

 _I did not._ The bird answered, reeling back onto his hind legs.

Ash looked down thoughtfully, with more questions than answers even now. All this way and—his head rushed, and he hit the ground on his knees. This wasn't what he came here for—Team Rocket was coming. Appetite roaring loudly as pikachu and togepi returned to his side. Ash clutched at his stomach, recalling the events of that day so vaguely, even now. He wanted to remember it. What happened after—Misty had told him that she found him, carried him back to Viridian City.

"...so..." Ash mumbled, his chest felt concave. "You... I... I got lucky?"

 _Luck is a matter of fate._

Ho-oh leered again, staring into Ash's soul. Now that he knew who Ash was, his tempo changed to a kinder hum.

 _Sometimes, it is the fear the unknown that clouds our judgment. I have no control over your destiny. I simply play a part._

Ash stared up at the pokemon, grim and looking a hundred years older than he was. Maybe Ash wasn't supposed to know the inner workings of why he was standing here. Life happened to different people at different times, and sometimes...there wasn't always an answer. With a glance to the side, Ho-oh summoned some colorful fruit from a bush below the slope of the mountain top. They floated, then fell into Ash's waiting palms.

A peace offering.

Ash fell to his butt with a slouch, trying to hide the clear discomfort he was in after Ho-oh's display of power, and immediately divided the fruit between pikachu, himself, and togepi. Charizard, being the pseudo dragon that he was, wasn't keen on plant-life, but ate what small offering Ash had.

Ash waited until the throbbing in his body seized before he thought about speaking again. He wasn't sure he could survive another fit from the legendary pokemon.

"How long was I out?" asked Ash to no one in particular. Pikachu and togepi were pale and a little unkempt. Charizard was the usual, bashful dragon as normal; but Ash saw the black scales reaching down to his tail now and made a mental note to have it checked when they had this sorted out.

 _Two days._ Ho-oh finally answered and his pokemon breathed a sigh of relief. Ash could see from their faces that it wasn't an easy two days. The creature had probably circled them. Funny, Ash thought that he had only been out for a few seconds—he didn't even remember arriving at the top of the mountain. It certainly didn't feel like two days.

"Two days?" said Ash in disbelief. "I must have been exhausted." And while he nibbled on the rest of the fruit, he stared in awe at Ho-oh, wondering what kind of powerful machines could contain something so huge and powerful to capture him; and how Team Rocket had managed to do so with so many other legendary pokemon.

 _Your friends are waiting for you at the town at the base of the mountain_.

"You know that?" Ash asked, looking hopeful. "They're early though, I wonder if their search sent them this way, after all."

 _There are no traces of me left for them to find. Only rumors. Myths. They gave up shortly after you left._

Ash scoffed, wondering how the beast would know; but then figured it was better not to ask. Ho-oh was better for creating more questions than providing answers.

"So I've seen." Ash paused thoughtfully. "But, why stay hidden?"  
 _Why do all legendary pokemon stay hidden? We are a creature of worship. Our involvement in humanity is a dangerous one._

"Why? Weren't you all beloved years ago? How can you help keep peace if you're all on top of a mountain somewhere in broken sanctuaries and ruined temples? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of your jobs?"

 _Our duty is not to interfere with humans._

"So that's why you helped me then?" Ash inferred, then bit his tongue immediately while glaring up at Ho-oh with a new found confidence. Oh, the irony of that.

 _You are fighting a losing battle. They will be victorious over you_.

"So you won't help us?"

 _I will not interfere._

There were moments in Ash's life when he could recall making terrible decisions, times in his life when he knew that he had made the wrong call—and maybe someday throwing what he believed was an apple at the head of one of the strongest pokemon alive would make the list, but for now, Ash stood, trembling in anger.

"We can't lose! There's too much at stake, and if you won't help then do us a favor and at least stay away from Team Rocket!" Ash shouted, and startled the creature. While the object was small, it was blunt and enough to push the bird back a few centimeters. Ash expected an immediate retaliation, some kind of deafening screech, or to be swallowed whole by the bird; instead, he lumbered over Ash.

Intrigued, he asked: _And why should I help any human?_  
"Because if you don't, the rest of the legendary pokemon are going to be hurt—worst case scenario, they could all die—including your counter-part, was it Lugia?" It was as if Misty was speaking for him, the same manipulative tactics she used to win in an argument, with his voice. "Team Rocket isn't waging a war on just humans anymore—they're being cruel to pokemon by putting will-bending chips in their heads, and holding thousands of species hostage in cages. Even if you don't care what happens to us—you have to care about what happens to them—to me?"

The last line caused the colorful, wide eyes to narrow.

"I mean, I don't exactly know what makes me so damn special, but it's a good enough reason to stop me from dying, so..."

Then, Ho-oh leaned in until his eyes and beak were inches way from Ash, staring him down for any indication of a lie. Ash scoot backwards a few inches from the gust provided by the movement of the large creature, but held his ground. On a long list of questions Ho-oh had, starting with how the young man scaled the mountain at all, survived the blistering cold, stood up to his psychic powers, and understood his speech without pain; after all, this couldn't have been a part of his his _gift._ He coyly asked the most important question of all;

 _Human_ , _what is your name_?

Ash inhaled, a spark forming in his eye. "My name is Ash Ketchum, and I'm going to be the world's greatest Pokemon Master someday!"

 **XOX**

Ash stumbled down the mountain grinning. For the first time in years, Mount Silver was manageable as he dipped, and dived where the wind formerly suffocated him. Ho-oh's will and power was the culprit of the never ending storm brewing overhead of the Johto regions mountain. A inexplicable vortex of safety and damnation for all who neared it; and yet respectfully left the rest of the world untouched.

Until today.

Ash thought the sun shined a little brighter today as he ran alongside pikachu, held onto togepi, with charizard waiting in the wings beside him. In his hand, he clutched the once confusing gift from Agatha—a master ball, fully opened, and containing the first legendary pokemon Ash had ever owned. Before a legendary pokemon could be captured, they needed to consent to the pokeball; agree to be contained—but at any time, Ho-oh let Ash know, he could escape the ball and raise hell. That was why the pokeball wouldn't work before, it needed to be in the presence of a deity. Ho-oh came along to assist the rest of the stolen legendary pokemon, not to help Ash. _Or at least that's what he agreed upon._

The fact that such a small container could hold so much power was mind boggling to Ash, but he hadn't the time to think further. Ash's life was no less confusing than it had been before he started this journey—but he at least had one more party member; a powerful ally.

"Woo hoo!" Ash shouted, jumping off a rather steep ledge that could have easily lead to an abrupt ending of his story, but he knew that charizard would swoop in to save him; he always did.

Scolding Ash with an over the shoulder glare as he straddled the pokemon's shoulders Ash inhaled the fresh air riding down the mountain and stuck out his arms.

"We can do this!" He screamed eagerly, his cheerful voice carrying over the mountains, past the trees, and into a distant echo as his three pokemon agreed.

 **XOX**

"He's late." Jessie bit down hard onto her thumb nail, pacing back and forth.

"We're early, Jess, sit down." James asked, eyeing the woman. Watching her move back then forth, and back then forth was more nerve wracking than watching meowth bat angrily at a stray forest mouse.

"You think he would know!" Jessie shouted, turning at James with a glare.

"Maybe he already does and is there?" James suggested, lifting his head to look up at his long-time companion. Jessie shook her head several times, then continued to pace and bite her nail.

"There's no way. He would have told us."

"Maybe. Maybe not." James muttered, folding his arms against his stomach and leaning over his crossed legs. "If he's not here tomorrow like we planned, we will look for him in Kanto. It's big news. They must have advertised it on the islands."

"Or, he was too busy trying to find that stupid legendary pokemon and got himself killed!" Jessie inhaled. "He's just a little kid, we shouldn't have let him go off alone! We made that stupid girl a promise and-" she inhaled, eyes cross as she touched her forehead with the palms of her hand, and grew awkwardly silent under pained glares.

"Aww, I didn't know you cared." Ash's voice emerged from the trees, and with a low-flamed charizard, black around the nostrils and both togepi and pikachu on his shoulders, he grinned at the two formerly evil people.

Ash expected a joke in return, some sarcastic reply, but instead. James and meowth rushed at him for a tight hug, and Jessie appeared horrified by his sudden appearance. Ash chuckled at the sudden affection; to think a few weeks ago they hardly considered him an ally, and now they were on hugging terms. Ash accepted the embrace.

"...Okay, guys. This is getting kind of awkward." He muttered and James and meowth both snapped away from him, their solemn expressions mimicking Jessie's horrified one. A round of stares circled the young man, and then James gulped.

"Jess, he doesn't know."

"Meeoowth." The cat added, taking a step back. Jessie moved forward to grab Ash's shoulders, and it was at that moment he knew that something was indeed wrong. Pikachu and togepi took defensive stances. Did someone get hurt? Were they found out? Followed?

"What's going on?" Ash asked, refusing to let Jessie lead him to the bench James was sitting on moments ago. Since he seemed stubborn, and determined to remain standing, Jessie sighed, and pat him on the shoulder affectionately. It was weird, Jessie wasn't affectionate. _Ever._

"...We need to go back to Kanto." James spoke softly, _too softly_ for the thief that he was. Ash's eyes narrowed, then he scoffed.

"Why?" Watching their glum expressions, fear replaced his dopey edge. They hadn't asked about Ho-oh, or pikachu, or what he saw, so panic filled Ash's chest. "Did something happen?"

Silence.

"James?" Ash called on him immediately, knowing that he was the most genuine of the group. He didn't meet Ash's eyes, and instead looked to the ground.

"There was...an accident..." James scratched at the back of his neck and exhaled. "Your friends...uh..." The lavender haired man cleared his throat, tugged at the color of his black suit and then shifted uncomfortably. Ash's cool went out the window a second later.

"What accident!" Ash shouted, heart beat hammering against his chest. "What happened?"

At Ash's shout, he thought he saw tears pool at the corners of James eye, and the wounded, ignored Jessie chimed in.

"...There was a boating research accident that... _claimed_ the lives of Misty Waterflower and Gary Oak; they say a few more casualties were amassed, but didn't release the names."

...White noise. More deafening than Ho-oh's screech chilled Ash to the bone.

"A mistake." Ash breathed, "There has to be a mistake."

"Pikachu-pi!" Pikachu whined, covering togepi's ears who had froze at the news as well. Behind the group, charizard who had stayed quiet during the event slumped next to the tree line in defeat at the news. Shoulders low and head dipped; eyes wide.

"There might be. It was released yesterday. We made our way here as fast as possible after...the news."

Wide eyed and mouth open, Ash wasn't entirely sure what to think. _No way_ , not Misty. Not Gary. On a list starting from the most stubborn and least likely to...to _die,_ those two made at least the top of his every time. They were too stubborn.

"No." Ash groaned, stepping away. His head was spinning, and without realizing it, he found himself sitting on the ground, clutching the earth to be sure he wasn't sinking. He had no idea how he got there.

"Last they were seen, they were...visiting Pallet Town to see Oak; they had been in Saffron City prior to that. Apparently Oak asked for _them_ to help with a project and-.."  
"Them?" Ash shot up, grabbing Jessie and shaking her. "Is Brock alright?" His mind couldn't wrap around what he was hearing—how stupid! How _stupid_! He knew that he shouldn't have left them. Ash knew that separating was never the right decision, and yet he did anyways!

"We don't know." Jessie didn't fight off his grasp as she squatted beside him and Ash felt sick, actually, he was sick. He turned away from Jessie, the news washing over him like a delayed response to food poisoning, and what little he had eaten expelled from his throat and onto the dirt. Bile raced back and forth in his stomach and he lurched.

" _...chhaaa_." the mouse groaned, while togepi remained still and quiet.

"No, this can't be happening." Ash brushed cold sweat from his forehead to get a better grasp of the situation. "You're wrong." Ash breathed.

"We could be!" James couldn't stand it, seeing Ash falling apart so quickly. He wasn't used it; for once, Ash's age screamed at him. James had to find a comfort, anything to stop Ash from spiraling. "There's a possibility that the media is just-"

"James!" Jessie shouted at him for even giving the implication. Ash shot up to his feet, wobbling.

"So why would you tell me they're dead then!? Did you see it yourself!? Were there... were.. were there _bodies_!?" He was screaming without knowing it, his voice carrying with no right or reason, and both adults hung back quietly to watch his sanity unravel.

"Ash, calm down." Jessie waved her arms, but Ash flung her off of him and stomped way. His head was spinning and he shook violently.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" _Bodies_ , Misty's body, floating away in some horrible place—a boating accident? To what degree? Did her sisters know? Did Leaf know? Oh _god_ , his mom. How would she handle the news—and Cole.

"I...I can't." Ash couldn't breath here, in the dim forest. The trees mocked him from every angle and he felt flushed and fevered.

"We have a flight to the Viridian City airport, we can be in Pallet Town to investigate by noon tomorrow—you just have to-"

"No!" Ash screamed, chest lurching, stomach aching and shaking his head. He waved charizard over and the looming dragon ventured toward his trainer with pikachu hopping onto his shoulder. Togepi hadn't moved since the news was given, and Ash knew to pick up the egg, who was shell shocked.

"I...I can't. I'll see you three there." And with that, he was off again.

Jessie, James, and meowth yelled at him as he flew away, discouraging this act of sudden aggression in fear of what he could find once he was there; and Ash couldn't blame them. He knew that they weren't at fault for the accidents and they meant well, but he couldn't stay.

Ash had to be in Pallet Town yesterday, to discourage whatever insane, lethal activity his friends were getting into, or be there to assure their safety. He should have never separated from them in the first place. His friends were safer with him, and they were stronger together. Yet, until he saw the...until he saw _them_ , he would cling to hope.

He had to.

 **XOX**

"Sir," A husky voice called into a dark room. Glasses gleamed in the dark, and black hair tucked into a tight pony tail flicked notes onto a tablet. "The plan has been set into motion."

Inside was a dark, brick wall lined with metal bars and a rust scent. Inside of the small room was a torn and ragged bed with stained, black sheets and the distant sound of the occasional drip of water. Sitting on the bed was a man in a gray outfit, hands clasped together, hidden by the darkness of the underneath of the bed where he sat. Streaks of deep red hair gleamed past his hulking hands as his teeth grinned together.

"Good work, Sebastian." His voice was deep, and remnants of a long cough traced the ends of his throat. His voice was far from smooth, it was coarse and haggard as he leaned forward, the long brow of his forehead forcing his face into a perpetual frown. His smile was menacing, and more than disturbing.

"My pleasure, boss." The lanky 'therapist' replied while adjusting his glasses. "Should I begin phase two?"

"Yes, as soon as possible—those children will know my wrath."

"They're playing right into your hand." Sebastian's evil smirk hadn't faded a day since he first met Ash, and his arms crossed, and his eyes narrowed. "It amazes me how you can know _so much_ within this cage."

As the lumbering, giant of a man rose from his bed frame, a loud squeak echoed, and he flashed a silver and rainbow colored band on his wrist that dug into his skin; as much a part of him as his eyes were. A snarl close to a chuckle rumbled form his stomach as he turned to look outside the prison cell he was _rotting_ away in.

"When you hold the power of a god, _anything is possible_."

 **Author's Note** :

Ho-oh and that owl from ATLAB would have gotten along greeeeeat.

Originally wasn't going to post this chapter until I could post everything else with it, but I finally have most of all the remaining chapters complete, I just want to be able to update them all quickly, so there will be no more long 'waiting' periods for the final show down! You ready guys?

As always, thank you again for following this long! I'm so happy to hear when someone is enjoying the story (especially one this long) I tried to reply to everyone from chapter 50 reviews, but if I missed anyone, I just wanted to say thank you guys again. Also, sorry this chapter is so short. The remaining few chapters are all beasts though; so you have that to look forward to? happy reading.

See you next chapter

NINT


	52. Chapter 52: Consequences

**Locked Away, Chapter 52**

(( **Trigger warning:** a bit more violence than my usual chapters?))

The distant sound of classical music churned through the dark chambers of the last prison on the Sevii Islands—the tropical high islands were the perfect breeding ground for exceptional prison structure. To escape, one would have to fall hundreds of feet, into the drop of an ocean with sharp rocks, and violent, turning waves. Very few, if any, had ever survived a proper escape.

Why anyone would ever want to leave, however, was complete stupidity. At least, that was what the monster of a man who sat over a metal table, scribbling notes onto a paper would have said. There were three meals a day, no fear of work, a bed to sleep on, and constant protection provided by the league's guards and officers. Time in the prison allowed for growth, and development; time to enjoy the quiet, peaceful moments... and of course, time to start the all encompassing revolution he planned since he was a small child. Prison was the perfect guise, here, he could do no harm; could not be accused of any crimes that he had not already committed, and yet he pulled every string in motion.

No, the Sevii Island prisons were both impressive and monumental. He would never understand why anyone would want to leave. Not when the world was at his fingertips.

In the echoing silence of the darkened room, the man leaned back while swiping at his face with his hands, and when his hands dropped, the pensive tension passed, and a smile replaced his pursed lips, and he chuckled under his breath. Two guards were stationed around him, albeit, nervous for people who were in control of the prisoner.

"What's so funny?" one of them choked, glancing at their partner in concern.

"It's fine," the guardsman replied, rustling his collar. "You know he's already lost his mind since he instigated those stupid chips."

A hateful glare fell on the man sitting in the room; the guard spit quietly into the dark. "Isn't that right, Giovanni? Rotten to the very core."

"Rotten?" he answered, much to both of the mens surprise. Slowly, the man behind the bars rose, clapping his hands quietly. The gumption and nerve in the guard's eye seemed to dissipate instantly upon closer inspection. Giovanni wore no chains, they were left on the table beside his papers.

Giovanni could almost taste their fear, the look of betrayal and disgust over their faces while he rubbed his sore wrists and grinned violently to the men. They did not think to speak up until Giovanni was gesturing to a light that shined behind them—leaving them stone, and then they, like the music, faded into the darkness.

"Today is a day of reckoning." he said as the violin music faded. "A new day in history, known as the day I saved mankind."

"Well," he chuckled only to himself as footsteps, followed by shouts of anguish trickled up the staircase and into the cell he stepped out of seconds later. Music to his ears.

"...If saving mankind is a means to power."

With a deep inhalation of salty air, a twisted smirk and his shoulders rising in his professional cut, red suit and white tie. The shrewd Giovanni stepped into the first glimpse of moonlight, facing the ocean through metal bars.

Such beauty only belonged to the ocean. The way the tides gleamed at him in the distance, danced and reflected light of the moon, and hummed quietly was his lullaby and silent reminder that this day would come. Feeling the egregious joy in his stomach, coupled with years of pint up anger, Giovanni curled a small device from his pocket, pinched a red button, and held the receiver to his lips.

"Begin phase one."

And what was most important about the small islands, south of the Kanto Region—was their isolated space. In case of total chaos—it was the prisons that were the safest places to be. Of course, only if they owned them.

 **XOX**

Three days, Ash had only really been out of the game for such a short time. How could everything turn out so badly? Ash felt it in his gut, only hours ago something was amiss and instead of following his instincts, he kept moving; _like he was supposed to_. He guessed that over the last year, he became a good little soldier; when did he stop insisting he was right? Stopped asking a million questions? When they offered to separate, he should have insisted not. But now, he thought he could finally get a leg up on Giovanni—finish this war, and get back to a normal life. Little did he know how wrong he was.

Letting his head swoop down against the violent wind of the oncoming storm, he clutched his arms tightly around charizard's neck, while pikachu and togepi clung to his pack. With pikachu's help, togepi remained strong, despite the whipping wind at his back, and threat of a falling from hundred feet, nearly flying too fast to hold on.

Charizard was equally as worried as Ash. Not only was it Misty, but Gary, too. The last charizard remembered of the laboratory was when they were under attack—but Ash had called, Gary was _alive_ at least back then. He answered the phone but anything that happened after that was unknown.

 _Ash should have known something like this would happen_. The day he discovered that his own mother and brother were possibly being blackmailed, he should have known it was only a matter of time before Team Rocket started pinning for the rest of his family—whether or not he was a huge piece of their final plan; he was still a nuisance in the endless power struggle.

Now that cost Gary and Misty their...

No! Ash couldn't think like that! Not yet! He had to stay focused, he had to stay positive. His friends were okay, after all, Ash survived a ten year coma; whatever happened, they could survive too!

With a mighty roar, charizard let him know that they were nearing Pallet Town, and Ash tugged on the dragon to steady the pokemon's descent. At a quarter past sun down, many of the lights were aglow—all but one, sitting on top of a hill. At the base of the laboratory, caution tape was stretched around the fence line, and Ash suspected it was because of Gary's prestige title, and _cause of disappearance._

Good thing he wasn't planning on using the sidewalk.

Ash swooped down with his pokemon at the back door, stopping at the charred wooden patio. Charizard's head hit the ground the moment Ash was off his back, but Ash hadn't the time to sooth the dragon. The illness—or scales had motioned far past his nostrils now, everything below his jawline was sprinkled black, and Ash winced.

"Just rest, charizard." Ash warned the pokemon, brushing his hands over the horns on his head. "We'll... only be a second..."

But he wasn't sure that was true. He could stop in there and never leave. At this rate he...

"Pikapi, pikachu." The mouse pulled him back to his consciousness, and Ash nodded quietly to his oldest companion—who faintly reminded him to focus once again.

Once more, Ash walked up the stairs, feeling them creak and sway under his weight. The last time he was here, he was in rags, and charizard was injured. Gary made jokes, and Leaf fed him dinner...now it was dark, and ruined. The curtains were torn, cutlery, glassware, and miscellaneous items were strewn around the room as if someone had ransacked the living space of the laboratory, and of course, the apparent lack of noise.

He could hear charizard wheezing outside, and wished for a moment that Gary was here, to tell him what was happening. But the building was empty.

Ash pinched his nose and squeezed his eyes shut as togepi and pikachu broke away to investigate, taking difference sections of the house. Ash lobbied in the living space, recalling his last visit. It was a warm summer evening, Gary complained about the way he smelled; called him several names, but then still fed him dinner, gave him a roof over his head.

Without warning, tears swelled at the corners of his eyes, and Ash wiped at them with shaking hands, and reminded himself once again, that _this wasn't really happening_.

 _Where's Brock?_ Ash thought quietly, surely the gym leader wouldn't leave Misty's side. Ash struggled to find a reason that Misty was with Gary at all to begin with—or vice versa! Were they simply targeted by Team Rocket and executed like Professor Oak?

Nerves attacked his stomach again, but before he started hacking, togepi hopped from the floor, and clicked a switch at the front of the television. Blue swallowed them whole until a picture focused. As if called from the heavens above, the familiar faces of the news casters he remembered from the hospital shared glances at one another, while passing terrible jokes. Then suddenly, their moods were somber, and the jokes were gone.

"Following the devastating blow to the Kanto Region's Pokemon League that claimed the lives of Misty Waterflower and Gary Oak, new reports have linked former ally, Unova Region to the terrorist attacks. In a rare display of violence, the region took a violet turn by bombing one of the dedicated research facilities intent on returning the wondrous region back to its previous glory. Reports have also linked them to several devastating attacks on the leagues foundation, and Kanto's government is currently investigating matters." The pretty blonde on the screen paused to look at her co-worker briefly, before continuing to read the telecast prompter.

"The new light in this situation brings many questions to the people of Kanto; such as the late Elite Four member's televised display of hysteria suggesting that Team Rocket was behind the latest attack at the Indigo Plateau. These claims have not been confirmed, as anonymous researchers have linked international criminal Ash Ketchum at the scene of the crime, and suspect he may be working with the terrorists. No official statement has been made from the champion; but an interview with Elite Four member Lance has left many citizens concerned for their safety-"

The screen buzzed, the lighting changed as a man Ash recognized all too well as the red-haired dragon trainer that chased them out of their hotel room and into the Viridian Forest. Lance cleared his throat in front of a million cameras, preparing to deliver a written speech, with fake apologies, and terrible timing.

"We..." Lance cleared his throat. "This is a hard time for the Kanto region, losing new members of our company is never fortunate and we are all grieving the loss of Miss Waterflower and Professor Oak. These are trying times for the Region of Kanto, and we ask for your patience and support while we work through these trying times." He paused to look at the cameras, a trained maneuver of most spokespersons to appear more emotional, but Ash saw through him. He saw that glimmer in his eye, and the tug at his lips. He was probably trying his hardest not to smirk, victorious for all they knew.

"However, we cannot stand idly by as our region and our way of life is attacked by these unknown faces. You can rest assured that we are doing everything in our power to find the men behind these attacks, and will handle deal with them to the fullest extent of the law until a peaceful solution is confirmed."

Then the cameras sparked alive. "What do you have to say about the allegations that Team Rocket may be behind these attacks? Is it true that Mis-" Lance raised his hand to silence the reporter.

"There is no connection between the recent attacks and Team Rocket."

"So then that blast in Unova-!" And suddenly the chatter was so loud and overwhelming, Ash saw Lance break character from the supposed, emotional wreck he was displaying, the crass heartless man he truly was. Behind him, Bruno flinched, and Lorelai covered her mouth.

"It is a possibility, but we are looking into it! I will have no more questions, when we're ready to tell you, we will. Until then, lock your doors and hold your loved ones closer—because no one is safe!"

And the interview was then abruptly cut off, the image returning to the blonde who was speaking earlier. Her face read troubled, and yet her words: "Since the interview, the Elite Four have connected several of the attacks to the former coma-patient Ash Ketchum, who went missing over a month ago. Local authority suspects he many be working with the ousted region. Witnesses claimed to have seen him in the Sinnoh region as early as two weeks ago, and Ecruteak City less than a few days. If you see him, you are warned to call the authorities-"

Pikachu hopped off the ledge he was perched on, to turn off the program; deciding that for the group, hearing the news from some bias television station wasn't the best case scenario. Considering the idea that Ash was now shaking beside them, eyes unblinking and staring blankly into the formerly-glowing television, the two pokemon watched him quietly in the dark. His knees had grown weak, and his stomach twisted violently into knots until he felt the knee-jerking tug of his weight pull him down to his knees. Everything they did—had done, the trail he left behind in Sinnoh, blowing up the prison compound, stealing a plane, stopping in Ecruteak city—everything until this point; it truly painted him as the anti-hero.

Never in his life had Ash been the anti-hero.

But now, he was the anti-hero of his own story, bringing his friends with him. The media carefully removed any real indication behind the damage created recently—the legendary pokemon released from Unova and being held—how Team Rocket was completely written out of the playbook, and the blame was placed on two key figures that could not defend themselves. Himself, and Unova.

How Iris would be flipping if she was here to see this. Blaming them for attacking Kanto—for blowing up the boat that Misty was on, for all the little things that Ash did. He missed the simplicity of his dreams, when his actions had consequences, but everyone was inherently good, so they won in the end. Right now, as he was overcome with grief, and guilt, and a plethora of other unknown emotions, he hunched over as togepi and pikachu cradled into his lap, and let the tears fall endlessly into a pool on the damaged ground.

 **XOX**

Ash was tired of crying. Of sitting still in the middle of the crisis, of the gentle thump in his head as the night twisted into the late evening, and he laid motionless on the floor for an hour. What was he doing here, laying in the dirt of his old-friends laboratory? No solution he could think of sounded like a good idea—suddenly, the notion of scaring Giovanni out of his hiding hole seemed like a comic-book joke. Giovanni had never lost control of this situation, he never backed down, and Ash and his friends were always doing exactly what he wanted.

For a moment, Ash blamed Jessie, James, and Meowth. They lead them to Unova, attacked the pokemon league's party—they pushed this mouse trap into motion.

But then he remembered Misty's own determination, she wanted change, originally penned the idea of equality between battlers and coordinators as her reason to become an Elite Four member. It was Ash who suggested Team Rocket was behind the allegations and corrupt society long before he had any concrete evidence. To him, it had always been a feeling, and he was the one who lead them all down this godforsaken path.

Brock heed only because Ash sought him out. Now the man was god-knows where, and his two best friends were dead—buried at the bottom of the ocean, or fished out. Either way, they were lifeless, lying somewhere in a cold room, separated from the light of life and the glow of the morning—despite the horrible conundrum they were currently in, any fresh air was better than none at all.

His stomach clenched, and another tear slipped down his cheek. Ash didn't bother to wipe it since pikachu and togepi were holed into his arms, grieving silently. To think that Misty was currently laying, or sinking—or... _gone_ was too much for his brain to handle. He hadn't even been gone a month. To add Gary and his laboratory, his pokemon, and the ones he didn't know about to that mix, Ash wasn't sure he could stand ever again. His breath had stilled, and he felt like he was floating—nonexistent in some hell he was trapped in.

Then, a part of him wondered if this was hell created by Ho-oh, if he died on that mountain and he was stuck in some hell-variation of a coma.

A part of him wished that was the case, and that he would wake up to the shining eyes of a worried Misty, and all of this nonsense was over and taken care of. They all lived happily every after and no one had to die.

Then he felt the cold of the ground, the sting of his injuries, and the pound in his head. He wasn't asleep—he might have locked himself into a cruel repeat of the same motions; battle, win, lose the title; but he had never been this cruel before. Besides, everything felt different here. Even the scent of dirt on the ground was more lively than he recalled in his dreams.

Yet, he blamed himself. If he had never woken up, Gary would still be sitting at his laboratory, and Misty would probably still be some gym leader. Ash had to believe that no matter what their fates were, anything was better than death—and he brought this to them. A nice package signed Ash Ketchum, holier than thou and disassociated from reality. He was the common denominator of their demise, and while the news did not out right say it—everyone was blaming him, and they were right.

Ash did this to his best friends.

Team Rocket might have taken over in some way down the road, turned the region into a dictatorship—but they would still be alive. For the first time since his uprising, Ash wondered what could have been so bad about Giovanni's plan, that it was worth dying over? Would Ash have died? Wasn't he already down that path, with his recklessness in Unova, in Sinnoh, and even today, when he scaled the highest mountain in the Johto region in the freezing cold based on a whim. He wasn't a superhero, and his reflection that his companions were unbeatable as well was his downfall.

And yet, he was so angry; a blind, white noise replaced any viable conscious thought. How could one organization be so cruel to take people, kill them, and lock away pokemon—he knew _why_ they were fighting them, and yet only now did it affect him so. Before, he was blindly taking the next steps, another adventure, another task before endgame—before he could go back to the way things were before.

Before _what_ , he asked himself now. Before his coma? He was ten back then, and the world was different. He was different. Before the league party? Ash was recovering and mentally and emotionally a walking disaster. He had constantly been working towards some ambiguous goal—focused on what happened next, and not what he needed to know for the current problem and task. Misty and Brock were better at thinking about how to fix the problem while Ash just rode on their coat tails. Saffron didn't work? No problem, he would just keep moving forward. Never stopping. At some point, he would get it right! Even if that meant that once he did, everyone else around him would already be dead!

Ash sat up at the sudden shout in his mind and dread in his chest. He felt ill and constricted and sick to his stomach. He had to calm down—and yet his hands wouldn't stop shaking. Thinking now of all the things he could have done better; he wanted to go back in time to fix everything.

That wasn't possible though, he only had to look forward, to think about the many different aspects he had left.

Revenge.

Anger.

It wasn't just about _Ash_ anymore, or his friends—it was about everyone. Team Rocket wasn't just trying to ruin their lives, they were taking over; killing innocent people, controlling innocent pokemon. They grasped the once magical world of pokemon, and perverted it into a shell of its former glory—and for what? _Power_ , money, _control_?

Ash looked long into his two companions eyes—pikachu, the living, breathing image of what the world could be—and togepi, the first innocent creature that Ash watched grow into a slow decent into contempt—what the world was becoming.

The time for playing was over, hoping for a peaceful resolution and outsmarting the opponent was gone! Peace and heroism was only going to get him, and everyone he cared about hurt in some way. Rather than facing Team Rocket head on, like they always should have—they tried to beat them at their own game. Get to the legendary pokemon first; snuff out Giovanni—when all along, they should have moved to the source.

Ash's lips quivered, and he tried to keep tears from spilling.

"I'm sorry guys." He breathed. " _I'm so sorry._ " But Ash wasn't just speaking to his pokemon—he spoke of his friends, wherever they were. For not being strong enough. For not being there to help them. But no matter what, he had to see this through. Otherwise, their deaths meant nothing. For a little while, he would let his body and mind go numb, retract all the feelings of hope and optimism, for the ability to end Team Rocket—the ability to _win._

"Toge brrrii!" The egg whined, hopping up onto Ash's shoulder—a technique that used to take hours to practice when the egg was newborn. In a simpler time.

Life was never supposed to be this complicated. He was Ash Ketchum—tamer of legendary pokemon and infiltrator of Team Rocket bases. He didn't need a plan, or rules—he needed action. Right. Now.

Ash was tired of doing this diplomatically; like Misty and Brock. Their vision was clouded by the idea that Team Rocket would play with integrity. A damn shame they had none.

Ash was sick of running away, and trying to out-wit the opponent. While Jessie and James had the right idea—weasel Giovanni out of his hole—they had the wrong approach. They were so _scared_ of what Team Rocket would do to them, they never realized that the attack on Unova's base was their smartest plan. Rather than trying to fish out legendary beasts, beat the masters at their games—they should have found the other compounds, taken and removed any Team Rocket affiliations.

Between their plans—Ash lost Misty: a person who beyond words meant nearly everything to him; or at least, was a huge part of his life in every way. She guided him when he was lost, and then eagerly stood at his side when he was ready to walk his own path. She was his best friend more than she was his companion—and she was...gone.

Ash stumbled to his feet, swallowing the lump in his throat, and setting both pikachu and togepi down onto the couch ledge with a shaky exhale.

He lost Gary; his childhood best friend, and confidant when he needed help. Gary was also innocent. Unlike Misty, Gary didn't seek to destroy anyone. He was happy existing, and Ash brought him into this by simply existing. Everything Gary ever worked for, taken away because Ash couldn't face the consequences.

Figure out who was behind the corruption and correct them honestly and in public— _failed_.

Find the rat and snuff him out using his own plans against him— _failed._

Ash had Ho-oh on his belt, two friends down, and still no clue where Giovanni is; he could however, see that the world was unraveling. As were their plans, and his sanity.

 _No more_. Ash thought inhaling and then exhaling. He wouldn't do this by anyone else books—not in the shadows, not in the open. The simplest approach—to fight him toe-to-toe, was Ash's only option now. He didn't have time to play games anymore.

 _He couldn't play games anymore_.

And he couldn't think of his friends—of Misty...or Gary—wouldn't. Not yet. He would grieve _after_ exacting his revenge. After all, a part of him still didn't understand _death._ He knew what it was, he wasn't _stupid_ after all, but the idea—of someone he cared so much about simply not existing was...

Shaking his head free of thoughts, of the stillness of breath, and cold rising up his chest, Ash launched forward from his position on the ground, and moved to pull together a bag of equipment—the necessities he learned from Misty; ace bandages, ointments, scissors; a full first aid kid and medications. After, he rummaged through the kitchen cupboards with the help of pikachu and togepi—he took the essentials; food, water; anything that could be contained in a can. No perishables. Then finally; and perhaps the most important, Ash approached the lone desk at the corner of the room, and stared down a dusty safe; undisturbed by the mess in the room.

He still heard Samuel Oak's voice in his head.

 _Damn thing, what was it, 4-1-9-7?_ Ash remembered Oak cursing in the back of his mind, a long forgotten memory from his time spent at the lab in the summer when his mother was working part time at a restaurant. Oak always had it wrong, because it was eight, not seven. Gary and Ash used to make fun of the old man behind his back and leave the safe ajar to make his hairs stand on end—but they never took what was inside.

Ash slipped beside the safe, and entered the code using the old-fashioned dial the former professor never upgraded—and like a charm, the latch clicked open and Ash breathed quietly. Driven by anger and the burning sensation in his gut, Ash marched from the metallic safe after clipping something into his back pocket and letting his jacket fall over it, and then stared back at his pokemon.

The small, metallic item that rested on top of all of the old notes and journals of the late professor was only a safety precaution; because they all knew at this point one very vital piece of information.

Team Rocket was going to pay, and no one else was going to die.

 **XOX**

Ash didn't bother cleaning up—his first stop was going to be Saffron Tower to beat whomever senseless until they spit out the information that he wanted. He wasn't sure that was the right move, but Saffron Tower was the last place he knew that Misty and Brock were going for sure. After a time, they had turned on the television, just to get an update on the news. A funeral was going to be held publicly for the regions _fallen heroe_ s. People were invited to pay their respects, but Ash put it out of his mind. He had no reason to believe that the media held any truth, not after discovering that it, as well as their very own police, were proprietors of Team Rocket themselves. All the news he heard over the last year, he wondered now how much of it was true.

"Did you guys get everything?" Ash asked as he watched pikachu and togepi scamper around, holding individual items. Pikachu held onto a personal identification card for Gary Oak—and also, a key card to most notable businesses in the region.

"Nice going, pikachu." Ash complimented while taking the badge, togepi held up another item. A small, red pokeball. Ash recognized it instantly.

"Charizard's ball, huh?" Ash smiled, then pat the egg on the head. "That will be helpful in case of emergency, and allow him to rest every so often."

Standing up, he allowed both pokemon to climb his shoulder, and then approached the exit with a harness in his hands. If he was going to be bringing the war to team rocket, he was going to need a little more mobility—that included a riding harness for charizard. When the dragon saw it, he didn't flinch like he would have months ago. They trusted one another completely now. If pikachu was Ash's right arm, then charizard was his rib cage, and togepi was his heart. Not to mention, if Ash _really_ got into trouble, he had an inevitable trump card: a legendary beast himself, Ho-oh.

"You ready to go, bud?"

As he stepped into the burned meadow to tie the binding around the dragon, he searched for injury and damage. Aside from the dark scales, he was as good as new—growing larger every day. When he originally caught charizard, the pseudo-dragon was easily eight feet; now, the pokemon was averaging nine, maybe ten, and was bulkier than ever. Focused on his rage, and the task of tying up charizard, he hardly noticed the appearance of two, dark figures in the night.

"Kid." One of them called to him, his voice cutting through the relative silence. "Looks like he saved us a trip."

Ash didn't jump at the words, or spin at his voice. Instead, he turned quietly to the man and his partner who stood opposite of him. Easily two low-ranked thugs from Team Rocket, but the smirk Ash gave them indicated that it was _him_ who just had the lucky day.

"Great," Ash mocked them, "Looks like you two saved _me_ a trip."

They frowned. "I wouldn't talk so big if I were in your shoes."

"Really?" Ash asked, trying to numb the cold sword in his chest. He didn't wince when he saw the guns on their hips; he was ready for this, after all, and so were his pokemon. Searing hot, blue flames already parted charizard's jaws as he faced the men and Ash titled his head.

To think, even in this world, Team Rocket would try to win a leg up while facing down a ten foot dragon, a sparking pikachu, and frustrated togepi was beyond his belief. However, he was grateful to know that in every world, they were still imbeciles, at best. Which was harsh, especially coming from Ash.

"You picked a bad day."

The fight was over before it started, before they were able to finagle their weapons into position, pikachu had them stunned, and charizard had them pinned. One claw for one throat. Ash didn't move, though togepi winced at what he witnessed.

"I think we can talk now, don't you?" asked Ash, and the thugs both whimpered against charizards growing flame, and weight of his body crushing their bones.

Ash didn't let himself think. This was something that he had to do. He _has to do_. They answer to someone, and someone answers to Giovanni—someone at some point will point him into the right direction. He watched the fire from charizard's mouth—who waited for the command.

Ash just had to...

"...Ash?" A timid, woman's voice called to him from the bushes behind the house, and Ash took a second to turn. He wasn't sure he was hearing right, and he didn't want to break eye contact when he knew it wouldn't take more than a twist to get the men to scream like pigs. Staring back at him were deep blue eyes, a bandaged head, and great concern.

"...May?" Ash blinked, the darkness leaving his eyes instantly, though she looked mortified by what she had stumbled into. She stammered, but then stopped herself.

"What are you doing?" in her accusing voice, May neared them. He barely noticed her limp.

The men were clearly out of their comfort zone, charizard's grasp lightened, but then Ash shook his head, full of questions.

"Let them go, charizard."

The dragon complied slowly, sitting up to let them whine; that wasn't the end, however.

"Pikachu.." Ash said, and with a small bolt of lightning, the two were out cold—breathing, but barely.

Ash didn't need to look at May to see the horror in her eyes. He wouldn't explain how pikachu knew what the proper voltage between _death_ and _unconscious_ were, but he didn't need to. These men were bad people, and if Ash wasn't so damn noble himself, he would have really let them have it. However, he would have never let pikachu be the one to pull the trigger, the same way he would never let charizard.

May was worried over nothing, and yet...

His whole face changed without a second, without any warning, and he looked so hurt and confused—so damaged and broken.

"What happened to them?" If May was still here, she had to know something!

May flinched, blinking wide eyes at his question and then shaking her head slowly, lips pursed in confusion as Ash neared her, grabbing her shoulders to assure himself he wasn't seeing things in his desperate state of mind.

"Misty and Gary.." he sniffled, looking like the young boy he once claimed he was, mixed into the face of an older man. Nothing like the hostile man he was seconds ago. "Where are they?"

 **XOX**

Seeing Ash cry was a horrible sight, almost as horrible as seeing him angry. May could only name a few times in her life she saw someone look so enraged—once, almost seven years ago after her accident, and her father was handling the press with the destructive Team Rocket. A look she never would have imagined crossing the sweet, and innocent face of Ash Ketchum, who walked into her life sporting stories of peaceful times and laughing at bad jokes, and comparing who could eat more. Yet, as quickly as the light left his eyes, it returned, and it burned for answers she didn't have.

"They're um..." She started, shaking her head, trying to rid her mind of what she stumbled into. She brushed her hand over her bandanna. It was bandaged, as was her upper arm and she had a few cuts on her face. Ash pointed them out.

"Are you okay? What happened?" She put up her hands to settle him, to ease the flow of conversation while her head, which ached, mind him, tried to piece everything together. Somewhere during her stumble from the forest, she must have fell unconscious.

"There was an accident, but they're okay."

Relief washed over Ash's face, and he grabbed her into a hug so tight and warm, she thought there was no way that this man could ever hurt anyone, let alone hold two people down for information. She wriggled away from his grasp and shook her head. Ash watched the motion, saw the way she flinched, and knew that something other than his personality was affecting the way she managed.

"May, are _you_ okay?" he asked again.

At that, she chuckled. "I'm.. okay." She said, offering her best attempt at a smile. "We got roughed up pretty bad. I think I fell asleep in the forest on my way here..."

Finally, Ash noticed the bruises and the stagger, and he motioned for charizard to help her stand, which the pokemon did effortlessly, and kindly.

"Then why are you out here? You shouldn't be walking around." he watched her eyes for certain movement, then touched her shoulder again. She wobbled.

"Do you have a concussion?"

"Probably." May snorted, then exhaled. "I just... I snuck away to grab some medical supplies. I was the only one available."

"Medical..." Ash tried not to let the hope of those words get to him, at least, not while May was here. He couldn't fathom how she managed the forest in such condition. Instead, he looked around. "Where?"

"There's an old laboratory that was used for field research toward route seventeen. After the accident, Gary lead us there."

Ash heart fluttered. "So he's okay?"

She didn't look convinced, "...yeah."

Unable to ask the harder questions, Ash bit down on his lip. "Why don't we go back there, instead?"  
"I came this far, I have to get what I came for."

"Great. What did you need?"

"Antibiotics...pain killers," She winced, trying to remember her list she clearly forgot on the way here, "gauze?"

"Then you're in luck, because I've already got all of that."

"That sounds good." said May, moments before practically collapsing onto the ground. Ash caught her, and let her down gently to rest.

"We really shouldn't be out in the open like this, they could be watching." May warned him as Ash looked around, recalling the members of Team Rocket. Upon seeing them once again, he felt a pang of guilt surge through his body, but brushed it off as he grabbed May, and hoisted the woman onto his back.

"Alright, then lead the way." He would have wanted to fly—but he wasn't sure how concussions worked, and flying was probably worse than walking, right? Besides, charizard was too noticeable.

"You're not carrying me." She argued, but didn't put up much of a fight.

"You can barely walk, and we'll get there faster this way." She wasn't pleased with the idea, but she accepted on accordance that he wasn't wrong. Ash smiled at charizard, watching the pokemon bow his head respectfully, but then returned to his ball to keep them under the cover of the trees.

"I left ribbon to find my way back..." She breathed on his neck, and he felt worse for her. How did she ever think she would make it back in this condition to begin with? Let alone fend of Team Rocket.

Ash figured that she held on long enough to find help, and if she hadn't, she might not have crumpled the way that she did. With Ash's help, however, the young woman was probably better off.

 **XOX**

Ash made a mental note that he hated the Pallet Forest after night fall, the place was already hard enough to maneuver through in the daylight, mixed with carrying a female, and treacherous ground, he wasn't so sure he would make it there in one piece. Togepi and pikachu kept at his side, watching for ribbons that May spoke of—but May had long since passed out on his back. He wanted her to rest, but Ash also wouldn't have objected her help in finding their way back. Sometimes, he felt like he was going in a circle.

"Pikachuuu..." The mouse whined, wishing they had a light. Ash snapped his finger.

"We do have one." He said with an earnest smile, and then he leaned back slightly so he was able to reach between himself and May, and grabbed a pokeball; the second to his last: monferno.

Ash did not bother to toss the ball, instead, he clicked the button at the top to release the fire ape, and then stashed the pokeball away again.

The ape yawned when he saw Ash, then looked up at the sky, then back at Ash and then shook his head proudly with a grim. Since their last meeting, monferno had healed slightly, and was looking peppy, and bright. Especially bright. He was a grateful, small candle in the night.

"'ey buddy." Ash smiled. "Care to lead the way?"

"Togebriii~" the egg chirped happily, taking a step right behind the ape as it turned to make his way in the direction Ash pointed to as pikachu and togepi filled him in. While charizard was also capable of lighting the way, he was too big. Monferno was the perfect size for this task.

As they trekked more easily through the forest, May's blue eyes slowly peeled open, and she breathed heavily once again on Ash's back, indicating her alertness.

"Feeling better?"

"M'head hurts." She commented, trying to keep her eyes away from the bright light. "Sorry for passing out." said May, but made no attempt to move. He assumed she was too sore to do so, and far past the ranks for arguing with him.

"...we're almost there." She added, wincing into the night, and recognizing a few familiar trees, though Ash would never know how. Gary briefly mentioned May's expertise prior, but Ash would have never believed it. He remembered May always being as lost as he was—but, he supposed—things changed. The thought that they were close to their hideout made his stomach flip for answers, and burn with excitement. Ash thought—no, he knew, if Gary was okay, then Misty had to at least be that, but he couldn't bring himself the heartache of asking. He tried to hide the elation in his voice, seeing as May was still worse for wear.

"No problem. You must be tired..." Ash let his eyes drift to the pieces of her hair he could see. "...care to say why?"

"There was an explosion..." She breathed, trying to burn the imagine out of her mind. "Was pretty bad, too... they took Leaf, and we followed—bad idea..."

Ash's stomach fell. They took Leaf, that explained why Gary was involved and avoiding Ash's phone calls.

"We chased them but...big boom." He couldn't help but chuckle at her description, despite the circumstances. Lightly, he tacked on.

"...and Misty?"

"She's-"

Above them, a shot rang out of the sky, at the horizon line, they both saw something akin to a shooting star pass over the forest, wailing as it reached the stars, and then disappeared. Followed by absolute silence.

"What was that?" Ash asked, and May finally wriggled from his grasp, and placed her booted feet into the uneven ground of the forest.

"That almost looked like a flare." As a ranger, she would have more experience with that than Ash would. He frowned.

"For...?"

Suddenly in the distance, he heard echoes of terror—screams in the night that reached the corners of the forest and erupted in a slow, disturbing hum. May was on her feet, unsteady, yet focused. "That came from the south though—what's to the south of here?"

"Uhh..the Cinabar islands?" Ash muttered, looking up at the fading light above them. Before long, it was dark again, besides monfernos gentle flame.

"Pikapi-" The mouse started, but Ash waved him off, looking into the forest. He heard crying, and shouts in the distance, in the same direction of Pallet Town.

"Did-"

"Pika!" The mouse hissed, forcing Ash to look, and listen. He pawed at his trainers head, turning him to the ape on the ground, who was convulsing and twisting.

"Whoa, monferno!" Ash gasped, falling to his knees to grab him—but was slapped away. May gripped his shoulders to pull Ash up to his feet.

"Is he having a seizure?"

"Pokemon can have those?" asked Ash in a worried tone, eyebrows knitting together. The hairs on the back of his neck rose alongside pikachu's as monferno threw up from his mouth, and clawed his way to his feet, at the same time as trying to claw a hole in his head.

"Monferno-" Ash tried, but when he got near, the pokemon would send out a blast from his tail. Keeping Ash at an arms distance—then the infernal screaming as the ape hacked and gagged on a white foam.

"Oh my god-" May swore, covering her ears and looking to Ash for answers. He didn't have any. He glanced back up at the sky, then back to his pokemon and gave a heartfelt shrug of desperation.

"Toge!" The egg suggested, gesturing to his pokeball and Ash snapped.

"Right!" Ash reached for the pokeball on his belt, and aimed it toward monferno. He looked awful, gasping for air and scratching at his skin so suddenly. Monferno was covered in mud while trying to get control of himself—but when Ash aimed the ball at him, nothing happening.

"He's your pokemon, isn't he?" May squawked, wondering why nothing was happening, monferno wouldn't return otherwise.

"Yeah, of course." Ash said, then tried again—but nothing. Now the screaming was making his head hurt worse, and he could only imagine what was happening to May. She already had a concussion. Ash wasn't a brain, he had no idea what mechanics made a pokeball work—but this one wasn't. Instead, Ash lunged forward to try to sooth the ape the old fashioned way.

He was a step or so into it when monferno shot from the ground screaming, and leaped at Ash, swinging his fists. Lucky for him, before fists made contact, both togepi and pikachu were already on the defensive, and May prepared to draw her own pokemon.

Into the forest monferno crashed, landing hard against a tree.

"Don't hurt him, guys—we don't know what's happening!" Ash commanded, standing straight to peer into the darkness around them now that the flame was submerged. He heard the pokemon, limping in the dark, hacking and crawling beneath the tower of trees. A predator stalking its prey.

"Ash..." May started, her eyes narrowing slowly. "has...has he ever done this before?"

"No, of course not!" Ash shouted in monferno's defense! "I don't know what's happening—it's...it's just everything. Maybe he's upset." But they heard him in the trees now gurgling and strangled.

"This isn't an upset pokemon." May suggested, eyes bright. She's enlarged a pokeball in preparation for a battle. "I've seen this before? I...I think."

"Seen what?" Ash asked defensively.

"You found monferno in a pound, didn't you? Or some medical treatment facility—maybe even a nursery?"

"Well-" He didn't understand why that would matter; he _rescued_ monferno, after all. Then May added:

"Did you check to see if he was tagged?"

Ash didn't answer immediately, and suddenly he knew what this was about. Without words, he looked to May, and then she looked everywhere else to ensure their safety while Ash wrapped his head around the situation.

"...I..I never checked." Ash admitted quietly, shifting his gaze to the forest floors. Both togepi and pikachu whined quietly, concerned for the safety of their friend.

"Well, if he's never done this before—I'd say it has to do with that flare that was shot up, it must have activated something."

"But...that can't be—I mean, monferno, he's-" Fire erupted from the top of a tree, and an all encompassing white light enveloped the forest; swallowing their gaze as both trainer and pokemon shielded their eyes.

This couldn't be happening—he already dealt with one pokemon going crazy, and that was charizard who was of right mind, but cautious—what could he say about an ape being essentially mind controlled? When the light cleared, a giant fire-enveloped ape shot down from the top of the trees, racing to face Ash who in his shock found his legs wouldn't move. Perhaps it was the stress of the last couple of days, or the strain of walking, or the lack of sleep. But his body was petrified as he watched the evolved monferno, infernape's glowing red eyes barreling for him at top speed.

"Blaziken use mega kick!" She shouted as red light submerged, then porpotionally shot the angered pokemon out of Ash's line of sight, and into the tree line.

No long the novice, innocent man he was six months ago, he didn't think he would be running into the arms of infernape to try to control the rapid monkey—save himself the heart ache of broken bones again.

"Is he okay?" he asked, pikachu and togepi rooted to the ground, both waiting for orders from Ash to fight back. This was monferno— _chimchar_ , their monkey companion who spent long nights in forests together, making jokes and fun.

"That's the last thing I think we should worry about right now, we need to neutralize him."

"neutralize him?" Ash echoed worriedly as May shook on her feet as the large blaziken circled the area, watching the frothing at the mouth creature regain his footing.

"Knock him out!" May shouted at Ash, not meaning too—immediately wilting when she saw the fear cross into his eyes.

Ash already thought that he lost two friends today, he couldn't handle another, so May added: "We're not gonna kill him—we just need to prevent him from attacking us!" as she shouted, blaziken propelled the angry ape back into the forest once again, who took the punches like a champion—Ash would have been proud, if he wasn't he the one causing the damage.

Putting his thoughts back on track, Ash inhaled then nodded. "Alright, but what do we do after that?"

May didn't answer, because neither had any clue what to do in this situation. Without proper command, Ash threw greninja's pokeball, and hoped for the best.

 **XOX**

Not ten minutes into the battle, the realized that not only did the microchip sending mixed signals into his head prevent him from hearing Ash call out to him—but it also preventing him from feeling pain. Ash recalled the comment made previously from Misty—about pokemon's heads exploding like a dropped watermelon, and as the battle continued, Ash felt it in his gut that infernape wouldn't last much longer.

His ribs and body were already broken, he was hanging together by sheer determination and anger alone. May's blaziken was the efficient fighter he always imagined it to be, and greninja was holding up his end of the battle as the effective water pokemon. Even still, infernape did not stay down. He was wounded in several places, with an apparent limp and injured arm, but he wouldn't stop. They would push, and he would push back twice as hard—three times the embers ignited the forest, only to be put out by greninja, while pikachu substituted. Infernape worked like their own personal army. It took three of them just to make the pokemon flinch.

He didn't register pain, or emotion—just a rapid amount of strikes that landed Ash and May stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"If we can just get him to stop..."

"I don't think that we can." Ash said instantly, eyebrows lowered. "I mean, look at him—he's barely standing as it, he should already be out for the count."

May glanced to Ash, then over her shoulder—the facility was only a few minutes away—maybe someone heard them and would be in for back up...but assuming they heard everything else, and assumed it was Team Rocket, they could even be preparing to run away. It wasn't like she gave them proper notice of her leaving. If Brock— _or Gary_ \- was here, if they could get infernape immobalized for a few minutes, they could maybe remove the chip—but no doubt infernape would die from the injury.

May, as a ranger wasn't particularly stuck on any pokemon—but she refused to watch one die because of some technical garbage it had no control over.

"...Pikapi!" The mouse said from Ash's feet. Togepi was resting on Ash's shoulder, throwing up a shield whenever it was necessary, and greninja and blaziken held the front lines.

"We're not doing that, pikachu! No way!" Ash shouted back, watching as greninja deflected another fiery fist.

"What does he want to do?" May inquired.

"He.. It's nothing, we're not doing it."

"Well, we're running out of choices, unless you want to have your brains mashed against the ground—our pokemon still feel pain!"

Ash glanced briefly at May, then returned his gaze to greninja who gazed at Ash for a split second before landing, and dashing for another attack. Ash breathed.

"Regardless of what it is, if we don't do something now, he's going to die anyways!" May added, and the notion moved Ash to action. He wasn't thinking as clearly as he could, so when he raised his arm to send pikachu forward, he held his breath.

"Pikachu, use thunder!"

Above them, lightning cracked the sky temporarily, ignited by the heat and water residue from the battle, the small rodent sprung from Ash's shoulder blue electricity sparking from his cheeks. Flying past greninja in lightning speed Ash never thought he would see from the mouse again, the pokmeon dove, then latched onto infernape's back, and the loud eruption of the lightning above rained down on the fire ape; crippling it.

The fur, typically untouched by his own flames started to cinder when Ash and May had to look away to protect their eyes. Pikachu was a glowing ball of intense electricity, rivaling the power of an entire power plant, and growing stronger from his own pint-up rage. Beneath his small claws, infernape roared of pain, of anger, and then sadness as the lightning surged from every corner of his body, until he was twitching and smoke rose from he and pikachu's body.

"Pikachu, stop!" Ash shouted aggresively, when the thunder cracked again, he shouted louder. "Stop!"

Then nothing.

As quickly as the damage was started, it ended,without a crack or a drizzle. Pikachu hopped from infernape's back, and the pokemon fell lifeless to the forest floor, his flames all burned out. The mouse squeaked remorsefully, parading around the body as his nostrils flared from the bountiful electircty he produced. He paced back and forth when Ash raced forward, regardless of the fear in his stomach. Nothing could replace the turning in his stomach at what had just happened.

Pikachu warned him once not to get near infernape, but Ash didn't listen when he landed on his knees, sliding in the mud to be next to the pokemon.

Then suddenly, the ape's arm shot forward, latching onto Ash's shirt, and while the rest of the party leaped forward to save him—Ash relaxed into the familiar touch of the pokemon's voice in his head, and calmly grabbed infernape's hand and pat it.

Above the ground, tears soaked into the ground from infernape's eyes as he peered up behind blood and mud, unable to move to see his family. He looked so lost, and destroyed. Beneath his left ear, a buzzing scratch echoed from a small hole created by pikachu's blast, but Ash didn't stroke the injury—whatever he did would only make things worse.

"Is...is he okay?"

"No." Ash groaned, his face hidden by shadows. "But you're okay, buddy. We'll take care of you."

"Pikachu, pikachu pi!" pikachu squeaked at his friend, justifiying his actions. Tears pulled at his brown eyes, knowing that he didn't want to hurt infernape gave Ash hope, but he wasn't sure that the monkey was as receptive to the apology until he wobbled his hand down from the knot in Ash's shirt, and gently placed a heavy, brown palm on top of pikachu's head.

"Aaa." the ape whined, and behind them as May watched the scene unfold shook her head.

"Ash, return him to his pokeball—we can get him taken care of after that."

Ash glanced over his shoulder momentarily at May, then back to infernape who's kind heart never seized to amaze him—and then the forest was brightened with red light as the ape disappeared.

Pinching his eyes shut, Ash leaned forward to grab pikachu as the mouse sobbed into his stomach. The scene was hard to watch from May's perspective, having no attachment to the pokemon, she struggled to see anything more than an angry animal when she returned blaziken to his ball with a thank you. Once the adrenaline faded, she slumped her shoulders.

She waited until Ash's face came into view from his stringy black hair once again, until he was sitting upright and thanking greninja for helping him out of a tight situation _again_ , before speaking.

"We should go...the fire and the noise—it's like a neon sign."

"Right." Ash said, though the same somber tone she saw at the laboratory returned to his features, and she swallowed down her concern as quickly as possible, then forced her legs to move.

 **Author's Note** :

I haven't updated in sooo long. I wanted to have the rest of the story finished before I started updating again, BUT I'M CLOSE ENOUGH.

I changed the ending of this chapter several times-originally, it had a different start and end, and since no matter what I did it just seemed like it didn't 'work' I finally found one I'm happy with. I wanted to showcase some of May's ability, which has been placed on the back burner through most of this story as she has not played a huge part—but if I had to argue with someone in a situation where multiple are 'injured' (more on that in later chapters) it would be May who would go first. She and Ash share a lot of the same qualities in that regard. If something needs help/they need a hero, she would be the first person to step up—injured or not. SURPRISE SHE CAME OUT OF NOWHERE?

I, for some reason, maybe it's because it's been almost 2 months(?), was pretty nervous about updating this chapter. It touches on some darker themes that I haven't been into since the beginning of the story, and fairly quickly, too. I've re-written it a couple times, I'm not sure about the pacing, and parts of it I'm like "it makes sense, right?" but I'm not 100 percent sure that it does, and... well, sorry guys. This is what happens when I'm essentially forced into a temporary hiatus, I come back, and idk what I'm doing anymore!

See you soon,

NINT


	53. Chapter 53: Resistance

**Locked Away, Chapter 53**

The first few minutes of their slow trek through the forest was met with silence, as to be expected. They knew each other, but they weren't best friends. May wasn't prepared for a pep-talk, and Ash wasn't in the mood to make conversation. She found the way back to her ribbons easily enough, and found that because of Ash's lack of navigational skills, they _had_ gone in some variation of a circle. They were still about ten minutes away—and May was in no better condition when they started, she was simply less inclined to rely on Ash to carry her.

Eventually, they settled into a steady rhythm of their shoes hitting the floor, and the distant sound of rain.

"...Do you think the trainers in Pallet Town had their pokemon...you know... turn on them?"

"It's hard to say. I don't know how those things work." May admitted quietly. Max was always more of the technology geek, while May was the adventurous one. For example, she was the one more likely to stumble off in the dead of the night for medical supplies while the rest of their group slept. She wasn't able to sit around and wait for events to catch up with her; she chased them down.

It was a curse and a blessing.

"Ash...can I ask why you're here?" She finally thought to ask, but then immediately regretted it.

His eyes were obvious compasses to his soul. He wore his emotions on his sleeve no matter how much he tried to hide it, and asking what Ash Ketchum was doing in Pallet Town after a highly advertised, and speculated explosion 'claimed the lives' of his two best friends, was like asking why the sky was blue. It was a complex answer made into a simple one that he had no easy response for.

"Dumb question." She stuck out her tongue. "Sorry."

Her first attempt at conversation went no where, and so May begrudgingly tried again.

"Was that your first time witnessing something like that?"

Ash nodded, but kept his eyes to the ground.

"Yeah, I was only thirteen or so my first time—I had just gotten my license to be a pokemon ranger when the chips were first put on the market—I had only been one for a year when they started malfunctioning."

When Ash didn't appear interested in her story, because his mind was elsewhere—probably infernape's condition. She exhaled. "You know, I did try pokemon contests _once_. A long time ago."

Now, he looked up if only to sympathize with her attempts. At least he still gave her a bone. May smiled awkwardly.

"It was _right after_ they took away my ranger's license—so..five years ago, maybe? It's so strange to think that rangers have been obsolete for so long..." she tapped her lips. "It took years before we convinced everyone that the chips were more harm than good. And by that time, Giovanni was already going to jail and Hoenn region was left in political turmoil from the destruction caused—you saw it, major cities had pokemon battling banned."  
Ash cleared his throat. "How...did they manage to remove rangers?"

"Well," May scoffed. "We stopped people from poaching pokemon—if we stopped that, there would be no one delivering pokemon to pounds anymore."  
Ash fumbled, "...I thought they got their pokemon from trainers who didn't want them anymore?"

"That's what they tell you." May grumbled, crossing her amrs. "Poachers sell them to the facility—the pounds. The pokemon there were originally wired with a chip that controls their behavior. However, as you just saw they... don't work. They were supposed to stop using them years ago. It's inhumane."

Ash breathed an angry sigh, at himself, at their situation. "Why did anyone think they were ever a good idea?"

May shrugged. "I don't know. I just know we were demonized so they could continue putting innocent pokemon into jail cells. When it's the government that is up to no good—who listens to you, you know?"

Ash no longer looked entirely lost. Rather, a bit detached from his former perspectives and offered her a small smile of sympathy to accommodate her story. May wiped her nose.

"We were ground zero for the original test run of chips. Hoenn region is one of the poorer regions in the league—so we figured _why not_? We didn't think it was going to be an epidemic. Hard to convince people when everyone thinks you're a conspiracy theorist." May hesitated, her voice shaking and Ash blinked a few times, realizing that her and Max's acceptance of his dreams so many months ago might have meant something to them after all.

"Did'ya know I haven't even seen my dad in two years? Mom calls, but they won't let them leave league headquarters since the microchips were outlawed. People blame members of political power. My parents actively fought against everything after my-" May stopped, Ash vaguely recalled his old therapist mentioning an accident with May, but she clearly avoided the subject. "They were shamed even though they have been against Team Rocket from the start."

Ash didn't have time to add a comment to lighten the mood, since May already beat him to it with a kind, yet powerful smack to the shoulders.

"But we'll get 'em back, huh?" She continued with: "Max and I figured it was something like this when we met you. We're glad to be apart of the team—even if we're late to the show." She breathed, inhaling the forest air.

Stupefied by her absurd kindness, and the sudden authority and optimism in her voice, Ash blinked as he watched her back, approaching their destination a little ways down the forest path, hidden behind large trees in the cranny of a meadow.

For the first time since waking up, a realization washed over Ash, who was moved beyond belief. They _all_ had something in common: one enemy. Everyone he met until now already had their foot in the door, some ideal to prevent the world from falling to terror and evil, and he had only realized the rally now.

Finally, he found the connection. It was more than just _him_.

 **XOX**

Like May said, the building was an old laboratory used by Professor Oak in his golden days. The facility was to study a number of isolated events away from public view; away from the media's prying eyes. Back when Professor Oak would take a few weeks off to visit his _vacation home_ , Ash didn't understand why Gary had to stay with him and his mom and steal _his bed_. If Oak was going on vacation, why couldn't he take Gary!? Looking at the place now, Ash understood.

It was quaint, and delicate, and supplied with only the bare necessities. Time had not been kind to the building, as the forest had taken it over with barbed vines, and impending trees destroying the foundation and structure. The top floors looked uninhabitable from the outside, but May wasn't leading him there. She lead them around the building, through a matted path, where a basement level door was left wedged open.

Voiced poured from the inside, frantic and concerned, but May spoke over them.

"We decided to stay out of the actual building, to avoid questions. Gary said the light from the upper floor can be seen from the high hills." May explained, and Ash dully nodded as they piled into the small fort.

It smelled of dust and decay, but was homey none the less. Ash was surprised to see that the lights worked. They had done well to keep the place _clean_ , the couches were pushed away from the walls to form a circle at the center of the room, where a coffee table held most of their valuable information. At the corner where Ash believed at some point might have been a kitchen of some sort was a table, ten tear old television, and laptop, and a million notes scratched onto a notepad. Sitting on the torn couch was none other than Gary Oak staring up at him dumbfounded. Brock stood above Oak, holding a book, whereas Drew and Max were sitting on the same couch; preparing a rescue mission that Gary was advising. Even though it was late, they were all wide-eyed staring back at him. Quietly.

Uncomfortable with the silence, May rubbed her neck, and gestured to Ash:

"Hey, I'm back—and I brought-"

"Ash." slipped from Brock's lips as he crossed the distance of the small room within seconds to grab the smaller trainer into a bear hug.

"'ey Brock." Ash muttered, jaws fell, then one stood up with angry onyx eyes.

"May where in the world did you go!? I was out for a few minutes and you were gone! You shouldn't be walking around!" Max immediately scolded, breaking up the reunion between Ash and Brock who remained absolutely silent when May kept her shoulders high, unflinching.

"Yeah, well, I didn't see anyone else going for supplies."

"You could have at least told us!"

"So you could tell me not to go? No way—besides, I found Ash, what more do you want?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I don't think Ash is the best thing since sliced bread, so if you could find a better reason to run out in the middle of the night with a concussion, I'd appreciate it!" Max countered with a sarcastic venom Misty would have been proud of. Gary reached forward to settle the younger trainer with a touch to his wrist, then jerked him down to sit.

"Shut up, Max." even for Gary, the tone was brutal and unrecognizable for the new professor. Ash saw the rings under his eyes which were red from sleeplessness. _Leaf was taken_ , May mentioned briefly, and Ash realizing, on some level, the pain that must have caused Gary, brushed past May to hug Gary in his seat—who was still awkwardly sitting.

The exchange was quick and unwarranted; but a small reminder to everyone the kind heart within Ash that was being slowly buried by a mountain of terrible situations. Ash was still Ash, caring, and selfless, and yet bruised and battered.

"Are you okay, Gary?" asked Ash, jerking away from the slightly older male.

For a few moments, Gary looked stunned, his eyes watered in an uncharacteristic way, and then he shook his head and Ash backed away to sit beside him.

"They took Leaf, Ash..."

"May told me." Ash replied quickly, seeing the rage slowly return to Gary's barren eyes. He wondered for a moment if that's what he looked like less than an hour ago, when he was planning to go commando on all of Team Rocket.

Nothing else was said for a few minutes, until May cleared her throat.

"Misty's just in the other room still if-" She gestured with her hands, but Brock pipped in to guide them to the door. Ash wasn't surprised when he looked over to see togepi and pikachu already standing at the door, staring back at Ash, and not feeling too terribly social. The pokemon knew from the moment they stepped into the small laboratory where his other half was. Ash looked up at Brock with large brown eyes; clearly scared of what he was supposed to see to warrant Misty to stay separated from the rest of the group. Gary was beaten up, and he saw the bandage covering a wound on his leg—and Ash had spent the last hour with May's concussion.

Still, he rose without much hesitation, and left the group to follow Brock. Brock clasped him firmly on the shoulder, not letting his exhaustion waver his happiness of seeing the young man.

"She's out last we checked—but she's okay; we think." he added, feeling Ash's shoulders tense up at _we think_. No one spoke until they entered the room and stepped into the dimly lit room, and shut the door behind them. Immediately chatter started, but Ash put it out of his mind at the sight before him.

Both men were surprised to see that the woman, with vibrant red hair Ash hadn't seen her don since her first _met her_ , sitting up in bed, and pulling her shoes on. Now Ash realized that she had obviously heard them in the other room; and was attempting to stand up when Brock and Ash intruded. Both pokemon were on her like a stampede, flailing their arms around, while Ash stood frozen. Misty caught his eye immediately. The same bright, _living_ , sea green eyes staring coolly at him. Even now her gaze caught him off guard, nearly knocking him over. Brock didn't seem to notice the connection when he rushed to her side.

"You're not supposed to be standing, Misty." Brock scolded, swatting her hands away from her boots, and tugging on her blanket, insisting that she rest.

"I'm fine, Brock-" She argued, swatting back at him until they were glaring at one another like two toddlers. Clearly, this was a common fit the two of them had. Always the stubborn one.

"You ruined the surprise anyways, I heard that you were back-" She glanced back up at Ash, who wobbled forward until he was a foot from her bed.

He felt silly, standing so awkwardly, watching her with such a confused look. He stared at every mark on her face, every bruise—including the bruise above her left eye, darkening her temple. A sling kept her right arm up, her wrist was wrapped by crude bandages; and that was only what he could see. She wore what appeared to be one of her signature yellow vests over a ratty tee-shirt that belonged to someone clearly larger than her, and a pair of torn blue jeans that looked ten years old.

Misty shared a brief glance with Brock, concerned for Ash's mental health—as he had said nothing at all, even pikachu and togepi were watching him. Misty chuckled, trying to play off the tension.

"Well, you missed a good one," She raised her injured arm. "Sprained and dislocated my arm when lapras hit me—maybe a few ribs—and, of course, the concussion—maybe."

No response. She looked worriedly at Brock:

"How long was I out?"

He pat his chin. "Little over four hours? May left for medical supplies while you were asleep."

"She what?" Misty asked, concern washing over her face. Brock shrugged.

"It was...dumb, but we needed them. Gary's leg will get infected otherwise. Wish she had told someone but..."

And then they went about talking as if Ash weren't here; listening how May left and Misty didn't mean to pass out. Brock assured her the drowsy spells were lessening, and in a few days she would _probably_ be good as new. 'Probably' the possibility of something happening that Ash wasn't sure about. But listening to her speak; the both of them talk, and chuckle made him rethink his plans, his shortsighted actions and the moment Misty looked over at him again to make a comment about his silence, he lunged at her.

"Oh, ow. _ow._ " She gasped when his arms draped around her shoulders, wrapping her into a tight embrace as a million emotions spilled out of his chest and into his arms. She was _really_ alive. May had said as much, but seeing her was completely different. She was breathing, talking—practically normal underneath all the extra baggage of injury, but she was here. Living. Wincing in pain— _but living._

Beside them, Brock smiled happily, and then leaned in only to have Misty's one good arm shove him away. She stared up at him with a warning.

"Ash is clearly having a mental break down, but I can't have both of ya' leaning on me. I'm still hurt you know."

At that, Ash immediately pulled away, embarrassed, as displayed by the pink tinge on his cheeks. Gently, Misty rubbed her sore shoulder as they all shared in a laugh as she softly brushed the relieved tears from his eyes and hugged him in return.

 **XOX**

Ash didn't leave her side for more than a minute after seeing her again. He gave Brock the backpack that he brought with him full of supplies, and after leaving Misty with a clean wrap and sling, Brock ventured back into the living space while Ash helped her unwrap the bandage around her wrist and shoulder. He tried not to think of the many reasons they couldn't go to a real hospital, of what they could not see, and instead, relish in her presence.

"Really, I don't need help." She urged while he clumsily finagled the bandage. He tugged in the wrong spots and hurt her every so often, but she was so spellbound by his help, she wasn't sure she wanted to make him feel guilty for causing her pain.

"I want to."

"Yeah, but I'm okay." Since Brock left, the somber look returned to Ash's eyes, and she saw all the mixed emotions swirling there. In a month, he went from a young man to a seasoned trainer with dark rings under his eyes, and dirt under his nails.

"Are you really?" He asked sincerely, watching her forced smile fall. Her eyes shifted.

The simple answer: no. She wasn't okay. None of them were. However, she opted for the long answer, and forced a smile to her lips again.

"Did they tell you what happened?"

Ash chuckled. "Big boom?"

Misty rolled her eyes. "Brock, Drew and I were headed to Pallet Town to talk with Gary about the discs that we retrieved from Silph Co-"

"You guys made it in?" Misty raised her finger to his lips to shush him. He frowned cutely, but she would never admit to noticing it.

"And when we got here, the place was a wreck. Team Rocket took Leaf, and told Gary if he followed, there would be consequences. Well, you know us—we went anyways. May and Max lead us to where they saw them drag Leaf to a few days prior and of course we did the whole attempt at a rescue."

At that moment, her face screwed up and she exhaled. "May, Gary and I got on lapras and, well—I don't remember the details, but I went under and...lapras took the brunt of the damage."

"...Is she okay..?"

"No." Misty closed her eyes, recalling the memory and feeling a shudder run down her spine. Ash could relate, thinking of what he saw of infernape only moments ago. He instinctively stroked the pokeball, to remind himself it was there, and how he needed to see a doctor as soon as possible.

"May was thrown off, and Gary was burned from the shock wave—I went under after lapras turned over on me. If it hadn't been for May I probably wouldn't be here." She winced. "Girl's got stamina. Brock said even though she nearly hit the shore line, she dove back in after us."

"Yeah." Ash scoffed, though he would rather not think about the possibility of Misty _not being here,_ he knew he should also thank May later. He twisted the new bandage over her wrist, being more delicate now that he saw the bruised flesh around her wrist. A small sprain, but it was her formerly dislocated shoulder that looked the worst.

"I think I have a few fractures—maybe some broken ribs if the pain means anything...but I'm managing." She inhaled. " _I'm okay_."

For awhile, Ash couldn't meet her eyes, instead, they stayed glued on her fingers, so delicate yet rough. Her nails were still done neatly, her hair was dyed, which meant she had a few days of normalcy. When Ash didn't respond once again, she started to fidget.

"I mean, things are kind of blurry, but I'm pulling myself back together. I mean, we've already put together our retaliation, and Team Rocket has another thing coming if they think-"

"I thought you were dead." he interrupted, taking a moment to stare up into her eyes and signify the dread mixed there. His words wounded her, and she tried to smile.

"Yeah, so does the rest of the world, apparently."

A pause followed. What more was there to say? Ash couldn't break down, regardless of her being here, he hadn't changed his mind, wavered, but he knew what he was going to do next, despite their plans. Ash was going forward with his own to stop Giovanni directly—before their situation was worse. Before someone really died. As if reading the kamikaze expression over his face, Misty swallowed hard, before finally speaking again.

"They took Delia and Cole, Ash." Now her tears swelled, and Ash stilled himself, staring at a rather interesting crack in the tile. "We went to Viridian City to check on them—and the place was... Oh god, it was..." When she stumbled, he realized he couldn't listen to this and held up his hand with a heavy exhale.

He had thought since he saw her name on those documents in Unova that this could have happened—he might have put it out of his mind. Sat in denial. But the thought was always there. he did not want to believe that Team Rocket would be so evil; but they had attempted to blow up Misty and Gary, so apparently the rules were off the table. Again, these facts he already knew; if anything, it only solidified his former thoughts. Action now. Thoughts later. His hands shook against his knees, clutching at them white knuckled.

"Ash," Misty called to him. "Say something." When he looked at her eyes, he saw that the tears had already dried up; she had never been one to openly cry, despite the circumstances.

Chanting his prayer to himself; he stuck to his previous decision. _After_ , he would grieve, he would worry. Until then, he had to remain focused on the current task. If he got distracted, people could die. Fighting the rage boiling over in his chest at the things he couldn't control, and trying to bury his anger. His facade cracked with a wobbly lip, and then he recovered.

"We should bandage your ribs."

Misty's shoulders fell at his lack luster reaction—not that she wanted him to get angry and storm out, but anything was better than _nothing_.

"Ash, you shouldn't bottle-"

"I _can't_ talk about it." he addressed quickly and sternly, cutting her down. "Not right now. I'm still catching up after thinking you _and_ Gary were dead for the last twelve hours. I'll process it, and we'll deal with it—but one thing at a time, Misty. _Please_."

Misty wilted at his comments, his voice growing more desperate with each word, until she finally nodded and stared down at their hands. The two of them could hear Max and May fighting on the other side of the door, with Drew playing referee and Brock and Gary quietly talking. And here, they sat completely frozen. Exhaustion limited their energy, and their minds and bodies were tired. Toppled with the grave importance of their immediate future weighing down all of their current decisions and limiting their time together, as well as fearing at what cost they would win. Because _they would win._

"I..." Misty started, desperate to obtain a motif from Ash that wasn't so lost in the darkness. "I told Lance to screw himself."

Surprised by the proclamation, Ash blinked up at her, eyes wide, then a smirk he couldn't hide. "You what?"

She shoved the pain down caused from her jerking forward to exaggerate the story and used his attention to tell him everything else that had happened, up until that point. Watering some of it down, of course.

Not too surprising, Ash didn't share his thoughts on his most recent adventures with Jessie and James, about his not-so-heroic thoughts and deeds, and mostly listened to Misty retell the events surrounding Silph Co. Feeling exceptionally proud of Clemont, who was being held captive. Once or twice he chimed in that he knew his mom, and Misty teased and goaded him for information.

"Would you two stop flirting? We have work to do!" Brock shouted from the other side of the door, causing the both of them to jump and glare angrily at the door where they heard him stalk off to the table.

"Brock's been no fun since we got here." Misty said in a whisper, Ash leaned in to listen. "Not that he should, but it's been hard. We found out what was on those discs, Ash, and it's not good."

Ash felt a bit guilty for not asking May about them, but his thoughts were elsewhere previously.

"Can I take a guess?"

Misty sat back. "..Sure?"

"Something that makes the chips in pokemons heads go haywire?"

Misty glared at him. "how'd you know?"

Ash was about to start on the story about infernape, and the forest, but when he looked up at her, he froze and shook his head. It was just another reminder of how much he had changed, and he wasn't ready for Misty to judge him. Not yet. Pikachu's eyes watered up at Ash as he waited for the man to retell the events that painted pikachu in a crazed light, and yet Ash swallowed down the words, and forced a smile she saw through immediately.

"Good guess?" he said unconvincingly,

"What happened." She demanded rather than asked, and he shrugged.

"We really should change your bandages now, Mist."

She scoffed, knocked his hands away; "Don't you _Mist_ me, what happened?"

Ash hesitated, wondering why he was so scared to tell her. She hadn't judged him for anything up until this point; lectured and scolded, yes, but she was never his judge. He shook his head, and she goaded.

"C'mon. Out with it." He fidgeted under her words, and broke eye contact.

"I'm not going to judge you." she added in a serious tone; Ash's eyes softened innocently, and he smiled warmly at her.

"I know, but..." _It's too hard to talk about_. He and May beat infernape down until he was a bag of broken bones under a layer of fur and flesh. He held living people down with the help of charizard, ran aimlessly up mountain tops, stole airplanes and pikachu even—The retelling was at the tip of his tongue when Brock barged in apologetically.

"You're going to want to come see this. Both of you. Right now." He ordered, then rushed at them both; without a second of thought, he pulled them from their seats and into the living space where Gary, who had clean bandages, May, Max, and Drew sat around a television which bleeped something from the news station.

Glaring at them was a face Ash knew all too well; and one that they all knew _, at least somewhat_. Iris's brown eyes bore daggers into the screen. Her purple hair was tied into a high ponytail, her lips were turned into a tight frown as she barked at the screen.

"-accused us of _war_. You want to know the truth? Well I'm bringing it to every region live on all the news networks." She got closer to the camera. "Yeah, you think Kanto's the only one with the technology to hijack all the satellites—you have a new thing comin'!"

She sat back once again, looking more proper, but just as angry. Ash started to look to his companions for answers of any sort, and then his eyes fell to Misty, who shrugged. Apparently, this was news to everyone.

"Now before they shut us down again, let's get something straight! We did not attack Pallet Town harbor, or the league—or anywhere in Sinnoh. After all, _how could we_ , we were locked in a prison cell for the last three years! But wait, that's not the best part, that _research facility_ you keep pandering about? Yeah, that was our prison, and a damn good one I might add. We were there, for three years, all the while everyone else went on with their lives." She licked her lips, motioning to someone off the screen, and glared.

"And what do I hear when I return? That we've started a war. A war we clearly have no way of being involved with. Four years ago, our capital fell to Team Rocket, and our cities were destroyed. Four years ago the Kanto region sent in a regime to help us, and they turned their backs while Team Rocket tore us down and held us captive. They left us for dead even when my companions and I fought to the very end. We were separated from the world and spit on."

She paused as a voice warned her that they would lose control of the satellites in just a few minutes. Iris dusted off her broad shoulders, they could see she was wearing rags, and her clothes were charred. She cracked her neck on live-camera and practically growled.

"Let it be known that, I, Champion of the Unova Region, Iris, on behalf of everyone harmed and attacked during these last four years, declare war on the corrupted pokemon league and all who support it."

"You wanted a war? I'll give it to you."

And the image cut out, quickly replaced by a news anchor who was not prepared to come back so quickly. It was the same blonde from before, her hair was a mess, standing up in all directions. She looked to her fellow cast members, trying to find the proper words to say, but had none.

No one was surprised when it cut to a commercial break.

"Leave it to Iris to come in at the worst possible time." Ash chimed in.

"I thought she was dead?" Gary asked, but no one answered—clearly all as surprised as the next.

"...They...they were there? At that facility? I didn't even think." Misty mumbled, eyes wide when she glanced up at Brock and Ash who were still watching the screen of some new pokemon-league badge.

"They're going to blame all of this on Iris." Brock deduced. "Everything. The raging pokemon from this chips, and the signal towers. Team Rocket won't be thought of."

He smashed his fist into the couch. "You know, that probably wasn't even broadcast today—they're just setting themselves up! Seconds after shooting off that flare—this is too good to be true!"

Ash inhaled, "We've been playing into Giovanni's hand the entire time."

Then the next question, following the rise in panic. "Jessie and James... they didn't betray us, did they?"

"I don't think so. But we'll know in a few hours. They'll be arriving in Pallet Town at first light." Ash scratched his neck.

"So what do we do now? That plan with the signal towers was clearly activated if infernape's attack meant anything, and we're all beaten and bruised." Drew piped in, glared at each persons face, Misty's head snapped to look at Ash, who didn't meet her eyes immediately. Well, at least the news was out in the open. As a panic started, with Misty questioning Ash, Brock trying to cool them down, and Max and May trying to pipe in their two cents—Gary, who had remained relatively quiet until now, stood up, and tossed the small television across the room with one heave that demanded everyone's attention, and complete silence.

"The plan doesn't change." he said, and Ash looked to his companions—he wasn't aware that they had a plan, well, besides his own. This was one, however, they had been meticulously plotting out since they arrived in this small basement.

"We split up into groups, and we take out these damn towers. We find this Giovanni character, and we end him. Nothing has changed—we just need to stop sitting on our hands and fucking do something!"

No one spoke.

Gary inhaled to relieve his anger, control himself. Quickly, he grabbed a cellphone off the table and practically threw it at Drew. "Call Dawn, see if she can contain the hysteria and get her started on that tower in Sinnoh—if Cynthia isn't evil, convince Dawn to get her to talk with Iris, give us some time. After that, take flygon to France." Gary then pointed at May and Max.

"You two get on any kind of water pokemon—I don't care which, it could be a boat, or a unicorn, and get your asses to Hoenn region." The two of them scampered off to join Drew, who was already trying to get a call through to Dawn—but imagined doing so was going to be nearly impossible thanks to the newest addition to their pool of crazy.

"Gary—we're not-" Brock tried to interject, but Gary simply wasn't having it.

"You're going back to Saffron City for a funeral, _aren't you_ , Brock? I think you should also pay a visit to that tower on your way there."

Then his eyes settled on Ash and Misty, softened briefly, and then the rage returned. "And you two." He inhaled.

"You two are going to go find Giovanni."

Misty had enough of Gary being in her face, and shook her head. "And how in the hell do you expect us to do that? There are seven large prisons in the league and he could be at any of them. _If_ he's even at those."

"I don't really care—but I know you two have had the most contact with Team Rocket, so surprise me!"

"Gary, back off." Ash motioned between them, putting some distance between his childhood friend and girlfriend.

"How do you expect us to just find him? Ash was with Jessie and James-" She jumped in, but Misty misunderstood Ash's actions. He didn't want to see the two of them fight, but Gary wasn't wrong. Actually, this was perfect.

"Gary's right, we need to face them head on." he said quickly, interrupting Misty before adding: "And I actually have an idea of where to start."

Misty jerked her hand away from Ash's, feeling like this was a suicide mission disguised as bravery. "But what are we supposed to do when we get there? Get shot by guards? Eaten by some kind of guards-dragon?"

That was always her problem, she had to have everything lined out perfectly; as it was with her admission into the Elite Four, her time with Ash. Misty's greatest strength was also her greatest weakness—sometimes, she had to leap in.

"I don't know." Gary hissed, then his glare fell on Ash. "I saw that gun in your back pocket, Ash, so get creative?"

Silence fell through the room, and all eyes went to Ash, including Drew who was talking with an operator in his attempt to reach Dawn. Gary immediately wanted to retract his statement when he saw how betrayed Ash looked. When Ash didn't respond, Gary slowly unwound from the internal conflict he had just created. Realizing he had been a jerk, he exhaled and then shook his head; offering a muttered apology before speaking again.

"All I'm saying, is that you two can't go back into the public eye, Misty's supposed to be dead, so that gives us some advantage on him, and you're an international terrorist, Ash—you're the best two to find him. You can't be seen, so you might as well use it to your advantage—you have the benefit of surprise."

Ash couldn't meet their eyes, feeling their judgment, but when no one moved away from him, and the conversation continued; it was in a much calmer tone.

"And what are you going to do, Gary?" asked Misty a bit too hasty to change the subject.

"I'm going to Johto. I know the area, shouldn't be too hard to take out a tower or two."

"And we know taking out signal towers will work?" Ash grumbled, having his doubts about all of this; including the part where everyone ran off alone or in pairs. They had all barely gotten out with their limbs attached this time, now they were being thrown back into the fire.

"Yeah." Brock said, grabbing some papers off the table to keep the conversation rolling, but Ash noticed how stiff Brock had become near him. "They've built several of them in the five regions that correspond with the same frequency supplied to the microchips. When those towers are cut off, the chips turn off and the pokemon _should,_ theoretically go back to normal. We can stop a complete uproar before it starts."

"Then..." Ash stared at everyone, reminding himself not to downgrade their own abilities. They were all here because they wanted to help. If they still wanted to press forward after what they witnessed, who was he to speak against them?  
"It's...it's a plan?"

"We still need more people. I don't want everyone running off alone." Misty grumbled, then stared at Brock, seriousness in her eyes. Ash strangled a sigh, thankful they were on the same page, until: "When you get to Saffron City, my sisters will no doubt be there. If you tell them I'm still alive, they'll help you."

Both Brock and Ash gawked at her.

"Why would they trust me? And your sisters, I don't know they're-"

"Stronger than I am." Misty cut him off, and fished for an object out of the vest she was wearing; something she never took off, and something that Ash was familiar with because he wore one around his neck at all times. The cascade badge pendant Daisy gave her before she left for the league party. It was hard to believe she hadn't seen her sisters since then. "Give them this."

A sentimental pull tugged at her heart strings and she sniffed. "They'll either think ya' killed me or I'm still around."

"I won't lose it." Brock answered, dropping the necklace around his neck. Instinctively, Ash grabbed for his own, checking for the familiar lump beneath his shirt and then dropped his hand.

"You better not, it's practically a family heirloom." Misty warned jokingly, but then smiled. Clearly the only one who was still uncomfortable with this _mission_.

"So, are we ready to go be superheros?"

"We're still missing super powers though." May chimed in giddy, "Well except for Ash—he has super healing."

Ash pursed his lips, unimpressed by her comment. Concerned by how she knew. "I do _not_ have super healing."

"I bet if I stabbed you, you would heal three times faster than me." Misty taunted.

Ash rolled his eyes. "Maybe I have better genes."

"Ash, you woke up from a ten year coma, and you're not a vegetable, that doesn't scream something at you?" Brock inquired, wiggling an eyebrow. Since when had he become a topic of conversation?

"Yeah, it screams I'm special."

"Yeah, _special_." Misty mocked, and the four of them had a good laugh as Gary, Max and Drew looked to one another bemused by their humor.

"Yeah, I don't get it either." Drew said, though he had plenty of time to adapt to the _laugh in the face of danger_ philosophy, he was not quite there yet. He occasionally chuckled, but to make a joke about the whole thing—he, Max and Gary, were all lagging behind.

 **XOX**

Ash wasn't sure where they were going to start; but he had a few leads already mapped out. Jessie and James would find him. They always did. In the mean time, he would seek out his old therapist, Dr. Abby. They suspected she might have been working with Team Rocket before, and if she had connections to Sebastian, Ash had a feeling that he could lead them to Giovanni. Otherwise, they could recheck route twenty-five, or old Team Rocket hide outs.

There had to be _some_ clue. Giovanni wasn't an effigy. He was a normal human, sure, a scary human with power—but he could be stopped. They might have been a group of rag-tag young adults, but they were as efficient as it came. Ash stood next to the best of them, and he had to tell himself that they could do this. After all, a full out, frontal attack was what he wanted... right? He wasn't the only one on the same wavelength—they all knew this was it. Now or never.

Yet, it was late by the time they all settled down; taking a list of the corresponding towers in each region. May and Max were mapping out the quickest ways to get to their goal, planning details. Deciding on taking out the power plant first, and then focusing on generators; an idea that Drew would mimic once he reached Dawn, _if_ he reached Dawn.

He was having no luck getting through to the Sinnoh princess, and would more than likely be paying a visit rather than calling which meant they could need the help of someone in the region already, or leave the former Kalos region for last. May, Max, and Drew made back-up preparations, _just in case._ Brock was already suiting up, with Misty's help. She gave Brock pass codes and information, and anything that would get him through security checks safely. Gary was working under an incognito operation, so Ash relinquished his control of Gary's personal card key and badge, and after an hour, they fell into their own groups.

They would leave tomorrow, before dusk after a full day of rest. The agreed that they should travel under the radar, so trains were off limits. Pokemon and personal transportation only. Which was fine. Most of them had better mobility than the quickest cars.

As daybreak peered over the horizon, Misty's drowsiness returned, and she retreated to her own cot alongside Ash. After an awkward spell, revolving around the process of _how to bandage_ ribs, which involved Misty needing to remove most of her shirt, they bumbled through the process. Once or twice Misty offered to have May help her, but as stubborn as he was, he refused to give up. Gary wasn't in favor of leaving his chair; Brock was still _trying_ to map out every detail of his invasion, and May had crashed on the second bed in the room about an hour ago. She sure liked to sleep.

"So..." She muttered, her back to Ash while he tried to bandage her as quickly as possible. "Iris is alive."

"I saw." Ash said, focused.

"How do you feel?"

"Happy." he paused. "Terrified. I can't believe she declared war like that."

"Yeah, well, wouldn't you?"

Ash didn't say anything. Misty kept going. "Where'd you get the gun?"

Ash fumbled, nearly dropped the tape, and exhaled. "Oak's place. He kept one in his safe."

As if she needed to ask, but she did anyways. "Why?"

"To defend himself." after the strangled noise that escaped his lips, he dropped the topic, tied her bandage, and backed away while she adjusted the black shirt he discovered was Brock's after hers was ruined in the explosion, and zipped up her vest which was covered in small, burned spots. Unable, or not wanting to think about the issue, she changed topics again.

"What's your lead?" She asked, and Ash blinked clumsy, taken off guard.

"Uh...Dr. Abby."

"So we're going back there, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so... Seems like so long ago, huh? To think I tried everything to get away from there, and hey, I'm going back. Willingly. As a criminal." Ash hid his concern with a carefully cut mock tone, but Misty nudged him knowingly, and smiled warmly.

"You're not a criminal—but hey, maybe we can see Agatha while we're there?"

"Ah—I almost forgot about her, I have to thank her."

Misty blinked a few times; "Yeah? For what?" She asked curiously with eyebrows quirking.

Perhaps it was because he wanted to see the light in her eyes a bit longer, or maybe it was his own unsure nature of holding Ho-oh on his hip, the responsibility that offered; but he simply gawked at the redhead, awkwardly kissed her nose to earn a blush, then grinned toothily.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

 **XOX**

By 5:00pm, they had all fallen asleep. Not a noise echoed from the basement. Drew and Max slept side by side, the butting-head rivals exhausted from their endeavors to reach Sinnoh, and figure out a contingency plan if they couldn't reach Dawn. Brock prepared several packs for each group, then quietly passed out on the third bed in the room where May, Misty, and Ash were sleeping—the three had passed out a few hours earlier than the rest of the group, and at the end of the rope, was Gary who sifted through the information they printed from Clemont's notes one last time.

Giovanni was creating an army to launch on the world; but for what? Maybe it was sleep deprivation talking, but he didn't care what made the man tick anymore—he just wanted him to stop, and for Leaf to be returned to him. Gary couldn't have been sure, but he didn't think Leaf was on that boat—he _couldn't_ think that she was. After all, Iris had been missing for years, and she showed up seemingly out of nowhere. Not nowhere. She was held in prison.

Team Rocket had their fingers in every melting pot—why would Leaf be any different? They were planning to use this chaos as a means to get ahead, or prove a point—or wipe out the weak... but Leaf, she was something else. Could always hold her own in a fight. They wouldn't just take her mark off the map. Not like that.

Or at least, he had to hope, or he couldn't sleep at night, couldn't think straight, and the weight of his bones would surely crush him. He hoped he would see her face again, see her bright eyes and sandy brown hair.

...Then again, he had hoped for that before with his grandfather... and look where that ended him.

"If you think too hard, you might blow a muscle." Ash's gruff voice cut into the silence, hardly disturbing the boys sleeping on the couch.

At first glance, Gary had a plethora of questions; what he was doing up, why he would leave Misty's side after waiting so long to be reunited with her. If it were _him_ in that situation, he would already be ten miles in the distance, only worrying about him—perhaps that was always the difference between him and Ash. Gary was inherently selfish and he knew it, whereas Ash was selfless. A hero.

"Yeah, well..."

Ash leaned back, the chair he sat in creaked under his weight when he kicked his leg up. He could still see into the cracked doorway where his friends slept—and could see togepi and pikachu as lumps on the pillow by Misty's head.

Minutes ticked by without either of the boys speaking, unsure of where to start. A wave of gratitude that Gary was alive, or guilt that he lost someone he cared about—more than one. Delia and Cole were gone too. Ash, with more time to think about it, found sleep wouldn't come, imagining the fate of his half brother and mother.

Finally, a crack in the dark was Ash smiling and he glanced at Gary.

"So...if my mom married your grandfather—that would make your dad my uncle—and you would be my... _great uncle_? I don't know, extended family has always confused me."

Gary's hand never rose faster to his face than that moment, but he felt like he had been hit with a shovel. His glare was no less menacing when he shot back.

"Never discuss this again!"

"But...wouldn't that mean that Cole is also your uncle? Which makes him my brother-uncle?"

"There's no such thing as a brother-uncle!" Gary snapped, for a few seconds, forgetting his grief as his face turned bright red.

"You know, I'm almost glad I wasn't awake for that marriage, because I'm not sure I would have been okay with you know, Oak... _and my mom_."

"They weren't married." Gary confessed, rubbing his face while Ash titled his head. "-Not, officially anyways. I mean..yeah, there's Cole, but they weren't like... in a relationship or anything. Your mom was—she was—it wasn't easy after you went down, okay? And gramps always viewed you as his own so...it was complicated."

Ash, a bit paler than before tried to imagine a 'happy' normal family between the three of them, and found _normal_ to be impossible. "And now I've learned too much."

Gary's face was scarlet. "You started it!" he practically hissed.

Ash was laughing now, covering his worry with a grin.

Then, "I'm glad you're alive, Gary." Smartly avoiding the words _okay,_ Gary glanced up at Ash—he was far from okay; Ash could see that a mile away, but he was alive, and that counted for something.

"Me, too." Gary sighed, staring at his injury. "You need to make sure _you_ stay alive, too."

Meeting Ash's gaze, he exhaled. If he hadn't been so exhausted, or sleep deprived, or beaten with bags under his eyes, he might have teared up slightly, but instead, Ash saw everything else. How terrible the former heart-throb, nonchalant _cool guy_ felt, how bruised and broken when he said:

"You're the only family I have left right now Ash. Don't die out there."

 _I don't think I could take it_.  
Ash nodded quickly, understanding better than anyone that request.

 **XOX**

At some point after their conversation, Gary insisted he would try to sleep, and urged Ash to spend the _last few hours of peace_ that they had with Misty. Or Brock, if he felt so inclined. With an eye roll, Ash skulked off into the darkness to find Misty once again, and she was more than willing to make room for him on her cot. How natural it felt to share the space, when only months ago they both would have ran from the idea, both denying it, and secretly wanting it. She was warm beneath the blankets when he tucked his body back in beside her.

For a few moments, he felt nothing at all. A numb sensation through his whole body, until she settled in with a quiet huff and nudged her shoulders against his chest.

"How's Gary?"

At least he wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep.

"He's managing."

"He would barely talk to anyone before you came." Misty responded quietly, nestling her head onto her pillow, her eyelids heavy and demanding sleep.

Not sure of a fitting reply, and having no good reason to make one since sleep captured her seconds after, he inhaled the scent of her hair. Even after a few days on the road, she smelled of strawberries and smoke, but nothing vile. Careful not to wake up, or hurt her with his arms, he wrapped them around her stomach and tucked her in closer, taking to heart what Gary said.

After all, they weren't sure how long this would last, and they certainly weren't sure when they would be able to rest like this again.

 **XOX**

Ash opened his eyes to the dim light of a flashlight, Brock was prodding at him and Misty was no where to be seen. Pikachu was peering at him on his chest, ears alert and nose twitching.

"C'mon, we're ready."

One by one, they piled out of the basement, with Ash lagging behind. They carried back packs prepared by Brock, and stood in a circle, kicking their feet. Brock lead Ash around the area until stopping and exhaling.

Today was the first day of their rest of their lives. Ash took a spot next to Misty who smiled awkwardly at him. He noticed that the brace was gone, and togepi was resting on her uninjured shoulder, but he was expected to carry the backpack—not that he had any complaints.

"You'll need to stop somewhere to restock on food and water. If we're all becoming terrorist, you'll want enough to lay low for awhile."

May was practically bouncing on her feet, better than ever now that they were prepared to hit the road; and Max stood beside her more level headed. Drew was walking with them to the outskirts of Pallet Town, and they would stay together until he flew off to Sinnoh to talk with Dawn. Gary would be heading out on his own, he assured the group he has his _own way_ to get to Johto undetected, and refused help from anyone else. Thanks to pain supplements and antibiotics, his leg was better, but his limp was unbearable from Ash's position.

Misty was wobbly, at best, and Brock told her to _take it easy_ , and if everything went smooth, as they hoped that it would, it was smooth sailing from here. That being said, she had the stubbornness of a mule, and refused any babying.

Which was the exact reason Brock pestered Ash with information about head injuries instead. Watch for any drowsiness and sudden loss of vision—memory loss or sudden unconsciousness. Ash was to stick to her like glue every step, and if anything— _anything at all—_ happened, he was to put Misty on charizard, screw the plan, and take her to the nearest hospital even if she was kicking and screaming the whole time.

Preparation for the event took little under an hour, and at the end they all looked to one another.

"When this is all over—maybe we should plan a place to meet?" May asked, looking at each member of the _rebel force_.

"Maybe we should meet here?" Ash looked at Gary, who shoved his hands into his pockets.

"How about where this all started?" Brock smiled, though they gave him a withering look when he playfully punched Ash in the shoulder.

"The Viridian City hospital. If things work out, it should be safe enough to go there, right?" Misty suggested, eyebrows raised. "Maybe then we can get actual medical treatment—love ya' to pieces Brock, but I would kill for a real doctor."

Snorts and giggles were shared to hide concern while the older man scowled.

"Then we'll meet at the hospital. That way if any certain brunettes decide to run off in the middle of the night, we can find proper treatment for her insanity." Came Drew's shrewd reply, much to May's chagrin.

"I didn't see you going out for medical supplies!" She snapped, clearly much better after a full night of rest and restoration. From Ash's position, he saw Misty smile affectionately at May, the girl wasn't even originally apart of their group, and she seemed to fit right in. Ash saw the approval long before she would ever say it—like Ash told her in the hospital so many months ago, these people, they were like family. They were _good_ people. And they had a connection.

Goodbyes were hard, especially if they were the last—and yet, no one was sad about this goodbye.

 _Let's save the world_ , May said in unison with her brother, who shared a pseudo-hero outlook on their situation.

"Be careful!" Ash shouted to them as the four walked into the night side by side. Eventually, they would separate; Gary would be off to Johto, Drew to Sinnoh, and May and Max to Hoenn, but they had each others backs for a little while.

"You think they're going to be okay?" Ash asked once they were out of earshot, earning himself a disheveled look from Brock and Misty.

"Yeah." Brock answered nonchalantly, even waving his hand. After all, what else could he say? No was out of the question. When Ash approached them, Misty snagged Ash's shoulder and squeezed. He lied to himself that it was for comfort, and not because she was stumbling over her feet.

"Gary is going to be fine. We're going to break Team Rocket, and then we're going to find your mom and brother _and_ Leaf, that's if we don't find them on the way."

"Yeah. They'll call us heroes." Brock mimicked May with a grin.

Ash smiled at that. "We're not doing it to become heroes, Brock."

"Of course _you_ would say that." He scoffed playfully, crossing his arms and keeping the mood light. "You've already got the perfect pokemon team, _and_ the girl; you don't need a cool reputation."

"Oh yeah, because telling girls your a danger magnet is going make them flock to you." snorted Misty with a sarcastic eye roll. Ash pursed his lips and stared sideways at her.

"...but wait—isn't that why you stuck around?"

Brock burst out laughing, but Misty cocked her head to stare at Ash grinned ear to ear. Togepi and pikachu both snickering behind her stayed close.

"I swear the two of you are going to give me gray hairs."

"Actually." Brock muttered, standing beside Ash and putting their heads together. "I think a bit of the hair dye _is_ coming out—is that a silver strand that I see?"

Misty whipped around to fling her arms in Brock and Ash's direction, and their cheery laughs carried through the forest, reaching the other group, who turned to listen.

A smile played across May's face.

"I swear, they make the best out of every situation."

"You don't get used to it, either." Drew grumbled his familiar complaint once again while holding his pack on his shoulders.

Gary snorted, but his mood had lightened, listening to the distant sounds of laughter "I guess that's why we'll always be the sidekicks, huh?"

 **Author's Note:**

I wasnt' going to update this one right after 52, but it's... it's just so much better written than 52.

Sometimes, when you get angry, you just gotta throw a TV.  
I had been playing with the order and the way this chapter played out for awhile. At first, it was a fairly bland 'this is the plan, this is what we're going to do, let me spell it out for you' approach; but then I realized I kind of hated that, and so I kind of thrust you into a plan. I -think- it reads okay, and I want to show a general display of chaos as I start to unravel small hints of foreshadowing that have been scattered through the story so far: Case and point, Iris. I've hinted several times that she's not dead from as early as chapter five, to as late as the last chapter. I've been hinting at something big for her for awhile, even if we never officially leave Ash's POV to witness it in full scale. Hope you liked the chapter.

Hope this was better than 52

Thank you for reviews, favs/follows, PM's, messages and anything else. Enjoy -hearts-

NINT


	54. Chapter 54: Taketh Away

**Locked Away, Chapter 54**

It started with a goodbye, as all beginnings do. The final fight to victory.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us to Viridian City?"

The sun was hidden behind the horizon as they reached the fork in the forest—one direction would take them through a passage of the forest leading into Viridian City using the river as their guide, and the other would take Brock to the forest leading to the Indigo Plateau, where he could use the bullet train to arrive in Saffron City within hours.

"I can't risk being seen with either of you. Ash is still on the no flyer list, and Misty—well, I'm supposed to be attending your funeral." at that comment, Brock winced. "...Stay out of sight, and off of the main roads, would you?"

Misty and Ash shared a skeptical look. "That's the plan."

As Brock turned away, facing the dying sun, he glanced at Misty. "...so you think your sisters can really help, huh?"  
"If you let them they will." She assured the man, and Brock inhaled.

"Guess we'll see."

Ash started in next, pressing his hand against Brock's shoulder for emphasis. "If anything happens, Brock."

"I promise to scream extra loud." He laughed at his bad joke. "But I'll be fine—I've been dealing with these guys since I was a kid, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Well, now you've jinxed us." Misty scolded, playfully flicking him on the ear, but he backed off with a chuckle. Here it was, the moment of truth when their eyes all met, and their hearts pinged in their chests. Ash and Misty lunged forward simultaneously, grabbing Brock into a hug and squeezing him tightly, tears swelling at the corners of their eyes.

"Remember, when this is all over, I'm buying us a vacation to a tropical island far, _far_ away." Misty sniffled while squeezing her eyes shut. Empty promises they had made before; a separation not months earlier.

"Or even a day sitting at the gym, doing nothing." Ash argued. For him, the notion of doing nothing was a rarity, but if the last few months have taught him anything; it was to enjoy the simple moments. Brock sniffled, trying to keep himself together.

"Maybe I can finally make you guys those rice balls I've been practicing."

"I'd like that." They said in unison, but none of them dared to move. Maybe, if they stayed like this, they could go back in time to the way life should have been, when they were all ten years old, trying to become the next greatest pokemon trainer—in a time where life was simple, and the world was bright and magical. Not falling apart at the seams.

"Be careful, you two."

"You too, Brock." Misty said, wiping at her eyes to prevent tears from falling—not that she was crying. Misty Waterflower _never_ cried.

"Guess I'll see you both on the flip side."

"See you..." Ash muttered quietly, the shrillness of his voice taking him by surprise. He rarely sounded so young nowadays, but neither companion made a commotion. After all, _if_ this was the last time they were to meet—they wouldn't want to end on a sour note. Togepi and pikachu raced after Brock in cheer.

"Chu-pi!"

"Toge!" They both cried, jumping as they watched Brock turn at them, allowing Misty and Ash to both see the tears streaming from his eyes, and Misty visibly flinched when Brock started faster down the forest path.

"It's going to be okay." Ash said aloud, trying to convince himself more than Misty.

 **XOX**

"We'll _try_ to find Jessie and James once we get to Viridian City, but if we can't find them, we'll just track Sebastian down ourselves." Ash rambled off, looking up at the sky as they walked. In the distance, he could still hear the echo of panic from Pallet Town. Ash thought that the further out of town they got, the less they would hear—but out in the dead of the night, in the middle of a dark forest, it only seemed to amplify the shrieks of agony from the towns around them. They filled the void with all topic of discussion. Currently, they discussed Jessie, James, and meowth.

"How do you know they haven't already left? I mean, it's not like they have Ash Ketchum sonar."

Ash wanted to rebut that statement, mention the billion times before that they found him, but stopped short and instead said:

"I know, but we can't wait for them; I can only hope they'll find us. Figure out that we have to be going to find Giovanni and follow us—if not, then...well, we'll just have to go on without them. I'm sure they'd understand." Ash huffed as they followed the stream north to Viridian City.

The unmarked path was far bumpier than the trail, and he spent quite a bit of time helping Misty over small inclines, and large rocks. Neither mentioned the apparent lack of stamina and balance she had—after all, she was a walking injury, but they were still making good time. They had originally thought to fly on charizard, that could haved skimmed hours off their trip, but Ash wasn't keen on letting Misty see charizard's blackened scales, and he _knew_ she would notice and question him, then refuse his flight service, anyways. Plus, charizard deserved a break of his own. Not to mention that Brock insisted that they _stay out of sight_ , which ultimately meant they were hoofin' it.

Ash tried to stay positive, however, and keep his mind off his aching muscles. This could be the last time they had a walk in the forest in a very long time, and despite Misty's injuries, she was keeping up with him _mostly_.

The night was surprisingly bright for a change,walking next to the river, the reflection cast more than enough light to guide their way. If on occasion they stumbled, pikachu sparked electricity from his cheeks for a quick flash. They avoided rock slides, and other shifting grounds. As long as their legs would carry them, they had no intention of stopping for the night.

After the brief pause, Misty finally spoke again before the dreaded echos reached them.

"Do you really think Abby was working with Team Rocket? I mean, we had an inkling, but no hard evidence.. Sebastian, though... There might be more information about him at the hospital. Should we go there first, or the Nursing home? Assuming she's even still there—what if she's not?"

She sighed, sliding down a set of rocks and then shaking off the sweat that had built up on her brow from the summer heat. With the water to the right of them, she felt humid and sticky. Ash kept his concerns to himself; mentioning her faults would only prove as an unnecessary agitation. It wasn't like she didn't think he cared, after all, they only had more important issues to focus on, and her slight handicap was not one of them.

"I'm sure that between you, Agatha and I, we can wring some information out of Abby. And, they'd have records there I'm sure." said Ash as Misty paused for air, scrunching her face off at the dropped _doctor_ title from her name.

"Assuming she knows anything about Sebastian, that is. She didn't seem to care for him, either when you were there last." Misty thought aloud, trying to keep their options open. However, frustration crossed Ash's face, and she knew that she was losing him to his one-track mind.

"Then, if Abby doesn't know anything, then we'll go to the hospital and figure it out from there."

Misty inhaled; "And what if the city is under fire because of the mess caused by that signal tower? How do we get to the hospital then? I mean...the nursing home is on the edge of town, but.."

"We'll fly on charizard." Ash grumbled, nearly tripping over his feet, and almost causing Mist to tumble, who was holding onto his hand.

"But what about being incognito?"

"Brock asked us to stay under the radar—but do you really think it matters at this point?"

She wanted to say yes, argue with him that he needs to be _careful_... but he was right, in the worst of ways. Misty huffed, knowing she had no way to disagree with him about the situation at the time, and also knowing that they could get away from pretty well anyone with their combined pokemon.

"Besides, you still have all my personal information right? Couldn't we get it from your house in Cerulean if things don't work out here?"

 _Actually, that wasn't a bad idea_. "I might still have some of the documents with Sebastian's information, but they don't come with any personal information, just his job and title—some therapist he was, though."

"Right? Squeezed me for information, and I gave him everything that he needed to know."

"Ash." Misty grumbled, squeezing his fingers. "Don't blame yourself."

"I'm not." he said abruptly, looking over his shoulder at her. "But it's true. That journal had nearly everything in it."

Silence filled their ears once again with the added chirp of togepi who tried to cheer up his trainers with mindless humming, and pikachu who was adding to the noise.

"Okay... so assuming we figure out _where_ Giovanni is located—or Sebastian for that matter. What do we do then?" Misty asked, though she had an idea Ash knew. Go in, guns blazing— _hopefully not literally—_ and get the information that they need.

He didn't look at her when he replied, or maybe he couldn't. "We ask him, and if he doesn't tell us; we make him...as for Giovanni..." Ash trailed off, eyes cast to the river.

"Do we shoot him, Ash?"

"What?" He gasped. "No!" he said quickly, then bit his tongue, after a moment, he sighed, and let her hand slip from his to wipe away the sweat from his brow.

"I mean...hopefully not—I don't know, Mist, I'm playing this by ear, too. I just know that we need to act."

"And I agree." Misty said confidently for the first time that evening, clapping him on the shoulder. "But I need to know you're not going to do something reckless. There are other solutions than killing him."

"I know." Ash said quietly, after all, it wasn't like he _wanted_ to kill the man. If there was anyway to bring him to justice, of _course_ he would prefer that method—but that didn't mean that they shouldn't take precautions. If he sicked Ho-oh on the man, Ash knew that it would be over in a second—but that wouldn't really _fix_ anything. Ash glanced at Misty, feeling a swirl of guilt for not informing her about the legendary bird he captured; but bit his tongue regardless.

"Can we not talk about this?" a spark of electricity ran through her eyes, anger, or frustration—how could they _not_ talk about this. Misty was not as mindless as Ash, she didn't walk into any situation without some grasp, or idea or _plan_ , despite her knowing that they needed to act; acting didn't mean being irrational.

"I just...I just mean." Ash fumbled, face turning red as he gestured around them. "It might be the last time we get to do this for awhile, let's talk about something _positive._ "

A moment passed before Misty realized what _this_ was. Walking, talking—being in the forest, out on an adventure, despite the reason for it. They were together, like one of his dreams. Misty let her shoulders relax, staring at his back, and took his hand once again, stilled his movements, and wrapped her arms around his torso and put her head on his shoulder—thanks to the incline, it was easier since he had grown quite a bit taller than her.

"We _will_ do this again." She assured him, but the hiccup in his chest made him believe differently.

"You can't be sure of that."

"Well, I survived an explosion—I'm _pretty sure_ of myself. _Are you?"_ She knuckled his shoulder, staring at him through the dim light, and watching as his face paled over. Then, she brushed aside, grabbing his arm to bring him along with her. "So c'mon, we still got a couple hours to go."

 **XOX**

For the next hour, they didn't talk. The forest had finally swallowed any noise of the surrounding area, and they were left with the gentle hum of forest bugs. Misty was as stubborn as an onix. For a water pokemon trainer, she certainly didn't know when to adapt to her surroundings and call it quits while she was ahead. Though, Ash argued with himself while watching the night sky, they were making good time. He was no astrologer, but the moon hadn't moved much since they started their trek, which must have meant not a lot of time had passed. He forgot how much he relied on technology, but was engrossed in the ability to lose himself to time while traveling.

It as a shame he couldn't enjoy it, though Misty told him not to worry.

Finally, when he thought they would go on forever, Misty came to an abrupt stop—holding out her hand and looking at the arrangements of the trees—they were not far form Viridian City now.

"What's up, Misty?" He asked wearily when she breathed quietly.

"Can't you see it?"

"See what?"

"This is where I fished you out of the river. Route one river; an hour out of Viridian City, beside the pointed rock." Pointing to a rock in the distance, as well as the _perfect ledge_ for a fishing line. Ash stared in awe at her.

"And here I was thinking you lost your mushiness." he snorted, practically robbing the moment of any serenity _._

Regardless, Misty took his hand in the darkness, then bumped into him, nearly knocking him over in the process. She looked confident, ready to go, but her eyes were calmer—aged and weary from their latest travels. He knew the latest events wore heavy on her shoulders as they did his, and after they left this forest, it was going to be a whirlwind until they stood victorious or...

"I'm tired."

The depth of that comment made his skin feel cold even in her warm touch. Her hand nearly crushed his in a tight embrace, glaring absently at the gentle stream. He remembered it as a river, one more thing that had changed over the years. The last time they stood here, almost a year ago on their way to Pallet Town, the colorful leaves of autumn danced above him, and he had been grateful to be out of nursing home... to think he was going back.

"Chuu." The mouse muttered beside him as togepi leaned against Misty's leg. They were worried about the redhead, but Ash pat the mouse protectively and silently.

 _I'm tired_.

Yeah, he was, too.

 **XOX**

May, Drew, and Max took the small boat floating on the harbor that Gary lead them too—and together, the four of them prepared to set sail to different parts of the world. While Gary was showing May and Max the controls, Drew busied himself trying to reach Dawn, with no luck. It wasn't a signal jam, no, he assumed it only had to be the chaos around them resulting in busy signals on every available line. A full fledged panic. If he could reach Dawn, he knew that she could put the pieces back together. She had done so many times. Dawn was several people wrapped into one, if anyone could turn the tide of the media outburst and panic in their favor; it was her.

So he _really_ wanted her to answer.

"Hello, you've reached my personal cell! Leave a message!" Dawn's voice bleeped at him, and Drew strained to rub his temple. He was hoping that he wouldn't need to actually _go_ to Sinnoh, but all attempts pointed North.

"How are you planning to get to the Johto region undetected?" May asked Gary while he showed Max the last of the coordinates. By boat, Hoenn was only a few hours away, though May masked her wariness of the floating wood expertly, she wasn't keen on riding over the ocean in the same creation that had nearly killed her. Smaller or not.

"Easy enough, I know most of the fly zones; I'll use the routes they don't watch to get to the power plant, kill the lights, and then attack the tower."

"Try not to sound so angry about it, hey there boss?" May quirked an eye at him, but he settled his frustration—no point in taking it out on May, after all, he had his own plans to direct his anger. The complete obliteration of Team Rocket sounded fair enough.

"Sorry." May added shortly after, recalling why he was in such a tiff to begin with. Drew approached shortly after, breaking the tension.

"I want to say that Dawn's going to send in reinforcements, but there's no way I'm getting through to her right now. I'm going to have to head to Sinnoh."

"Great..." Max grunted, "So Fra—Kalos region will have to wait?"

"Looks like." grumbled Drew.

Before the grim nature of their situation settled into every member of the pessimistic group, May slapped them all on the shoulders.

"C'mon guys, it's one set back. That doesn't mean we can't still do this. That's why we had plan B, we'll just plan to meet in the region once we've settled things in Hoenn and Sinnoh."

Drew's eyebrows bounced, unimpressed and rather annoyed over the predicament he was forced into. He hadn't been in contact with Dawn for over a week now, and the last time they spoke she sounded more stressed out over the sudden shift in weather then she let on. _He hoped_ that didn't have to do with the lack of signal available. May slapped him on the arm.

"Cheer up, Drew! How often can you say you get to go to your boss and ask to blow stuff up? Her expression will at least be priceless."

He glared at her, then put his hands into his pockets. "Do you think you're gonna stop making jokes any time soon?"

"Only after you admit that you dye your hair—I mean, green can't be your natural color, right?"

Drew slapped her hand away from touching strands of hair, and he shot her a nasty look, but he mildly appreciated the attempt to cheer him up. Before he could make a proper reply, Max chimed in, twitching behind gleaming glasses.

"Could...could you not flirt with my sister while I'm standing here?"

"Max!" May hissed, jumping away from Drew. They were not flirting, though the red that covered their cheeks might have begged a differ. It was all coincidental. After all, May was a contest drop out. Drew was a top-coordinator. They couldn't be friends.

Or at least, that's what Drew would have thought before the end of the pokemon league started, now, his titles didn't mean as much to him as he originally thought, and he might have even apologized for a long lost rivalry if it didn't seem absolutely pointless to do so. Clearly, she didn't remember, or she did not care about the brief feud they shared.

"Yeah, I mean, we're on a boat and all, but that's not what is making me queasy." Max continued, earning the fury of his sister who wrapped her arm around his neck, and dug her fist into the top of his scalp for a good, ol' fashioned noogie.

Gary sometimes felt like the only adult in his mildly growing group of associates. His unimpressed stare was enough to slowly put them all in line to embrace the seriousness of their objectives. They could not make light of their duties, or else the would surely fail. How he could convey that with a single look was remarkable, and May might have made the comment that he reminded him of the late professor, but did not feel the need to break barriers.

"I guess this is goodbye.." Gary said, looking between the foursome. They looked baffled to what came next.

"...Should we hug, or something?" May asked the three males, holding out her arms but they gave her a disturbed glance, backed away one at a time.

"...Nah, I think we should just go." said Drew.

"I'm good with that." Gary concurred, and together they stepped off the boat deck, pokeballs in hand. Max started the engine, a blaring noise in the dead quiet.

"Be careful!" May urged and Max waved quietly beside her. Then, after a short inhalation, she pointed to Drew. "And you still owe me a rematch, you cheat!"

While he had originally refused to make eye contact with May after that ridiculous comment from Max, he found himself perplexed at her accusation, and a sudden childish need to defend his ego.

"I did not cheat!"

"You did so, and you know it!" She shouted, falling out of earshot. She put her hands to her lips, and he thought he saw worry wash over her face. "You two better not die out there!"

Wanting to be sure that their journey started safely, both Gary and Drew waited at the shore line until May and Max were a blob in the distance.

"I won't make any promises." Gary finally mumbled, knowing Drew well enough that he wouldn't make a comment. He shared a simple glance with the green haired trainer, and inhaled.

"Good luck." And then Gary threw a red pokeball, and a massive bird appeared with flowing pink feathers from the top of his head, a beak the size of Drew's head, and a wingspan that could have easily enveloped him twice—a pigeotto.

"Tell Dawn I said hi, would you?" Gary asked while climbing onto the bird's back. He had a harness and prepared for flight by flicking his wings back and forth. Drew nodded silently then watched as Gary swooped off. In minutes, he was a speck and Drew was standing alone for the first time in the last few weeks.

He'd be lying if he said that he didn't miss their company. Their bad jokes; maybe, just once, he got it. He released the breath he had been holding, and eyed his own pokeball quietly, wondering if any of _his_ would turn on him like Ash's did. He hoped not, and then with a blinding red light, he was gone.

 **XOX**

"We need a plan." Misty muttered, brows knit tightly and staring over a hedge.

Together, Ash and Misty looked into the base of Viridian City—not only was controllable chaos filling the streets, but police patrol as well. They held tranquilizer guns: weapons Misty's hadn't seen since the last time the microchips were installed into pokemon. The surprising calm of the city was terrifying though. Pallet Town sounded almost in ruin from the distance they walked—there was no way Viridian City, three times the size of Pallet Town, would not suffer the same fate.

"Maybe things are set off in sectors?" Ash mumbled.

"But is it that easy to pinpoint everything? You would think the whole region would be on fire." Misty questioned, slinking back behind the cover of the rock. "You don't think they can target specific areas, do you? That wasn't mentioned in the files Clemont gave us."

"Honestly, there's no telling. Maybe they don't want the areas that contain signal towers to get destroyed by crazed pokemon?" Ash deduced, rubbing his tired face. Misty shrugged.

"But there isn't one in Viridian City—so there has to be some other reason."  
Ash peeked over the rock to glare at the troops that walked back and forth. The streets which never died, even in the dead of night, were empty. His face scrunched up and eyebrows narrowed.

"Maybe they have a way to deflect the signal then?"

"You think so?"

"Well, yeah otherwise Team Rocket members _and_ normal people are going to get hurt."

"It does make sense—maybe I didn't think Giovanni had that kind of power." Misty mumbled, taking a stand next to Ash. "Guess we don't have to understand why though, just that we need to stop it." She groaned, trying to date her curious mind. Ash nodded in agreement.

Going through the main trail was out of the question; they had armed security in tents near the entrance of the city. Lights above in small apartments were sprinkled off, and the whole place was overly quiet. In the distance, they could see the glow of the hospital, and the familiar street lights, but the cars were absent.

"Wish we could take the train." Ash complained, and they both dipped back down, trying to access their situation.

"So, our only other option is to either wait until morning, or sneak into the assisted living home now."

"Yeah, but do you think anyone will be around right now?" Ash grumbled, "I mean, it's like...late. Maybe we can just wait on the outside for Abby to show up?" Ash wagged his finger to indicate the time, though neither of them had any real clue.

With their backs against the rock, the distant sound of boots shuffling and the forest staring back at them; they sighed in unison.

"We should at least make our way to the home, scope it out, see if they have guards there, too."

Ash snorted. "Why would they have guards there?"

"Honestly?" Misty's brows quirked, and Ash nodded quietly. With as much as they both have seen, he wondered why he even asked anymore. At this rate, like was trying to be challenging.

However, the road outside of the city to reach the assisted living home was long and winding, and Misty, bless her heart, was already at the point of wobbling with every footstep, even if she denied Ash's observation the last thirty minutes or so, he knew they were reaching their limits.

"I'm exhausted." he muttered, watching her eyebrows rise.

"Hi exhausted, I'm Misty, it's nice to meet you."

The strangled noise that escaped Ash's throat brought a smirk to her lips.

"Really? I'm trying to be nice."

"Yeah, well, don't be. I'm fine."

"You already said that you're not."

"No, I said I was _tired._ " She nodded to him while shifting back into the woods. Ash begrudgingly followed her.

"You're so stubborn sometimes."

"Pikachupi chu!" The mouse hollered at her back, while hopping onto Ash's shoulder. His tiny weight felt like a hundred pounds right now.

"Well now you know what it was like for me to handle you." togepi snickered at the comment, since he remembered most of Ash's journey back to the Cerulean City gym the first time.

"So you're just getting back at me?" He snarled playfully, and watched her shoulders rise and fall.

"Maybe." Then she flashed him a grin. "Maybe not."

 **XOX**

They made camp thirty minutes out of Viridian City; if they walked northwest, they would arrive right at the nursing home; however, Misty neglected to sleep since according to togepi, morning was only a few hours away, they could spend that time preparing for the next course of action... but the truth be told, they were both too anxious to rest.

"How do you think Brock is doing?"

"Honestly?" Misty hummed. "He's probably just over that hill." she laughed dryly, tucking her arms under her legs. They didn't build a fire, it was warm enough without one, and they didn't want to draw attention to themselves, not yet, anyways. Once they knew the location of Abby or Sebastian, it would be a free for all, but not until then.

"I never realized how close the towns were."

"They're not really... but..." She trailed off, mashing her words into her knees and letting her head drop, Ash shifted to her side immediately to shake her. She blinked away the sleepiness.

"Sorry, drowsiness." She murmured, rubbing her scalp. "It's not a big deal, it's just because I'm sitting after being active for so long."

Ash scoffed. "Right." He rolled his blazer off his shoulders and dropped it over hers, she flinched when the fabric touched her shoulder; and he wondered how beaten up she still was underneath her clothes. Without the adrenaline of the walk pumping through her veins, she had started to pour sweat, and her bangs matted to her face. In the bright shine of the moon, she was pale and clammy.

Misty honestly didn't feel any better than she looked, but she couldn't stop. Couldn't send Ash out on his own. She had to see this through, after all, this is what she had been waiting for. Restarting the league, sending away the evil that had spread through the Kanto region. Ash started all of that, and she wanted to spare him as much trouble as possible. Misty was confident that she could make it through this by stubborn will alone.

Misty couldn't say it, but she saw that look in Ash's eye, several times throughout the night already. There was a darkness in his eyes she could grasp with her own hands—one that terrified May and worried Brock. Ash hadn't been the only person Brock talked to—the latter warned Misty to keep an eye on him—since returning from his travels in search of legendary pokemon, he hadn't been the same; he was more poised, and yet someone twice as reckless—but in full control of his decisions. They were planned as far as they needed to be, and executed in a timely manner—so foreign from the bumbling man-child he was prior to Unova and... It wasn't fair. He didn't ask for this, didn't wake up to be some hero—he was convinced he was no one special until they dragged him into this. So _in spite_ of the ache in her bones, of the loss of her pokemon, her dear companion, she was going to see this through; every painful step at a time.

"-Misty?" Ash called to her, and as she wiped her brow, she didn't realize that she had spaced out. Her eyes met his in the darkness, and his concern worried her.

"Sorry." She grimaced, though togepi and pikachu found their way to her side, she didn't let them perch. Everything hurt, even Ash's gentle hand on her shoulder—not that he knew how to be gentle. He tried, that was all that mattered.

"Wanna talk about it?" he asked awkwardly.

"Talk about what?"

"What happened with Lapras... and the explosion."

"What is there to say?" Misty spat suddenly, her own venom surprising. Ash didn't retaliate.

"It's okay to be sad about it, Misty..." he offered her the same advice she had given him so many moons ago. Misty looked at him behind narrowed eyed.

"I _am sad_ , Ash, but that doesn't change anything. You didn't stop when you were down, don't expect me to." She warned him with a confident tone that convinced Ash, but not herself.

She was ready to fall asleep, cuddle up into her warm bed in her sisters newly decorated house; celebrate Daisy's graduation, attend silly gatherings for the league and pretend like Team Rocket never existed. Misty wasn't some superhero. Ash dreamed of being chosen for years, but not Misty. She wanted life to be fair, and everyone to be equal, but living on the road, _literally_ fighting her enemies; she wasn't that strong. She was more vocally savage, a political minefield, but her will to fight was...

"If you keep thinking, eventually your head is going to explode." Ash observed, poking at the grass in front of them with his hands and ripping some out.

Misty blinked back to civilization to stare at him; he had been so quiet up until this point, playing with togepi and pikachu who were trying to mesmerize Misty with tricks and jokes, but she was in her own mind. Finally, she offered a smile, bumped her shoulder to his, and exhaled.

"Thanks, Ash. It's not like I've been through that recently, or anything." She hummed playful, letting her shoulders fall as she glanced up at him. His face flushed, embarrassed by the accidental reference.

"I didn't—sorry." yet, in spite of all his changes, he was as bashful as always.

Brown eyes twinkled under the florescent moon at her comment, and she felt small pinpricks of laughter reach her throat, but rather than release them, she inched forward and placed a delicate kiss to his lips, silencing his concern. _Finally_. A whole day, and only now did he taste her lips. Chaste, and gentle—calm and collected. _Terrified_. They hadn't been so close since leaving Unova. Her heart thundered in her ears as she pulled away.

Peeking through closed eyes, Ash licked his lips, now closer to Misty: "How long has it been?"

"About a month." she answered quickly, seconds before his arms wrapped around her and both togepi and pikachu ran playfully to the trees, away from their careless trainers.

"A lot has changed in a month." Ash breathed quietly against her ear.

"Maybe we should talk about that-or..." she trailed off breathlessly, with her eyes closed and her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, it was difficult to cull her instincts. Slowly, she found her way to his mouth, and met him halfway for an arrangement of kisses; new territory, but they were both too exhausted to understand the physical drain that it carried over their bodies—however ungraceful as it was.

Strange was the feeling of being moved to connect physically with her, rather than mentally. His internal battles were always chaotic, but she had a way of straightening them out. When he kissed her, the shroud in his mind disappeared. When his hands pushed and kneaded her skin, checking desperately for injury, or at least that's what he told himself, she gasped and melted into his bumbling touch. Excitement replaced the ache in her bones.

The messy exchange ended as quickly as it started, and their banter turned into panting, laughter and jokes about his _drooling_ , and eventually they laid next to each other, looking up at the stars, blissfully quiet and awaiting the sun rise: for then, everything changed.

After all, they agreed to deal with _them_ after they stopped Team Rocket, they didn't have to talk to express the confusion and worry that powered their kisses, but they knew—hoped-that at some point they could figure it out. With her head at the crook of his shoulder, and his arm curled to touch her hair, and their faces distorted from a frolicking sickness of romance, they seized their motions, and fell into a stasis.

The breeze cut through them, and Ash fumbled, and reached out to grasp her smaller hand and squeeze tightly.

"I met Ho-oh." blurted Ash suddenly.

Misty wasn't sure that she heard him right; the topic so out of the blue. Twisted her neck to look at him. "What?"

"I went to Mount Silver, and I found him. Daiga and Palkia were already gone but—I got Ho-oh."

"How?" He saw the light in her eyes, a stray figment of hope that returned his own strands of hope. Then, remembering the Moltress incident, she grimaced. "Did he attack you?"

Ash smirked. "No, he's just really untrusting of humans."

"Ah-ha." She whimpered nervously, then shook her head. "Why didn't you tell anyone else?"

"I guess maybe I'm still getting used to it." He answered quickly, and followed with. "I mean, have we ever decided what we're going to do with them once we capture them? What's the point besides keeping them away from Team Rocket? Are we going to release them on Team Rocket and hope for the best?"

Misty blinked with her jaw cocked—eyed narrowing.

"Ho-oh brought up some good points—said we would lose regardless...and-" She cut him off.

"We're not going to lose. We can't lose—you can't even think that. Not you." _What did she mean not him_? He was only human, he had his doubts, too. He argued with himself time and again that they were making the right decisions, but that didn't mean he didn't still doubt himself. _Sometimes._

"But even Iris is preparing for war—because we didn't attack soon enough. I mean, what do we need the legendary pokemon for?"  
Misty was stumped for an answer, and sat back, looking into the forest as if it would provide an answer.

"We protect them from Giovanni, great, but if we stopped him before he captured them—couldn't we protect them, anyways?"

"We can't change the past, Ash—maybe we haven't always made the right decisions getting here but-" Misty eyed him from over her shoulder while he pensively looked onward. "That's life. We can't know what to do until it's right in front of us, and yeah, it's complicated, but that's what makes us _human._ "

Ash stared at her for a long time. That title: _Human,_ was one that Ho-oh used so belittling. However unconvinced as he remained, Ash shared a smile with her hard gaze.

"I 'spose so." he said, "But-"

"No." She cut him off. "If life was supposed to be easy, and all the answers were right in front of our face, we'd have screen writers and cameras. We're not scripted—sometimes we make mistakes. We're supposed to struggle. That's how we learn, and right now, despite my worries that it isn't safe, we're doing what we originally planned. Stopping the chips now that we know how they work, and finding a way to Giovanni. Everything happens for a reason, and right now, this is ours."

Ash stared at her for a long time, in awe of her words. Even before waking up, Misty was full of inspirational words of affection and dedication—after waking up, she hadn't changed at all. _You can do this_ , was her constant cheer of dedication, lead by example, and with it, Ash truly felt that anything was possible.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." She huffed indigently, keeping her knees close to her chest once again.

"Not just for this." he shook his head, staring doe-eyed at her. "For everything."

A slight pink tinge covered her cheeks, meeting his gaze and then curling into a ball with a chaste smile over her lips. They had thanked each other time and again, for support, for motivation, for being there to lean on when the other was falling down; and every time, it still made her heart swell, and her head fuzzy. Very few words made her so bubbly.

"So what _really_ happens after this?" She found herself asking for the first time, and Ash blinked confusingly.

"Well, I figure once we get the information from Sebastian, we'll find Giovanni and then-"

Misty started laughing. "No, I mean after that. When we win, what happens after that? _To us._ "

Ash's mouth felt suddenly very dry.

"...Well... I don't know, I haven't really thought about it-" He pointed discreetly at her, "In fact, I think I've asked you that question before."

"I know.." She smiled, cheeks still red and lively. "But victory seems so close now. You have Ho-oh, and we're on our way to stopping the signal towers, and if things go well, we'll find Giovanni, and cut the head off the snake."

"Aren't you counting your togepi's before they hatch?" Ash chuckled, knowing that she wasn't typically the optimist, but it was a thought he could get used to. Behind them, togepi jeered in excitement.

"I don't think so. I mean for the first time in...in.. _ten years_ , the world will be peaceful again—the league can finally rebuild and move forward. I mean, imagine everything that happens after this. More trainers, the routes would be used again; gyms will actually be a place of learning and..." she squeezed his hand. "You'll finally get to be _normal_."

A flash, and Ash remembered Ho-oh's words, he forced a grin anyways. "What's so great about being normal?"

"Well, normal used lightly. I don't think _you_ would know what normal was if it hit you in the face."

"Pika!" the mouse chirped, now eagerly joining the conversation. "Chuuuu, pika pi!"

"He says I'm very normal."

"He does not." Misty rolled her eyes, looking at Pikachu's betrayed expression.

"How would you know? You don't speak pokemon!" Ash laughed, his voice carrying through the darkened trees. Misty grinned back and stuck out her tongue.

"No, but I don't have to, to see that pikachu did _not_ say you were normal."

"Pika!" The mouse agreed, and Ash rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, well."

Then he rolled his eyes, but settled on the laughter in his chest, and the broadening smile over his features.

"I missed you guys when I was gone." He shifted pikachu's weight in his lap. "I mean, Jessie and James turned out to be pretty decent... but they're not you and Brock. Not by a long shot."

"Yeah..." Misty hummed, leaning her head against his shoulder. "We missed you, too."

"Do...do you think after this we can all hang out again?" Ash muttered, and Misty frowned in confusion.

"Like..?"

"Well, I mean, we didn't all meet under the best circumstances—but May and Max were here—not to mention Dawn helping; and you two getting along. I also had the chance to meet Tracey briefly... I just... I want everyone to be together again, if only for a little while."

"I think so." Misty answered hopefully.

For what felt like forever, the moments ticked by, and she finally shifted back to stare at him. For a second, it felt like they finally reached common ground, but then he caught her worried glance, and felt uneasy once again.

"How _did_ you capture Ho-oh?" She asked, and Ash cocked his head to one side.

"Well," He muttered, believing that now, after finally discovering the balls purpose. He could tell Misty about Agatha's gift. "When I was leaving the Nursing home, Agatha gave me this."

As he flicked the purple and black ball from his belt, he watched several emotions pass Misty's face; first, awe, then surprise, and finally, she settled on confusion.

"What's wrong?" He asked, blinking several times as she pushed away from him, then fidgeted to show him the matching ball that she carried. Ash blinked, and stared up at her.

"Where did you get that?"

"The league champion when I was summoned by the elite four..." She narrowed her eyes deviously. "Why would Agatha give you hers?"

"Do all Elite Four members get one?" he cleared his throat, raised his eyebrows.  
Misty stared at him in awe for a very long time, but then the concern washed away as she went to click the button. "It doesn't work though." She stared at the small ball, and then took a seat once again. "I wonder if there's a pokemon inside or if it's empty like the one Agatha gave you."

Ash relaxed as she did. "Maybe!" Then he exhaled "But that's funny... I didn't think mine worked either, until trying to use it on Ho-oh."

Misty grimaced. "They say that in order to be captured by a ball, they have to consent to it, which was how the master ball was created by Silph Co. originally... So maybe they don't work until then?"

Ash laughed. "Maybe, but Agatha..."

Naturally, Misty clicked the button on her ball before Ash managed to finish his sentence, because his eyebrows were knitting together, and the cogs in his head were finally starting to turn when Misty bit down on her lips and stared at him as the ball grew from its small size, and into its larger form for the first time since she carried it. Stunned by the growth, Misty shrunk backwards, holding it out for Ash to see.

Ash stared down at the ball, pursed his lips, but as his eyes connected with Misty's, a sudden shock fired through their bodies. And everything went black.

 **XOX**

Brock was kicking his butt—leaving Ash and Misty _again_ simply because they insisted that this was the best idea, because he, of all people, could move faster on his own? Please! He was shaking at the knees and his heart hadn't slowed since its rapid pace that morning. Sleep alluded him at every corner, and he decided that, by himself in the forest, that sleeping wasn't smart, and he would rather walk the number of hours to his destination, rather than be caught off guard in the dead of the night.

Of course, he could always call out onix, ask the pokemon to guard him while he slept, but the fifteen foot giant might stick out more in the forest than Brock by his lonesome. There were no telling how many Team Rocket members were still around, if any of them were around after the incident. May said that she found the same ones lurking around the laboratory, but they were long gone, now. If anyone was being followed, it was Ash.

Brock was no one—and that was the motif he would use to get into the position of power to destroy the tower, and the power plant. He was both grieving for his friend, and in complete disbelief about everything going on around him.

For awhile, he was simply Gym Leader, Brock Harrison, the long forgotten hermit of Pewter City, visiting an old friends _fake-funeral_ , and delivering the message to her sisters. He would hit the fork in the road near the Indigo Plateau, then head north of there to Cerulean City, then make his way south as quickly as possible—praying that the chaos caused by micro chipped pokemon didn't strain too much on the ability to travel. Maybe the funeral was even canceled-Maybe Team Rocket was only warming up.. These were the thoughts that kept his body light, and legs moving in the night, even when the ability to see was dimmed by the darkest parts of the night. However, the stars kept the path mostly illuminated, he couldn't stop thinking about his friends.

Ash was strained beyond reason—May mentioned _crazy_ at one point, but Brock chose to ignore it. Ash was _Ash Ketchum_ , the boy with all the answers, with the visions and dreams, with the ability to pull people from all walks of the world, and every corner of the city together to form a band of misfit rebels. He wasn't _crazy_ , though Brock was running out of reasons to deny why he shouldn't be.

Friends were 'dying', the world was falling to chaos as they spoke, and they were _technically_ no closer to victory than they were before. A plan didn't mean they would win, it meant that if they were successful, they could place a long hiatus on anything related to Team Rocket—but the kicker, that was Giovanni. They had to cut the head off of the snake; nothing else would suffice.

Brock had to have faith that Ash could do that, that between he and Misty, right decisions would be made, and his location would be unearthed. Giovanni would be stopped, and they could finally go back to a normal life, knowing that they saved the league.

By now, if he had guessed, he was an hour away from _The Gates_ , the location that would be his first moment of rest, and possible train ride to Cerulean City—it was the first stop before travelers would journey to the League frontier, and Brock would use that as his first acting ground. From there, he intended to meet with Misty's sisters in person, and _maybe_ like Misty said, get them to help him bring down the tower. If they were half as smart as Misty, and there were three of them, then he would be in good hands.

 _And he wouldn't be alone_.

As he reached the peak of the hill, his feet started to shake, and his body vibrated from every muscle; then, his knees met with the ground. His head ached, and the turn of violent shakes gagged him until his muscles hurt—followed by the deafening ring in his ears surrounding the squeal of a strained pokemon. _What in the world was happening_?

Clutching his ears, he hit the ground and then jerked forward to look above him—to the glowing magnificence in the distance that distracted from the bland, darkness of the forest. Above the scrawl of trees was a white elegant bird with eyes as red as the sun, and a wing span rivaling a small town. Brock thought instantly to the beast of the sea; Lugia, but never dared to imagine seeing the beast in person. Or why he would be seeing it in person. Here. In the middle of no where.

That wasn't the worst of it, though; when he turned, at the opposite end of the legendary white bird, the rival pokemon of equal girth, but feathered where the sea-beast was smooth; was the pokemon Brock believed to only exist as a myth; Ho-oh, and then of course, the daunting misunderstanding of how either of them got there.

Between the gagging and pain, he came to one easy conclusion.

"Ash-!" Brock exhaled, trying to climb to his feet but found they wouldn't move. Petrified, the notion of being frozen in spot by fear of death with just a sound was nonsense! Willing his legs to move, he shakily stood up to see the two birds looking at one another. They hovered over the forest line and Brock watched as they squawked and cawed at one another, with each scream he felt like his head would implode, his hands did nothing to prevent the ringing.

Then, as quickly as they emerged, for as short of a visit they had, Lugia lunged forward, and Brock felt his guts vibrate, and he was on his knees once again, throwing up as the two birds began their clash.

As they bit and lunged at one another, the tightening in his throat lessened, and the feeling returned to his body. Lumbering from the ground, _crawling_ , from his position, he slid back down the hill top and swore at himself.

 _I'm coming, guys!_

 **XOX**

That vibration through his body returned, and Ash swore at himself. His body felt lighter than air—or worse, like there was nothing past his neck. The sensation was unreal, outside of the pain and headache, he hardly felt in control anymore. In fact, trying to peel open his eyelids was a task itself.

He couldn't.

Was he dreaming again? Stuck in some sloppy coma, provided by a random aerial shock created by...it wasn't pikachu—it was that ball. When Misty clicked the button something happened. Plus, Ash would have known if it was pikachu. Even though the rodent had made a point not to shock Ash since he woke up, he would never forget the numbing sensation that crawled from every corner of his body—it wasn't _pain_.

 _Give up_. A voice called to him in the dark and Ash tried to fight off the intense motion of control. His body moved on its own, he felt the vibrations of the battle happening above him, somewhere, but couldn't open his eyes to see it.

No. Ash thought in return to the strange voice beckoning to him. Oddly familiar, and yet...

His eyes opened, staring up at the brightened sky above them, as well as the flare of smoke and forest fire. Quickly, his instincts threw him into action; pikachu was at his side.

"Pikachupi!" The mouse shouted, running from his now awake trainer, to Misty who had fallen off the rock where they were sitting, and was laying in the grass at the base of a tree. Ash swirled from his seat, and then bounced up to grab her as his eyes and ears focused on the task at hand. Daylight was sparking around them now, _how long had he been out_? No, it wasn't daylight, it was the blasts shared between the two beasts above him.

Beside him, the two masterballs lay broken in half, and above him—he saw the start of a nightmare.

Ho-oh facing Lugia in battle...

 _But why_?

"Misty!" Ash shouted at her, shaking her shoulders, and slowly cradling her in his arms. "Wake up." he ordered, brushing his hand against her face, and tearing his eye away from the battle up ahead. She didn't stir, but then looked up once more.

The threat that Lugia was in danger was an idle one; he never thought that Lugia was already in captive—After all, the beast of the sea drowned an entire island... and yet, the way its eyes glowed red with unadulterated rage as it faced Ho-oh, he knew the notion was all too familiar.

It was the same look infernape gave Ash only hours ago. Team Rocket already got to him.

Lugia, the poor legendary, had been in captivity far longer than Ash would have ever imagined—somehow, they must have triggered something with the masterballs; that lightning wasn't a mistake. His eyes turned back to Misty, who still wasn't moving. The forest around them was ablaze, but togepi, and pikachu bordered them to ensure safety as he tried to wake the woman.

"We need to get out of here." he barked, twisting his arm behind him to release charizard who arrived with a roar. If she wouldn't wake, he would carry her. This wasn't how he planned his big reveal of Ho-oh to go, he expected to use the legendary bird to destroy Giovanni—not like this!

"Charizard, help me get Misty up!" he yelled, but as he shifted, he finally watched her eye lids peel open.

The whites of her eyes were gone, the gleam and personality within them vanished, and staring at him were dull, green orbs. A blank slate.

"...Mis...Misty?" he asked as she suddenly jerked away from him, shoving him hard against the dirt, and then bounced to her feet moving her shoulders and neck like she was adjusting to a new shirt—only the new shirt was her skin, and she clearly wasn't comfortable in it.

"That's real funny, Misty!" Ash whined, holding his arm where she pushed him, and his three pokemon backed away from her; pikachu's cheeks flared with lightning, and togepi jumped onto Ash's shoulder shaking his head, mumbling warnings. He heard the birds above them scream in agony, for whatever reason, and the noise brought Ash to his knees, but Misty remained standing, watching with her arms candidly at her sides until she inhaled, then turned to face him quietly.

Reality sunk in watching her face.

"We'll battle." with a monotone voice, she removed the ball Ash had grown familiar with over the time he spent with her, and flinched when she summoned gyarados to the burning field.

"I'm not battling you!" Ash screamed, and a confused gyarados looked back to Misty, then to Ash when she pointed.

"Hyperbeam!"

At first, the giant gyarados wasn't sure what he was supposed to do, it stared at Ash, who had been Misty's friend for the last year—then saw the pokemon surrounding him. Gyarados was always the loyal pokemon, Ash knew, it would take a bullet for Misty and then some if she asked him to, because they shared an unforgettable bond—but now, he questioned his trainers motives. For good reason—Misty would never attack a human.

"Now!" She shouted, the disdain in her voice that made the pokemon flinch, but reel backwards in preparation.

"Wait gyarados, don't!" Ash shouted, but his voice wouldn't reach the loyal pokemon.

With perfect reflexes, charizard swooped down in front of his trainer, and grabbed Ash into a bear hug and lifted him away from the blast before it made contact—Misty, or whoever was posing as her, was faster than Ash was.

"Knock them out of the sky with tail whip!" she shouted, and gyarados obeyed begrudgingly by twisting around, and swiping at Ash mid-hyper beam. Slowed by carrying his trainer and faced with the option of dropping Ash, pikachu and togepi, or taking the hit, charizard went spiraling to the ground, and released Ash moments before he was thrashed against a tree. It snapped under charizard's weight, and gyarados launched the falling tree away from landing on Misty; though she didn't flinch at the notion of being smashed by a tree. Her arms crossed.

"Finish them." She ordered, and Ash sat up slowly to see her face, blank of emotion, and then finally, he stared at gyarados who pleaded forgiveness for his next few actions.

Then, gyarados lunged.

"Wait-!" Ash shouted, finally prepared now to make a move when togepi jumped up, glowing white with tears streaming down its face, to take the hit.

Then, a blinding white of nothing pierced Ash's eyes before he fainted.

 **Author's Note** :

I honestly didn't think I was going to get this chapter out before I left. I'm going home for a week-ish (and if you're wondering where I've been, well, it's a long story, and hopefully it will all be cleared up the first week of July, and I can get back to a normal life) So anyways, I won't have computer access so I was like I -need- to post something. Well, here's something, and I still feel like it needed more work. I JUST GIVE ASH A HARD TIME, thank you for your time.

I don't usually dedicate chapters to people, because I don't want to make any of my readers feel obligated/awkward, but I have to give a special thanks to "freakkingalex" from tumblr. This lovely person drew a sort of comic-strip for chapters 52 and 53 of Locked Away. I'm not sure if they have a FFNet penname, but, they trulycaptured Ash's emotions from the last two chapters so perfectly I squealed, and made a couple other strange noises. SO THANK YOU SO MUCH FREAKKINGALEX, you did a wonderful job.

As for the rest of my author's note, when I wrote this chapter, I was like "Lol, I'm having previous chapter flashbacks" (Their goodbye after Unova; SORRY, I'M REPETITIVE SOMETIMES .) Also, who ever guessed Misty had Lugia, you were right. But what can I say, I'm a sucker for the classics? (we also had some throwbacks to the first 8ish chapters in here, some parallels that I kept because it was a lot of work writing them.)

What if I told you I've had this chapter written out for months? This chapter, and 55 are the last of my original outline to see this website. Because of that, I rewrote this thing like six times until I felt like it had a better flow than the original (And met with some of my updated ideas)

As for everything else—well, I like to give...and I like to take away. (I'm sorry, Mrs. Nose)

 _THANK YOU FOR ALL THE BEAUTIFUL FEEDBACK._ As always, I'm amazed to see people have stuck it out this far.

See you soon,

NINT


	55. Chapter 55: Stutter

**Locked Away, Chapter 55**

 _You won't win._

 _That voice was so familiar_ , Ash thought, that tone of misfortune, mixed in strength and confusion—but he struggled to find a match. It wasn't the great beast of a bird above him, for his head did not feel like splitting open, but it belonged to someone else. Someone far away, and yet so familiar. Where did he know this voice from? The way it damned him, and promised he would lose this fight in the end. A man, perhaps—someone he knew long ago, defying his victory.

 _You'll never win._ It hissed, twisting over Ash's insides. It pulled him, made his mind heavy and disheartened. Ash ached, writhing under the pressure as the darkness yanked on the thin threads of his mind, begging for control.

Still, Ash fought, forcing his mind on the task, and not what could have happened. He had been trapped in his own mind for ten years, any other substance trying to keep him there would fail. Ash swore on it.

Rocks tore into his shirt, and his back was cold, and face flushed with heat—he focused on the sensations of life around him, the presence of the real world; as painful as it was, and with his eyes still shut, jerked himself forward.

" _We will_ win." Ash grunted, inhaling as his eyes snapped open to a cloud of smoke.

His senses went absolutely nuts; first, the forest was on fire, his eyes burned and he was sore from every muscle. When he finally sat up, he heard beside him the whimper of an injured comrade—Charizard was crashed in the small stream beside him weeping into the water. His eyes were darkening and he blew smoke at Ash.

"Buddy-" Ash winced, crawling to the dragon in his best attempt to help him. The pokemon was greatly injured, the last blast he took from gyarados resulted in several sharp rocks lodging themselves beneath the underside of his belly, and wedged themselves between his scales. He huffed once more, blinking and informing Ash that he broke his trainers fall.

"Oh, charizard...you didn't have to do that." Ash grimaced.

Placing his hand over one of the worse wounds, he turned to see that the two of them rolled down a hill—but the rest was a blur. A few branches were destroyed and the ground was wedged up on two sides. Pikachu and togepi were no where to be seen.

"Piakchu, Togepi?!" Ash yelled, his voice cracking, and his brain wracking every possible outcome—what had happened? Misty attacked him, the feeling of being emotionally impaled was very familiar, but how had he ended up here? With a huff, charizard brought Ash's attention back to him, in the glow of the fire, he could see the black rings around the dragon worse now than ever before, and Ash dropped back to his knees to nurse the pokemon.

"You should go into your ball, before this gets worse..."

Adamantly, he refused the offer, determined to stay with Ash until help arrived—though his bulky frame lying in the water wasn't much help.

"Anyone?!" A long breath followed, hoarse from breathing in the smoke, he slouched over the dragon and covered his mouth with his sleeve.

No answer but the crackle of fire, and the distant sound of angry legendary birds attacking one another.

No one was coming, and this time, there was definitely no flock of lapras prepared to save him from drowning—though this time, the options were burning alive and suffocating. The latter felt much worse. All his life, Ash had been lucky. He survived being electrocuted, he survived ten years of a coma, he survived the hell out of way worse than this!

Hunching over, gasps for air took over him, and he was dry heaving while attempting to stand. People were counting on him—Misty was counting on him. He had to find her. As Ash rose from the ground beside him, Charizard also rose, his slightly gimped wings stretching out to help lift him from the ground.

"We can do this!" Ash chanted, leaning against the dragon for support. His legs felt weak, and now that he could concentration, he felt his ears bleeding—no doubt thanks to the battle above their heads.

Charizard roared in support, and together, they took one step forward before another sound brought instant gratification to their ears.

"Ash!"

The voice belonged to his dear friend Brock, who Ash could kiss right now. At the sound, Ash literally fell onto his hands and knees, now knowing that he did not have to stand entirely on his own. Charizard, too fell, and accepted Ash's kind words to return him to his ball.

"Pika pi!" The mouse yelled, dipping and weaving through rocks and fire to collide accidentally with Ash, who was nearly knocked over from force.

"Careful-" He warned the pokemon, only to have Brock and a small white object crash into him next.

"You're okay! We need to leave!"

"Really?" Ash wanted to sound sarcastic, but he was mostly surprised to feel a thump against his head that was unfamiliar outside of the fire, and craziness. Ash's eyes made contact quickly with a small, floating creature with large flapping wings, and smooth body. Instead of scales, a very light fur covered the flying pokemon until reaching his head, where spikes poked out slightly from the curve of a very sweet face.

"Togetic?" Ash muttered, surprise and gratitude taking over him.

"So that's his name?" Brock muttered. "We thought it was togepi—he lead us to you out here."

"Is that so?" Ash grinned. "I knew you could find me."

Which meant that the light before had to have been togepi finally evolving into this—an elegant fairy that Misty would be-

"Misty!" Ash snapped, looking at Brock as he started to pull Ash up the trail they came. Pikachu ran ahead, mapping out the safest route.

"Did you find her? Was she out here?" Ash asked and Brock shook his head.

"No, I haven't seen her..."

"To-chu!" The fairy danced, trying to describe to Ash the events that followed his evolution. Apparently, he was still a shitty performer of metronome, and wound up zapping Ash and charizard away from the battle. Gyarados tried to knock togetic away, but the fairy got away.

"Great job—but what happened to Misty."

"Maybe she's still out there—why was she attacking you?"

Ash shook his head as they reached the top of the hill. His arm was drapped over Brock's shoulders, and Ash hadn't realized how much work the older man was doing until he concentrated on moving his legs. He was shaking from head to toe, every nerve was on fire as if he nearly lost complete control of himself. Then, he remembered the voice trying to claw its way into his mind and he looked at Brock worriedly. The fire reflected the deep worry in his eyes, a look Brock echoed.

"I think she was being controlled by something—She wouldn't...Misty wouldn't.."

"Then she's probably still looking for you—we have to get back to Jessie and James..."

"They're here, too?"

"Yeah, they're the ones that brought me here. It's hard to miss two giant legendary pokemon fighting each other. We knew it had to be you." Brock quickly clarified while running beneath a branch that fell from the fire right after. Still, pikachu pranced and pawed away at the destruction to lead them to safety, and togetic took up the rear, constantly filling them in on the small details they missed.

Ash's lungs hurt, and the air around them was so thin, he wondered how Brock could manage to pull himself and Ash long the path—so Ash forced his feet to work, and tried to walk. The rest of their jolt was in silence, as the smoke robbed them of their voices, and all air was precious. Behind the lead of togetic and pikachu, they weaved through the forest expertly, and eventually—the image of a small air balloon came to view away from the fire, and Ash had never felt more relieved until-

"Hydropump!"

"Shit-!" Brock screamed watching water fly directly at the air balloon. For a moment, they all watched in silence, their escape about to be ruined until a little ball flew out in front of the jets, and a large blue aura flashed, and subdued the attack.

At first, they stared in awe at shield togetic created to deflect the blast; Ash was stunned, since he hadn't even considered the defence an option. Before either Brock or Ash could act, pikachu was already bounding ahead to protect Jessie and James who were holding their own without pokemon against the rapid red hair in the distance—this time, Ash saw an even more familiar pokemon than gyarados. Misty's poliwrath was her star battler, and he looked as torn and confused as gyarados had prior.

"S-stop!" Ash screamed, his voice caught in his throat. He pushed away from Brock who stumbled to follow as Ash head directly into the battle with pikachu and togetic hovering.

Jessie seethed.

"it took you long enough to find him!"

"Tu-co!" The egg snapped back, eyes angry before facing Misty again. Her composure was scarily calm, but her laugh was disgustingly evil.

"Back for round two? I thought you ran away."

Poliwrath tossed a concerned look behind him at his trainer, and Ash knew that while he couldn't get through to gyarados, poliwrath was another story.

"Poliwrath, use water gun!"

"Wait poliwrath! Misty's not herself! Don't listen to her!" Ash yelled immediately and found himself surprised that the pokemon actually froze, unsure in his actions. His large, cartoony eyes turned once more at Misty, who chipped away slightly under realization that poliwrath was no listening.

"Do it now or it will be the last thing you ever defy!" With fear, poliwrath looked to Ash for help, but he could offer very little.

Behind him, James stood.

"Keep her distracted." He urged before pointing at Brock and walking around the one side.

"I know this looks back, but your trainer is sick! She's hurting people! She would never let you attack people poliwrath!"

"ouu.." The pokemon grimaced, taking a few steps back.

"We don't have time to play around." Jessie growled, Ash saw that the stitches she had re-opened, based on the blood on her side. They were also soaking wet, which meant that Misty hit that at least once. Around them, the fire robbed them of outside sound, and the birds raised hell.

"I'm not leaving without you, Misty—but you need to snap out of this! You're hurting people!"

"She can't hear you kid—this is what Giovanni does to people." meowth whispered, sharpening his claws—blood decorated them from where he attacked poliwrath before Ash and Brock's arrive—but Ash could tell she clearly had tunnel vision.

"Don't let her make you do this poliwrath—go back to your ball, you know this is wrong!"

For a split second, ally and pokemon met eyes, dark pools staring into one another, and then absolute understanding, though Misty was spouting more nonsense behind them—if he didn't listen she would-! A red light flashed, and poliwrath was gone, and Misty was literally screaming and preparing to take out the pokeball and smash it; her hand was above her head when around the corner, Brock and James came in, grabbing her arms and holding her down.

"Let go of me!" She screamed loudly and the venom in her voice forced Ash to flinch. His mouth was dry and his heart hurt and stomach was prepared to leap out of his throat.

"Settle down Misty!" Brock yelped, trying to bring her down. The ringing in his ears grew more intense, listening to his companions yell around him—of Jessie preparing for take off and his friends try to get her to settle down. The fire was spreading quickly, and air was cut off around them. Pikachu looked to him for answers, but Ash had none.

None that wouldn't...

"You two, let go of her! Now!" Ash yelled, and maybe it was blind trust in him that made them think to do it, but the very second their arms disconnected, Ash pointed and pikachu knew the momentum without words—he raced to Misty within a spark of a second, attached to her stomach, and a small spark spread from himself, and throughout Misty's body.

Sound rushed back instantly, and Ash was running before his brain realized it.

"Holy shit-" Brock swore, eyes bugging out. James' mouth was agape.

Ash didn't catch her before she hit the ground, but he held her a moment after. She was limp—but alive and pikachu pranced around to make sure.

"Did pikachu just shock her?" Brock asked, wiping at the sweat over his brow.

"Yeah."

"Is she _okay_?" Brock whined in fear and Ash looked at him as if he were stupid enough to actually hurt Misty. Pikachu would never.

"Yes, she will be. But it's enough to knock her out—Let's get her in the balloon and get out of here."

They agreed silently, though Ash, who could barely pick up his feet a second ago, made a note to carry her by himself. Hopefully, she wouldn't hate him for acting in such a way.

 **XOX**

The sky above the fire was no more safe than the ground. The first opportunity they had, they tied Misty up to prevent her from having anymore violent outbursts—Brock later mentioned that maybe they could have used a pokemon with sleep powder so they wouldn't have had to hurt Misty, but Ash questioned which pokemon they had that knew that. Jessie and James commended him for his quick thinking.

"Damn, two hours alone and you two burnt half the forest."

"Must be an omen." Ash grumbled, his eyes looking duller by the second. James nudged him while Jessie tried to control the direction of the balloon.

"Don't beat yourself up, kid. She had us by the ropes before you two got back."

"Is that what he plans to do to everyone?" Ash asked suddenly, his tone overly serious when he made eye contact with James. "Why did he pick now of all times?"

James cast his eyes to the floor of the wooden balloon basket, then looked to Brock and Jessie for support. Meowth rose to the occasion after securing the ropes and pranced around pikachu and togetic to get a good look at the group, then spoke.

 _He must have known you had the legendary bird, Ho-oh in your possession._

"How would he know that?"

 _Good question; better question, why didn't you tell us?_

Brock looked at them back and forth, as the only person who couldn't understand poke-speak, he relied on pikachu's dramatic hand gestures to keep up.

"I guess... I just—with everything I heard I panicked. Didn't mention it."

"Or maybe you didn't trust us? Look at what you started!" Jessie snapped abrasively, though Ash could see the fear and panic in her eyes. The fire was so wide-spread, it would be a miracle if it didn't wipe out the whole Viridian Forest.

"It wasn't that I-"

"How did you even catch that pokemon!?"

"Jessie, give him some air." James demanded, pulling on her shoulders. She held her side achingly, and 'tsk'd' with her lips before looking over the side of the balloon. Ash shrugged for a moment, and then shook his head for an answer.

"I guess... I had a master ball with me, and for a long time it didn't work—so I tried it when I didn't have anything else and it just...It just sort of worked."

Very still, James licked his lips and asked: "And did the beast agree to be captured by you?"  
"Yeah, I mean... Does that matter?"

The long pause that followed made them sigh.

"We should have told him, James."

"I didn't know he had a master ball..." James groaned and even Brock looked oddly mortified.

"I thought master balls were never completed?" he asked as they made their way to the city. James sighed again.

"They...weren't, _not really_ anyways." Pausing, James closed his eyes, and folded his arms. "Did we ever tell you what happened with Lugia?"

With that, Ash blinked. For awhile, he had wondered what happened to the bird, as well as the rest of Shamuti Island, but in the grand scheme of things, the question never really posed as a meaningful question.

"A master ball can only capture a legendary pokemon with that pokemon's consent—otherwise, how else could so much power ever be contained? Ten years ago, the creation of the master ball was one of the first products by Silph Co that could contain these creatures—but Team Rocket also wanted a cut of that."

"It was awful. They burned down several Silph Co companies shortly after the initial release information. I remember that—sort of." Brock grumbled.

"Not all of it, unfortunately. After Team Rocket took over Silph Co, they privatized the creation of master balls, and their creation was devoted solely for capturing and controlling legendary pokemon. We were the first test subjects, when we tried to use the pokeballs on Lugia—they failed. We..." James cleared his throat.

"We used his memory of you to convince him to join us. Lugia was the first beast we ever caught for Giovanni." Jessie explained without looking at them. "Though...after that, we were unable to catch the other legendary pokemon the same way—it was as if they knew."

Ash was horrified. "Why didn't you tell me this!?"

James smiled sadly, "As if we want to relive our mistakes. We had no idea that this..." together they looked at the horror around them. The fight had escalated to a point that the birds were squawking and circling above the forest. Jessie's shoulders quivered, and Ash thought she might have started crying, but she would never show it to them.

 _They really did start this_. Ash felt his stomach churning and then exhaled. "That's how Giovanni knew to find us then?"

"Probably." James scoffed. "To think we thought we had the upper hand..."

Ash looked down, his face sullen and dark until Brock snapped his finger.

"Well, no!" He said quickly. "Who gave you that ball, Ash?"

If possible, the sullen look only grew worse when his lips drew to a line and he stared at Brock blankly.

 **XOX**

They landed the balloon south of the city. Like infernape outside of the lab, Viridian City was seeing its share of violent pokemon attacks. Only, the police officers present were able to keep it mostly under wraps, they had called for martial law, and soldiers marched the street. Ash didn't think any other city would look much different right now if the trigger for the towers was finally pulled, he only hoped that they weren't too late to save all these pokemon.

Their destination: the nursing home where Ash spend a large chunk of his time recovering from his coma.

Slipping out of the balloon one by one, Ash looked on at the facility tucked into the crook of the forest that _wasn't_ on fire. His entire stomach felt like it was on fire, and his head was swarming with bats. Togetic perched on his shoulder timidly, having no recollection of the nursing home that carried his egg for months.

"Are you sure about this, Ash?"

"Yeah...I'm pretty sure." Ash quietly muttered, then turned around to look at his companions. He was still bruised, but he had plenty of time to heal when he was finished with trying to save the world. His eyes fell on Misty, who was slumped on the inside of the balloon again, and he felt sick knowing that she wasn't here with them.

"Brock and I will talk with her—Jessie and James, stay out here and watch Misty, okay?

"Yeah no problem." James offered a small smile, but no optimism was going to help fill the void in Ash's chest as he turned to face the facility once again.

 _Agatha_ , you old bat. _Please have an alibi_ Ash mentally prepared himself, and then started the trek. Brock was on his heels, trying to rehash every detail they told Agatha, mortified to know that they, at some point, told her everything. At least everything leading up to the pokemon league party—now, that seemed like ages ago.

Brock knew that Ash desperately wanted to believe otherwise. Agatha was a rock, a founding member of Ash's confidence that lead to his arrival at his gym that fateful day—she was a guiding hand for months to come, and a mentor to Misty and Ash.

To think she could have... Brock put it out of his mind. He knew that while Ash was tunnel visioned at Agatha, he could search once and for all Abigail's office—have a few words with the therapist that released Ash.

"What if we're wrong?"

"We're not." Ash said, the feeling in his gut hadn't lead him astray yet, why would they now?

"But even you said Agatha was a great person in your dreams—she was at the Viridian City pokemon gym-"

"Which is the gym that Giovanni owned, Brock." Ash snapped, not meaning to. He muttered a weak apology, and slipped down the hill. Naturally, Brock tried to help the raven-haired man, but Ash swat his hands away and carried his shoulders with pride.

"I just don't think that you're thinking clearly, man. You're under a lot of pressure, and that thing with Misty—you have to feel like crap-"

"Brock!" Ash growled, unable to look at his old friend. His hands were shaking, and Brock took the cue. Now wasn't the time for moral compasses and judgment. Ash had every right to follow this thought through.

Master balls were not in normal people's position, and there is no way that Agatha would have one without... It did seem fishy—but she helped so much. She wrote the reference for Misty, warned her to be careful and...

Oh god, she was at the perfect position of power.

Stepping into the front doors of the nursing home after a year made Ash's feet wobble. He never suspected coming back so soon, and he never thought he would under the circumstances that he now found himself in. The offices were closed due to the time, and the front doors should have been locked, but the night staff forgot more often than not. A factor Ash relied heavily on as he strolled in.

Eyes were on him immediately, and some people reached for their phones—unfortunately for them, this was the only time the police line would probably be busy with calls of panicked pokemon trainers. He had at least an hour to sort everything.

Brock knew the glances weren't for their attire. Though they were both covered in mud and bruises, they smelled like soot and Ash, it wasn't the damage they were watching, but Ash's face. He was the crazed kidnapper and alleged murderer of Misty Waterflower—suddenly coming home again to exact his revenge.

Ash turned the corners he walked everyday. Pikachu and togetic glared at anyone that dared to approach them, and Brock followed closely until they arrived at the activity wing, where the frail old woman sat clutching her game cards, and a smug expression. She was winning. When Ash's feet touched the surface of wooden floor, her gray eyes danced from her game to his brown ones, and then she offered a smile that made Ash sick.

"Aww, if it isn't my old friend—what are you doing here?"

Ash gestured to the other places when he pulled up a chair, if it wasn't his sudden and hostile _move_ that scared Scott and the other players away, it was the electrical spark frothing at pikachu's cheeks. Brock gulped, remembering the concern Gary had about Ash, and clutched the back of the chair that Ash was sitting on.

Agatha didn't flinch, actually, she found his disposition humorous.

"Is that any way to greet your elders?"

"Why did you give me the master ball?" Ash cut immediately to the chase, and Agatha slouched and whistled.

"Because I wanted you to succeed."

"Some friends of mine said only members of Team Rocket had access to them"

"And old members of the Elite Four—I got it before they were taken off the market."

Brock sighed, it was a really plausible answer, but Ash's lip quivered at the way Agatha brushed her hair from her face, and leaned on the wrists of her limbs.

"You're lying." he said brokenly. He could hear in her voice. Before, he confused it with snide confidence, what it really was, however, was her taking advantage of him in every way possible.

"Why would you say that?"

"Because master balls were never on the market."

"Not for young trainers. Elite Four members were considered above that—we all got one when-"

"When Team Rocket took over?" Ash groaned, slamming his hands on the table. This time, Agatha flinched.

"You lied to me?!" Ash screamed at the tops of his lungs, silencing the whole facility. Aside from the blurp of a distant fish tank, the staff started to tap their phones and approach. Ash threw up his arms.

"How could you lie to me!?"

"You're sure getting worked up over something you have no proof of—how did you get this information?" Agatha asked, her eyes narrowed and her brows knitted tightly together. Her back was flush against the seat when Ash stood.

"Agatha, I'm sorry, Ash is just under a lot of pressure—Misty was mind con-"

"Don't tell her anything, Brock!" Ash bellowed, then took a seat to try to contain his anger. He counted back from one thousand, then said.

"I assure you, if I knew it was being traced I would have never given it to you, Ash. You're my friend." When she reached for Brock for support this time, he jerked away, horrified. Agatha didn't seem to notice her slip—it must have been because Ash was shouting and having fit seconds prior; maybe it was finally her old age, but the two males stared very quietly at her as pikachu growled from the ground beside them.

She blinked a few times, and then realized her mistake by tucking her hands under the table. Her face was emotionless, completely unreadable when Ash finally breathed again.

"We never told you it was being traced."

"I assumed."

"Big assumption." Brock jumped in, eyeing her mercilessly.

"...Were you and Abigail working together?" Ash asked, uncertain of everything about his life. "Did Misty know you were crooked? Were you hired to keep an eye on me?"

Still no emotion as far as the eye could see, she finally broke slightly when her eyes twitched and she looked away. She threw up her hand, tried to clear the air.

"You're delusional. It's all that heat from the fire south."

Ash had to contain himself from screaming. He wanted to so badly it crawled up his chest and danced in his throat. He didn't want to yell or throw a fit, only scream and shout and throw his fists around. How could this have happened? How could he have never known—if he had only spoken up about the master ball a year ago when she gave it to him. If he hadn't trusted her so much.

"Yo-"

"Ash, you need to step away from her." At the corner of their eyes, they saw teal hair hanging in front of pale face: Abigail watched with a clutched clipboard. She was out of breath, having ran over from the other side of the building. Brock swallowed, noticing the security guards around them. The ones they used to restrain unruly patients. Agatha didn't move.

"Yes, remember. Abigail is-"

Ash interrupted Agatha before she could spout her nonsense. "Dr. Abby, did you take my journal?"

"...Yes."

Ash looked to her, with large, brown eyes. "And what did you do with it?"

She inhaled proudly, and yet also terrified. "I tore out the pages about the legendary pokemon, and any mention of your former companions."

Ash looked back at Agatha, and Brock stared at her, agape. Dr. Abby didn't seem to mind the confession, if anything, saying so made the guilt rise from her shoulders. Made her taller. Ash's eyes honed on the old lady.

"I always liked Abby. You said we couldn't trust her."

"I never said such a thing."

"Told me to watch my back—but that I could trust you, right?"

"Well..."

"You betrayed me."

Agatha snarled now, "Don't be so dramatic." Then, as if her mood switched, she smiled. "I was never on your side."

Ash she spoke these words, she put up her hands and clapped them, then waitd. When nothing happened, she clapped them again, and garnered a strange look from her visitors. Ash was prepared for a battle, but he looked awkwardly at Brock instead.

"If you were trying to bring your ghost pokemon here, I got rid of them ages ago." Dr. Abby spoke from the side, approaching Ash, and waving for the men who were approaching to come closer.

"Lock up Miss Agatha, would you? She's threatened these boys here."

"But miss-that one is-"

"I know who he is. Please do as I say. Twenty four hours should do."

"You-!" Agatha growled, and Dr. Abby hardly spared a glance at her before she was dragged away. Abigail set her charts down on the table and leaned over to get a better look at Ash, who was a sight for terribly sore eyes. For a moment, no one said a thing.

"Will you tell us what's going on?" Brock finally asked, desperately and Dr. Abby inhaled, then gave her sweetest smile.

"I think it's best if we talk in my office."

 **XOX**

Her head didn't just hurt, it ached. It burned like her hair was on fire, and yet she felt nothing. When she grunted and spoke, it wasn't her voice, when she moved, it wasn't her body. Her thoughts were slippery slopes down a mountain in the middle of rain fall, and she was suffocating under the weight of the rest of her empty thoughts; and she had no control.

She was drowning, sinking to the bottom of the ocean floor that exploded. The pain felt like she never left that place—nothing but suffocating, endless.

 _What was going on_?

"I hope he knows what he's doing... we're running out of time."

She knew that voice, it belonged to a lavender haired man. She licked her lips that were not her own lips. They felt so dry, in fact, her body felt cold, her throat was scratchy and numb. Had she been screaming recently? She couldn't remember screaming.

"Yeah, but how else are we going to find Giovanni?"

She also knew that voice, a woman's frustrated tone was very familiar. She too, carried that voice endlessly. However, her eyelids wouldn't lift on their own freewill. Sensations came back one by one, starting with the restraints on her wrists that her muscles slowly fought against.

"We're stuck here babysitting. We should be in there!"

"Meooowth!"

"Jessie, you've seen what he can do... You have to let him figure it out sometimes. His instincts are rarely wrong."

"You have too much faith in the boy, James. I'm starting to think finding him wasn't...We shouldn't have involved a bunch of kids."

"They're not kids." the man, _James_ , yes, she knew that man. He argued back. "We went to him because we knew he could fix this."

"Maybe we were wrong...that's all I'm saying."

She started to chuckle, but it didn't belong to her. It fell from her lungs and parted her lips, but the sound was unfamiliar.

"You were."

She hadn't realized that her arms were free. Someone without thumbs might have tied the rope. That upset her, but she couldn't understand why she was tied up to begin with, or why she was pushing the two individuals, Jessie and James down the large hill, and watching them tumble head first.

She saw through eyes that weren't her eyes. Everything was so dark. Even the lights were quietly dimmed as the two humans swore at her. The pokemon beside her—the cat, she thought, was hissing violently, but again, the unfamiliar slip of laughter forced the pokemon into hiding.

Inwardly, she wanted to scream at herself to stop, but found her body's motions were not her own, her actions were no subject to her will. She was a puppet to a greater power, and all around her, she felt the weight of the world crippling her. When Jessie and James hit the bottom, she turned and looked up at the sky, then back to the building down below.

She knew that building. Once upon a time ago, she spent a lot of time there; it was almost like a home...but not her home. Someone very important to her; it was their home. It was a shame she couldn't remember. Instead, she turned and slowly made her way down the mountain, and her aching bones that weren't her aching bones carried her over a small bend, and down a beaten path. The smell of smoke infiltrated her senses, and she started to recall.

Attacking people—someone, forcing her pokemon to fight. She would have felt sick, but her stomach was not her own. The same way her lungs and voice were not her own.

"Really, those idiots were never worth the effort. I'm surprised they've made it this far." she said, but the disdain was not her own.

Someone else. _Someone..._

"Oh dear, you are terribly confused, aren't you? Don't worry. It'll be over soon."

It would be over soon. She felt so tired, like her eyelids were being pulled down low, yet her body kept moving. She had no more energy left to give, and yet she walked with grace and effort. She knew that she was being bad. Hurting her friends, but she couldn't stop.

She was drowning, stuck at the bottom of the ocean. The pressure in her chest was starting to suffocate her.

With hands that weren't her hands, that weren't her actions, she dug through the bottom of a tree, and removed a flare gun no larger than her hand, and loaded a flare into the barrel. She hummed in a tune that she was unfamiliar with, and her heart raced uncontrollably as she pulled the gun back, and fired it off.

"It'll be over soon..." her words fall out, and it's getting dark outside again. She's too weak to fight it now, and she felt the cold embrace, and the fuzziness finally faded away.

 **XOX**

Once they arrived in Dr. Abby's office, with her uncomfortably bright colored sofa and chair and wallpaper that Ash remembered enjoying, but now thought was childish and uncomfortable, she sat them down, and shut the door quickly. For a time, she paced back and forth, searching for the answers to say, before finally stepping to her desk, and removing the journal she gave to Ash a year ago, and handed it to him.

"Agatha wasn't lying. I did work for Team Rocket. I gave them the information about you."

"You what-"

"Let me finish." She urged and gestured to her once pregnant stomach. "I gave them your notebook, and they returned it to me because it didn't have the information they wanted. They thought I messed up on purpose, they... I can't see my family. For so long, I hoped that it would just be over, and we could move on—but I was wrong. Pokemon started ripping down people's doors this morning, there's a fire in the forest that could consume the entirety of Viridian City, and—I'm so sorry."

Ash and Brock didn't know what to day.

"I want to help. What can I do?"

"I need to find Sebastian... he might know where Giovanni is, right?"

"Yes. He still has an apartment here. I don't know if he's still there, but he used to be very diligent on returning. Being away too long killed the flowers, he would say."

He even sounded like a nutcase, but neither of the boys made a comment, infact, Brock and Ash exchanged worried glances before looked at her abrasively. "...no offence, but why should we trust you?"

"You shouldn't." She answered immediately, her bright eyes watering. "But I need you to. My husband... Dr. Moss, he worked with Professor Birch when Team Rocket took them. We were running our own clinic back then, but Team Rocket didn't allow that—so they blackmailed us to work for them, and for awhile, it was...almost normal. Last year after I was assigned to you, they took him and...I...I thought it would be okay..." her face twitched uncomfortably, and Ash felt rocks hit his stomach. Brock reached forward to grab her hand apologetically, but she flinched away.

"They're _horrible_ people, Ash. They can't win, and I see that now."

"Why _now_?"

"Look at you." She breathed, her voice hitching. "Look _around you_. This is a nightmare."

Ash felt his blood run cold at the confession. Yes. This was a nightmare. Even in his worst dreams within his dreams if he ever had any at all, he never imagined a world where his home was being destroyed by the very people he viewed as clowns in his dreams. They took it too far. The genuine fear in her eyes, the shaking in her tone, and the fact that her hair was tied up in two braids and looked to be unwashed told him that she hadn't returned home for some time. She was unravelling herself in the midst of the hell that was their lives, and so Ash inhaled, and nodded.

"Alright, what's the address?"

She leaned forward, and took the book from Ash's hands to scribble in the notes a hand-drawn map, and an actually address before staring at them both.

"You have to be care-"

"We have a problem!" James kicked down the door, Jessie in tow. They were both covered in dirt, and their faces were scratched up.

"Misty got the jump on us—she woke up and ran off somewhere. I think she's trying to alert the other Team Rocket members that we're here."

Instantly, they threw the sofa back with the force of their stand, and shared shocked expressions that togetic would have covered his ears for at one point. Dr. Abby, who gasped looked at Ash for an explanation, but he didn't offer one, instead, they shared a look.

"If we make it through this. We'll probably need to talk again." Ash addressed jokingly, earning an honest smile from Dr. Abby, where the whites of her eyes were bright pink.

"I think we'll both need it."

"Is this Agatha?" James asked, pointing to the teal-haired therapist as Ash gathered his few items and thoughts.

"No, we got what we needed though, let's get out of here before the police show up and throw me in jail."

One by one, they rushed out of the facility; the nurses who watched in awe and confusion, some of them in terror, all moved aside for the foursome as they made their way around the facility, dodging supply carts and racing through the front door. With some edge, they raced with renewed speed and optimism, and also a feeling of absolute dread.

"She signalled a flare from over there." James pointed once they were out of the building, and facing the fire. The flare had clearly burned out now, but hasty decisions were needed to be made. Ash clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, and then a red light flashed and charizard was standing next to him with a great roar.

"What are you doing?" Brock asked, looking flabbergasted at Ash.

"If she really did warn them, I have to get to the address Abby gave me before he leaves. If we wait, we could lose this chance forever."

"You're not going alone!" Jessie urged, trying to cut him off, but charizard's great wing separated them.

"You have to let me do this, and we don't have time to argue."

"Ash." Brock swore. "Don't you dare do anything stupid."

Ash's face turned dark, knowing exactly what Brock meant by the words; by the way his fingers dug into his shoulder blades, and his face stayed inches away from his. Naturally, Ash removed the bulge that had been resting against his back and creating a bruise and flipped the butt of the gun out to James, who blinked in concern.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

"I'm not going to be stupid, Brock. Togetic, stay with Brock—I'll find you after."

James took the gun, but immediately tucked it away and stayed concerned at Brock, then at Ash who looked at the injured charizard. A fire burned behind his eyes and he nodded his assurance as Ash climbed on top of his back, using the flying gear he had readied for the dragon before he left professor Oak's house. It was slightly damaged from the fire, and he was still bleeding—but the damages were healing, and now, standing in the light of the moon, each of them could see the orange scales flicking the into the very color of Ash.

"I need you to go look for Misty—if she really is being controlled she's in danger, and so are the people around her and..." Ash trailed off, his shoulders slumped, but Brock nodded knowingly.

"I know. We'll look around."

"I'll be back. I promise."

Without another word, charizard kicked off the ground, and they were up, flying toward the downtown district through the thick haze that was beginning to cover the city.

 **Author's Note:**

I rewrote this chapter so many times, I'm finally just going to post it. I had it done ALL DAY today, but then as I read it I was like "what even is this?"

So you know what I haven't done in awhile? Re-write a re-write and post it without re-reading it. That way, there are no take-backsies, only fixings. I did that. That's what this was.

This was one of the first ideas I wrote; I was going to delve into more thought, but there's time for that after. I wanted to keep the pace fast and running, like split second decisions—how the characters are feeling. It's a time crunch and time is thin so there isn't a lot of indepth thought, just actions and moving. Sorry, guys, this had been planned for Agatha from the very beginning (Though originally she didn't 'gift' Ash the ball, she just left it with him without telling him, but I changed that, clearly) In defense of Dr. Abby, she never seemed malicious, and even tore out the pages in the journal, and seemed to always be 'watching' and hovering. It's a shame they sided with the wrong person. FYI, that's how TR was kept up to date.

Uhh, yeah. LONG TIME NO SEE.

I LOVE YOU GUYS STILL. Thank you for all the support and love you have given this story, and I hope you're still interested after THIS FRICKIN' LONG.

The reason I haven't updated was because I had some major life-things going on over the course of the last 6-ish months that required a lot of my time, fortunately, that should have wrapped up and I might be able to get back into the groove . FIRSt i need to get back into the groove of writing. It's so funny that if you don't use it, you lose it.

Anyways, if you have questions, PM me, if you have questions about the story, review and I'll try my best to clarify. When I'm more alert in the morning, I might look at this agian.


	56. Chapter 56: Sinnoh

**Locked Away, Chapter 56**

A chill filled the summer air that Drew would never forget. On the back of flygon, his body shivered, and he secretly wished that he had brought a coat for himself, other than his small sweater. As a child, Drew grew up in the Johto region with his family, then eventually took to the Hoenn region in later years—until finally moving to the Sinnoh region for the fairness and equality shared between battlers and coordinators. Over the past four years, he spent the better part living in Sinnoh—and never once had it been so cold. Especially not in the dead of summer. South Sinnoh, about an hour outside of Pal's Park, where the two regions met at the border.

Trees wilted, snapped, and broke under the pressure of building frost, and in the distance, he saw the swirling blizzard blotting the skies from the top of the usually peaceful Mount Coronet. The Sinnoh and Kanto region border, which was usually empty nearly fifty miles above Route Twenty Five, was packed with people from the very small, fragile gates, to as far as he could see until the mist swallowed them. Tents, fires, and sleeping bags were sprawled out in scattered like tiny ants, and Drew felt his heart drop.

"Hey, you there!" A loud megaphone tore into the breeze. "This is a no fly zone! You are requested to come down, or you will be removed from the sky."

Drew was always a stickler for the rules, and so he did not hesitate to swoop down, landing only a few feet away from the guardsman who called for him.

The green-haired coordinator noticed several interesting facts immediately. Well over one hundred guardsmen were at the border, unheard of in peaceful territories like Kanto and Sinnoh—since the border was never previously managed. Countless families, travellers and strays were camped out in the chilly weather, and not a single person was fighting the guards.

"Get to the back of the line." Shouted one of the guards, who met a very nasty look from his harsh green eyes.

Drew waited to speak until he was sure that he, and his ground and dragon type pokemon had the man's attention.

"What's going on here?"

"Kanto is under total lock down. We're not accepting any refugees or travellers at the moment."

"I'm not a traveller, I live here!" Shouted one of the women in the distance, screeching as the men hissed to silence her. Drew scowled as a whisper fluttered through the crowd _you know what they did last time_.

"Lock down, huh?" He muttered quietly, skeptical of their motives. Drew had two options, he could fight here, and land himself a pretty bullet in his side from one of the nice guards to the right of him, or he could walk away. With an eye roll, he took the second option, and waked away, much to teh relief of the people around him.

"Pokemon aren't allowed out, either. Return your pokemon to the ball."

At that, Drew's lips smacked, and flygon's large eyes twisted to his master to view his face, asking for permission what their next choice was. Feeling his shoulders stiffen, Drew licked his lips, and then clicked the button on his belt, returning flygon without another word, or glance at the guard.

Drew was not Misty, or Brock, or even Ash; he didn't fight the lines—besides, if he stepped forward and started yelling at the guard, demanding answers, he would more than likely start a riot before anything else, and these cold, tired people made up mostly of small families and children wouldn't last a second against the Kanto Region's squads from the league. They were all equip with weapons, and strong pokemon. No, instead he held his head high, and walked away with his hands in his pockets, to observe the situation up close.

To have this many people waiting for entrance to another region, implied that what ever was happening with the weather was getting worse, not better—and judging by the vicious sound in the distance of whirling clouds and whistles, he didn't doubt that it would get much worse. As he walked, staring into empty faces, and hopeful, excited children who thought they were only playing, he noticed how truly endless the line up was. Generally, the citizens of the Sinnoh Region helped one another, shared food and fires—tents and sleepwear; but even when they occasionally flooded or were met with a hurricane, it had never escalated so far.

What exactly happened here?

"Drew, is that you?" The familiar voice returned his thoughts to the present, and he turned quietly to view a woman with curly, pink hair zipping through the crowd to reach him. His lips still turned into a frown—he nodded his acknowledgement.

"Yeah, it's me. Hey Ursula," he paused. "What happened here? What's going on?"

She was in a large, recently knitted sweater, squeezing it to her small frame—odd since she usually wore overly revealing clothes, generally inappropriate for the weather, and flaunted her body. Today, she looked totally serious, and a bit sore. Struggling at first for words, she gestured to the howling mountain.

"A few weeks ago, this blizzard blew in. We were skeptical at first that it would stick around...but it kept getting worse." her voice was shaky as she pulled the wool of her sweater over her mouth, recounting the events.

"First, the local towns, Eterna City, and Celeestic City were buried in snow, but when a few inches turned into a few feet—they evacuated those towns to Hearthorne and Solaceon...Unfortunately, that didn't last, because the storm kept expanding, swallowing everything... The entire region was told to evacuate when the blizzard started to spread to Floaroma, Oreburge and Veilstone... only," her pink eyes shifted uncomfortably to the guardsmen chatting amongst themselves. "The Kanto border won't let the southern cities evacuate. We think the western towns fled to Kalos...we don't know what's happened with the north since... since..."

"Since what, Ursula?" Drew asked quietly.

She scoffed bitterly.

"Now...I'd offer you a place to sit down, but we're currently short of that so...brace yourself."

She swallowed hard, her whole body trembled.

"...Before...before we lost communication with Sunnyshore, they made the announcement that Champion Cynthia's body was found outside of Snowpoint City... Only hours after it was announced that the long absent champion was going to find the heart of the storm. The Elite Four told everyone not to panic, but after that, people started packing up and running for the nearest borders—that's why..." she gestured to the groups of people, some watching, most people silently praying. "Some people are saying it's an attack from Unova, like they attacked Kanto—others are saying it's punishment, and an act of god... either way, it's been quiet since then, and the storms only getting worse."

Drew's mouth opened, then closed; his eyes wide and dilated, heart aching. "...Are...are you sure it was Cynthia?"

"They're sure."  
"How? She hasn't been in the public eye for years! Why would she suddenly choose now to go out?!"

"Shh!" Ursula scolded his raised voice while holding her finger to his mouth. "I know, but there was no doubt. I tried to get back to Sunnyshore, but they've restricted flying and...frankly...I kinda wanna be close to my family, just in case this is it, you know?"

Drew spit. "This isn't it, Ursula."

She offered her best attempt of a smile. "Are you sure? We've been pushed to the corner, and we can't go any further—what should we do?"

"Well aren't the Elite Four doing something? What about Dawn?"

"...Like I said," her face grew dark, "...it's been really quiet."

Drew's eyes hit the dirt, suddenly the rocks below his feet were more interesting than the conversation. They had only been gone from Sinnoh for a few weeks, and the mountain had already eaten the threads of hope that were left. Originally, Kanto and the pokemon league were the only casualties of this war with Team Rocket but now... Could they have had a part in starting this? Slowly, his green eyes worked their way up the mountain, and then locked on the dark shadow lumbering above, where the distant crackle of lightning and boom of thunder sent shivers down their spines. He came here to warn Dawn about the tower—but now, her not answering seemed relevant and understandable. Yet, now more than ever, his plate was overflowing.

"Ursula, get everyone here in a shelter—get people to share cover and blankets... get them to turn on their smart TV's and any other electronic device."

"...why?"

"Because—we're not done yet. I'm going to go fix this. I'm going to Sunnyshore."

"Pfft... how are you going to get there?"

Drew clicked his pokeball, a red light glimmered around them, and then faded, immediately, patrolling guards started yelling.

"No pokemon allowed in the safe zone!"

"I'm not going to be in the safe zone much longer, so try to stop me!" Drew snapped back, jumping onto the back of flygon, who stood easily at seven feet, and hissed angrily at the guard—spitting a yellow goo at the man, who immediately started screeching and peeling off his clothes; _light acid_.

"Drew what are you doing?!" Ursula shouted, clearly having not expected this from the man; and she might have been right, a few weeks ago.

"I already said. Don't forget what I told you. Thanks, Ursula!" And with that, and a strong flap of the green dragon's wings, Drew was off—since the flailing guard clearly had no way to stop him.

 **XOX**

Evacuation notices for Viridian City were already being announced by the time charizard landed with Ash at the former therapist' s house. No movement came from behind the large glass window, except for the glow of a television screen's flicker.

"Charizard, return for now. Thank you." Ash whispered, listening to the dragon flap his wings tiredly. He was breathing heavy, practically groaning. Will alone carried the dragon, and carrying Ash was becoming more difficult every time they went.

"...I promise, this is almost over, buddy." Unlike their first meeting, charizard did not flinch when Ash ran his hand over his snout. "I'll call you if something happens, I promise. Rest for now."

Obediently, the pokemon closed his eyes, and with a brief red glow, the massive flying beast disappeared, leaving Ash and pikachu to scout out the apartment.

Pikachu pressed against the glass window pane, his cheeks and nose flattening against the solid object. Movement flashed in front of their eyes, and they both ducked down below the window sill and gestured to the door. When he checked the handle, it was locked, of course. Misty was the expert at unlocking things peacefully, but she was— _no_ , he couldn't think about Misty right now.

Ash focused on the door handle, noticing that the door was made up of glass—He could simply break through it with a rock or two. Maybe even use one of Sebastian's fancy flower pots that rested on the balcony. He already knocked off two upon arrival—what was one more? His heart thundered inside his chest as he walked to the plant, and then with one powerful throw, he dislodged it from the corner of the balcony, and threw it through the seventh story balcony door—shattering it, and allowing his entrance.

"See, that was easy enough.." Ash mumbled, still whispering, but he knew that after such a loud noise, his location was already given away. Instinctively, Ash waved for pikachu to wait at the door, out of sight, and then walked in quietly when a _click_ alerted his senses.

"Welcome to my humble home, Ketchum. You didn't think to knock?" Behind him, the muzzle of a gun pressed into his back, and Ash allowed himself to smile.

"You know, I always knew the next time we spoke it would get heated—but I never imagined weapons."

"Shut your smart mouth. Go over there." he flicked his wrist several times and Ash put up his arms like he saw in all the movies—like how he and Gary used to play 'cop and robbers' when they were kids, and followed Sebastian's instructions, slowly turning to face him in the dark. Pikachu was ready to pounce, but Ash just gave him a look that kept him in place, quietly waiting the perfect moment.

"I saw that dragon you few in on. Can't believe you really did have a charizard after all." he spit at Ash, "Looks like it's half dead."

"He's still strong enough to eat you if I told him to."

"I said shut up!" Sebastian was rattled, and even in the dark, Ash could see that his perfectly gelled hair was a tussled mess, falling into his eyes and glasses. His composure was lost, and his hands were shaking. Perhaps, Ash could use this to his advantage.

"You scared, Sebastian?"

"I will shoot you if you talk again." He warned Ash, and he immediately bit down onto his tongue, watching as Sebastian circled back around to grab his cellphone. Even his clothes were a mess. If Ash had to guess, it was because of the pokemon rampaging outside, because the tears in his shirt and pants looked painfully familiar.

Funny, Giovanni didn't even spare his troops the repercussions of his actions.

"Now, when the boss sees that I have you—it'll be my signing bonus."

Light reflected in Ash's eyes, he closed his fist, wanting Pikachu to wait a bit longer as a great—and _stupid_ idea filled his head.

"You'll take me to _your_ boss?" Ash asked quietly, earning another uprising from Sebastian, who fired a warning shot.

"Not another word!" Unhinged, he circled back around and Ash sunk backwards as a worried pikachu's ears lowered. Maybe...maybe they could find Misty—they could end this quickly! Pikachu, having read his expression shook his tiny head, but Ash refused to listen.

"You're too late, anyways. I'm on my way out of town. It'll be a new world when we're done with it; everything you did—it'll be for nothing."

"I wouldn't say it was for nothing." Ash grumbled confidently, which only enraged Sebastian further.

"I helped you back on your feet, and if you wanna keep your legs, you'll talk out of turn again." He threatened, shaking the gun at him.

"Which one of those traitors told you I was here, huh? Their heads will be on chopping blocks."

"Agatha did." Ash lied quickly, but Sebastian smirked. He spent the better part of Ash's first month watching him, he knew when Ash was lying.

"So it was dear Abby then, huh? Guess you can't train old dogs."

Ash felt his eye twitch, he frowned, and curled his hands into fists. When Sebastian held his hand up, the gleam of metal cuffs reflected back at Ash.

"Turn around."

"Where are you taking me?"

"I'd cut out my tongue before telling." When Ash turned, he could see pikachu in the reflection of a glass cupboard above the couch. He didn't resist, and was surprised to notice that pikachu knew to go along with it. Ash smirked, and fought the relieved sigh.

If he was lucky, Sebastian could take him right to Giovanni after all. Ash winked into the mirror, and behind him pikachu nodded and sniffed the air, and dipped behind the broken door once again.

"Walk." Sebastian ordered, digging the barrel of the gun into Ash's back. Mindlessly, Ash moved forward, holding his breath.

 **XOX**

Ursula wasn't lying.

The ride to Sunnyshore was a rough one that met with random gusts of wind that nearly knocked him and flygon out of the sky. The winds forced them to fly lower and lower until they were barely over the tree line. From there, he could see the real damage.

People were stubborn. Some so much they stayed in their houses, refusing to leave, even though mountains of snow threatened to bury them alive. Trees crumpled from the weight of snow, and he saw how much it had grown from where Ursula warned him. If they didn't act fast, this would swallow the entire region, and the people—what was _left_ of the people.

Ignoring the sinking feeling in his gut, Drew carried on through Pastoria City, until he finally landed outside of Sunnyshore City, at the break of dawn. His body was so tired, and worn; having done nothing but flee and travel for the last few weeks, he was ready to fall into bed, count his loses, and regret ever knowing any of these people—on the other hand, he eagerly moved forward, glad to be assisting in something so huge. That's why when he walked into the Sinnoh Region League headquarters, where walls of people usually lined up for jobs, advertisement, and news, was barren and empty; his stomach clenched.

The lights were all turned off, but the front door left unlocked. Most of the city was empty except for the docks loading people up, though they had no place to go. Unova wasn't accepting travellers, and Kanto was under lock down, which meant the only place left was Kalos region—and if they were having issues like Kanto, they would surely reject them. However, Drew guessed being in a boat was still better than freezing to death.

Team Rocket really put them into a bind here.

Notably, the signal tower hadn't affected any of the pokemon in the pound, as the pokemon were left to wonder back and forth alone—but that might have been due to the tower's location in Eterna City, which according to Ursula, was buried in snow days ago.

"Hello?" Drew called aimlessly, praying that Dawn and the rest of the Elite Four didn't flee the City.

In response to his echoed voice, the sound of clicking heels raced down the hallway from the staff quarters, and a bob of red hair poked out of the cracked door that washed relief into Drew's bones.

"Zoey, you're here." He sighed, rushing forward to hug her.

"We never left—how could we? Where have you been? Did you see how horrible it is here?" She hiccuped, then naturally included him; "How did things go in Kanto? We're so sorry about...well... you know. We thought you wouldn't be back until after the funeral."

Drew's eyebrows pinched, remembering that, outside of their little group, no one else knew that Misty and Gary were alive and well.

"They're not really dead." he broke the ice, wasting no time for an explanation. The clock was ticking, after all.

Zoey's tears dried immediately, replaced by intense confusion as Drew brushed past her to the conference room, and explained what had happened until this point.

"Team Rocket made an elaborate plan to force all the pokemon from the pound—and any with a chip—to behave violently and attack their trainers. It's why the other regions are under lock down. That's why I'm here, I came to shut down that tower and instead I saw this—the entire region is covered in a blanket of snow and...and Cynthia—are we sure it was...?"  
Zoey went through every possible emotion, first surprise and frustration, then happiness and anger—and finally she settled on sadness at the mention of their former champion, followed by a silent nod that acted as the barrier for when Drew entered the conference room.

Sinnoh was less business inclined, and delved more into the practice of relaxation; thus, their hall was a series of large couches, coffee tables, and a large fireplace, unlike other leagues that considered of one stuffy large table. They enjoyed discussing potential changes in society with a cup of coffee, and comfortable seats. Today, however, as the sun crept through the windows illuminating the empty room, it appeared sad and decaying as the last remaining Elite Four member, Paul, sat stoically with his arms crossed, and the same pissed-off expression he always wore.

"Only Paul stayed?"

"The rest of the Elite Four have families. They evacuated nearly a week ago when the news about Cynthia first came out. People panicked."  
Drew sighed, feeling a strange sense of dejavu. "They think Unova did this, don't they?"

"Didn't they?" Zoey asked, a subject of conversation that struck Paul.

Drew threw up his arms.

"No, of course not! They're as much victims here as we are! Team Rocket caused all of this. It's all connected."  
Skeptical, Paul scowled. "How? Up until this point, their only known target has been the league and Kanto. Why would they choose the Sinnoh region to destroy? If you ask me, Sinnoh should have stayed out of it from the very start!"

"I don't know, maybe it was by accident. Ash mentioned that legendary pokemon play a huge part in how the world works—"

"Taking advice from a coma patient lunatic—he's the reason we were blindsided!"

"Stop fighting!" Zoey screamed, throwing her hands up between the two of them. "We don't have time for a pissing match and we don't have time to blame each other!"

"Even if Ash had never shown up asking for help, we would still be in this situation! Team Rocket wasn't going away unless we forced them out!" Drew turned furiously at Zoey, jaw cocked and frustrated, prepared to explain the complete insanity that was his last few weeks, when he looked around, suddenly worried.

"...Where's Dawn?"

Both last remaining members deflated and flinched at the mention.

"...She's in Cynthia's office... she hasn't moved much since we lost communication with Twin Leaf Town." Drew felt a chill run down his spine, that's where Joanna was headed before he left. "Then... then the news about Cynthia, and then whole region fell into chaos...She's been sitting there since."

Paul scoffed, he hadn't moved when Zoey walked Drew to the dark room, and cracked the door.

"I'll talk to her."

"We've tried-"

"Yeah, but I haven't." Drew removed his purple over-jacket, and handed it to Zoey. "Watch the door."

Approaching the young woman sitting in a large, leather business chair beyond a polished oak desk, the light from the crack in the door left them in pitch darkness. A slight gleam blinded him from a pin-hole size light source torn into the curtains, but the rest was shrouded in silence and darkness.

Drew's voice was barely above a hoarse whisper.

"Dawn?"

At first, nothing, no movement, no life. Then, she slowly turned, blue hair falling in front of deep blue eyes that typically brimmed with life and excitement, replaced instead with hollow, empty eyes. She said nothing, only watched.

"What are you doing, Dawn?" He asked her concave cheeks, and her pale skin—even in the darkness, he saw the reminiscent of a harsh last few days. Her whole body must have been in complete shock. A sigh fell from her lips, and yet she still did not speak.

At this point, the gentle gloves came off, and Drew whipped around the office to tear open the curtains, and let the sunlight devour the darkness. Naturally, the pupil of Dawn's eye shrunk, and she flipped away dramatically, throwing up her arms.

"I asked what you're doing, Dawn!"

"Cynthia is dead!" She shouted suddenly, her voice hoarse. Dark bags clung beneath her eyes that were highlighted by the sunlight, and both Paul and Zoey rushed in when they heard her scream. They stayed at the door when Drew fired back.

"Yeah, and so what?!"

With two steps, Dawn was only inches away from his face with her eyes on fire.

"She was our champion! She was called out there because of me! I sent her there!"

"And when this is all over, we'll have time to mourn _everyone_ that we've lost! This has only just started, Dawn—there's people lined up at the Kanto border, ships overflowing with people that have no where to go and an onslaught of war threats! Losing Cynthia sucks, but we can't lose all of Sinnoh, not after everything we've worked for!"

Dawn took a step back at his shout. Drew lost all composure, his face red and body trembling in anger. "Not to mention what Team Rocket's been up to...they've started their onslaught, and it's not good..."

Drew breathed, collecting himself.

"These people need you, we don't have time to sit and feel sorry for ourselves!"

"Cynthia was my mentor!"

"Yeah, well she was mine, too, that doesn't change that we still need to keep going."

"Then why me? What do you want me to do?"

Drew's face screwed up, wasn't it obvious? The last year, whenever something went moderately astray, Dawn always stepped up—whether her words were twisted or not, she directed the hearts of the people to always play in their favor. Sure, now that Cynthia was gone, the safety net was as well—but that couldn't stop her.

"Talk to Iris, talk to the people, they love you, Dawn—they'll listen to you. The world has to know the truth now more than ever, about Team Rocket, about everything, because we're caught in the middle of a war and we need to work together."

"I agree, sitting in here on our hands isn't helping anyone." Paul chimed in surprisingly, earning everyone's gaze. "We should use the last of the broadcasting material we have in victory road to put a message out to the other regions."

"Paul is right. Maybe we could stir a rebellion." Zoey added, and Dawn felt angry, grey eyes on her.

"We've kept quiet too long about the heinous acts of Team Rocket, and now a better time than any to speak up."

"Jeeze... you two pick now to finally agree on something..." Dawn whispered, swallowing against the knot in her throat. "..but who's going to listen to us? We're not champions, and I'm just a figure-head—Even Misty was rebutted for her accusation, they called _her_ crazy."

"The situation has changed since then." Drew reassured her. "It's gotten much, much worse. Half of Kanto is on fire, and from what we saw on those maps, the rest of the league isn't in for much better."

"Dawn," Paul interjected, closing his eyes. This _talking_ business looked painful for the usually quiet member of the Elite Four. "We've been in charge of this region for years now, even without Cynthia, people will listen."

"If not, who else do they have to listen to, anyways?" Drew suggested, and Dawn, looking down closed her eyes.

"Alright. Let's get to the broadcasting studio in Victory Road."

 **XOX**

The ride on mamoswine was brutal, yet overly efficient, the large woolly mammoth pokemon tore through the whipping winds and mountains of snow with the four trainers like knife through butter. As they traveled, Drew attempted his best reiteration of the last few weeks spent in Kanto with his best abilities—or at least the best explanation he could offer as the creature toppled over banks of snow piled on the bridge. All but Dawn held on with panic over their face, including Paul. Had they not been plunging through the thick of a summer winter, Dawn might have taken the time to laugh at Paul for his behavior.

At the moment, however, so very little felt funny. The news about what happened to May, Misty, and Gary didn't sit well with Dawn—she hadn't said much about the accident, or known that any of the three were still alive until Drew told her. They had been so disconnected since the blizzard started to grow, she spoke so little to the citizens, wrapped up selfishly in her own disbelief of their predicament. People that depended on the league's guidance were now freezing, waiting for another option.

"We're going to bust through the league gates. Hold on!" Dawn shouted and then with one great lunge, mamoswine dipped his massive tusks, and tore through the metal gates of the abandoned league building. They glided through the icy grounds, and slipped over the tile until landing with a thud against the heavy, steal doors of the battle dome.

One after one, they piled off the large mammoth, and Dawn thanked him then flicked the pokeball back into her grey winter coat.

"The broadcasting room is to the right, down this hall—follow me!" Zoey ushered them forward with her arm, and the three of them followed along the dimly lit halls. Without the bustle of people, the empty hallways echoed every step. However, inside once again, they could feel their body regaining warmth, and the whistle of distant destruction fell on deaf ears.

When they arrived, Dawn sat at the desk, and Zoey immediately ran to the camera and checked the power, as well as the connection. Drew, who wasn't technical savvy, stood off to the side with Paul, while the girls set up the receiver and backdrop. Dawn spun on her feet, flicked a few switches that were generally saved for the finals of the league, and exhaled.

They hadn't even thought of what they would say. What Paul would say.

"Alright, Paul, you're up."

The man in question blinked. "Me?"  
"Yeah, you're the last Elite Four member, which means that if Cynthia is gone, the title goes to the next in line—that's you. As acting Champion, you'll be the main voice, I'll follow up."

A long frown formed over his face, and he nodded.

"Alright, then let's do this."

At the center of the room, now that silence funneled between them, Paul took the stand, where Dawn and Drew stood at his sides, and Zoey gave the thumbs up that they were recording under an emergency broadcast, available to all regions via the official battle network, which was the most viewed channel every year, for the last ten. However, no one, they suspected, was prepared for an announcement like this.

Five... Zoey held up her hand, and Paul glanced back at Daw, who waited patiently. Four... Drew looked at Paul, unsatisfied with Dawn's sudden decision. Three... The rules were stupid, they were in a crisis—who was what shouldn't have mattered at this point!

Zoey gave him the thumbs up, and Paul felt a kick inside of him stomach so hard, he spoke before thinking.

"Greetings to the members of the pokemon league; Kanto, Hoenn, Johto... Unova." he inhaled, his eyes glancing at his comrades for only a moment. "It is no secret, that we've fallen under some hard times. The Sinnoh region is buried under a blizzard, and with the loss of our champion, and the evacuation of fellow Elite Four members, I, Paul Shinji, during this crisis accept the title of League Champion to undergo the swift action that will be needed to establish a safe establishment under the current hostilities and natural disasters..." once again, his eyes shifted to Dawn, then back to the camera.

"...and in my first decree as champion, I hereby declare the full equality of coordinators and battlers; and make it my first issue to allow top-coordinators of a high quality the ability to hold the position and title of champion and Elite Four status." His lips pursed, then stared at Dawn.

"And for my second decree as champion, I would like to resign my title, and promote my replacement, Dawn Matthews, to the title of the Sinnoh Region Champion for her hard work and dedication, and leave the region in her capable hands during this time of need."

Dawn's face paled, and her mouth fell ajar at the idea. Eyes wide, mouth ajar, a million thoughts ran through her head at Paul's brief speech as he stepped back, and gestured her to the center.

"W..what?" She barely muttered as Paul gave a slight nod, and beside them, both Drew and Zoey's grins were beyond measure. This, Dawn hadn't been prepared for—she gave speeches and commentary, follow up and hilarious comments—never had she been given the position of...

..Then again, this shouldn't have been a surprise. After all, they came to _her_ , waited for _her._ Dawn squeezed her eyes shut, then after licking her lips, stared into the lens of the camera, trying to imagine the scared faces of the trainers she helped daily, the travel companions, rivals—the terror in each of their eyes. She swallowed hard.

"This isn't a speech that anyone was prepared to hear—I wasn't prepared to give one, and I never suspected that we, as a region...as a league, would ever be here..."

"Cynthia is gone, and we will miss her dearly—her legacy will go on as one of the greatest Champions that the Sinnoh Region has ever had but that does not excuse her three year absence. It does not change the fact that now that she's gone, we have to keep moving forward. It's a trying time, but now isn't the time to grieve our losses."

"These last few weeks—years—we've watched out beloved region suffer through new regulations, absurd restrictions and rules, and an over-reaching fear of stray pokemon that have been sent to Pokemon Facilities for preservation. There was a time—not too long ago—that we used to live in harmony, we didn't need pounds, or rules, we all played the game by the rules, and the world was a brighter place. A happier place. "

"Now, we watch as a blizzard above Mountain Coronet rips apart our cities, forcing us to flee—where we are left frozen in the cold at the borders by our neighbors to the south, and our former allies to the east have welcomed us with threats of war. However, even in these trying times—we haven't yet been introduced to the true enemy."

Nervous sweat dripped down the back of her neck as she took a long breath.

"Some of you don't believe us—after all, how could you? You're terrified of war, of losing people—but let me tell you, you've been losing people all along. People have gone missing, pokemon have been taken, our leaders have been manipulated, all by the same corrupted team that has been trying to silence us for the last ten years: Team Rocket."

"I was as surprised as you, I'm sure, when Unova proclaimed war against Kanto, but how do you think what-was supposed to be a peaceful territory suddenly decided to put up arms? Because they have been ruled by Team Rocket for the last several years. I didn't believe it—not until I heard the stories of the compounds, seen the pictures. I...never wanted to believe it—but look around you, and tell yourself it isn't true. Where have they been the last few years? Absent from competitions, from battles—trainers who leave for Unova never return, and those that try are turned away."

"The truth is that... a few months ago, we discovered that our fellow region, Unova, never got away, they were never saved, or released. We discovered that the Kanto region was heavily influenced by the criminal organizations objectives. Whether or not you believe that is up to you. All I ask is that you look around, look at the changes, the hostility, the violence—look at the oppression and media manipulation. For ten years we've been lied to and guided by a corporate psychopath and his legion of monsters. Look at what we've become as a league—destruction, fear and slander guides us—enough that we turn away our allies in need—we attack one another in panic."

Slowly, her voice grew quiet, reflecting on her own behavior the last week, then with a strong inhale, she looked down: "We grow silent in the darkness, in fear of what's next. In fear that our utopia was only a lie. We are forced to accept that it was, that it's not just an adventure, it's not fun and games—this is serious, but we can still fight! We're not done yet, and so long as I am standing, I won't stop fighting, and I know there are many of you who will rise to the challenge as well. We need to work together, not just the citizens of Sinnoh, but the regions—Right now we see the loss of our homes, we have watched mother-nature rip us apart, and why do you think this is happening?"

"Because some monsters decided to play god with pokemon, and we can't let them win-We have to hold out a little longer because Kanto isn't evil like Team Rocket, they're misguided, but we can't give up-!"

 _screeech_

Static blared from the machines as the power suddenly faulted, and they stood in darkness. Dawn hiccuped, throwing her hands down and nearly screaming. Tears stung at her eyes, memories of the recent events flooded into her mind—reminding her how little she helped prevent the fall of Kanto. Dawn held her mouth as Zoey flailed her arms to find her footing in the darkness.

"What happened?"

"I looks like the power's gone out." Drew murmured, finding his way to the center podium with with his hands. Paul bumped into him once, and eventually, they stood together. In the shadows, they could only see faint outlines of their companions; what little comfort this brought was destroyed by the sound of wind cracking the windows above.

"Because of the storm?" A frightened Zoey whispered.

Drew grunted. "Probably. We need to get out of here before it gets worse. It's probably blown out the back-up power."

Dawn's head spun.

"Are you okay?" She wasn't sure who asked her, or how she had gone so far off her original ideas—venting about an organization she couldn't control. She was glad for the darkness to hide her emotions, and refused to answer.

"How? We have no where to go—Kanto's not opening their borders without a fight and Iris isn't a friend of ours. We'd be lucky if Frace would accept us, but if they're under the same heat as Kanto it's unlikely they'll welcome us with open arms."

"Then we'll fight them." Paul retorted immediately, much to Zoey's dismay.

"Wait—if we fight, we'll lose a lot more people than will be worth it. I can go to the border, and try to talk with the Kanto guards—maybe we can make a plea to the Kanto-region Champion-"  
"Are you kidding me?" Paul scoffed. " He's been absent for almost ten years, other regions don't know his name—what good will that do?"

"Then we'll talk to Lance—because we have to talk to _somebody."_ The strain in Dawn's voice as they felt the ground shake brought them to an uncomfortable silence, and they realized they needed to make their way out of the building.

How fast the storm was spreading terrified them, though they would never admit it out loud.

Without words, they exited through the door where they entered, and one by one filled the windowed hallway. The light burned their eyes temporarily, but in the distance, they could see the clouds swirling over their heads, and their breath left them. A chill, perhaps the cold outside seeping through, filled the air.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place—telling the world about Team Rocket would hopefully help society with acknowledgement of the true danger they are facing, but what real goal did she have other than proving to them that they were not alone? In the end, they were all alone—they could fight Team Rocket, but they couldn't stop the blizzard. How could she help thousands of people?

They were in a real crisis, but no action was worse than a good attempt. Dawn spun to look at her comrades—who knew as well as she did that their options were limited. They couldn't rip through the border of Kanto, to smuggle them over would take too long, and a shore-ride to the dragon infested, legendary pokemon assaulted island of Unova was out of the question.

"...Kanto is still our best bet."

"Or Johto." Drew suggested, though they knew that Lance controlled those borders, too.

"Anywhere would be better than freezing."

"But how are we supposed to get thousands of people over a border—whose to say that they would be safe there!?" Zoey snapped.

"Kanto is _still_ Kanto, they aren't all controlled by Team Rocket-"

"but our allies are a presumed dead Elite Four member and a terrorist." Paul interjected.

Between their banter, Dawn's eyes bounced back and forth, listening to their angry cries and reasons. Without being noticed, she turned away from them and approached the foggy window, and placed the palm of her hand against the cold.

In the distance, she saw a few boats still sitting on the shore, beyond that, she saw fog—beyond that, she knew that Unova was only a day away, as was the ever-terrifying, formerly-captive prisoner and Dragon Champion, Iris.

"Stop it!" Dawn yelled, her strong voice demanding silence from her companions. "We'll _make_ Kanto open their doors."

Their faces screwed up as Dawn folded her arms. "We still need to take out Team Rocket, and we know that the other regions Signal Towers, or whatever, have been activated thanks to Drew. We know that Ash, and Misty are on their way to stop Giovanni, and Brock, May, Max, and Gary are prepared to help the other regions. We know that the tower here is nonoperational due to the storm, which means my primary concern is the citizens of the region. If Kanto won't open their doors willingly, we'll make them."

All eyes, mostly concerned, were on the confident woman. "...How do you plan on doing that?"

"Iris has already made proclamations to the Kanto region, assuming she isn't under the same electrical deficiency as we are, if we can convince her to stand down, we could make a peaceful arrangement with Lance—maybe we can get him to listen to us given the circumstances."

"That's...that's putting a lot of faith in Iris." Paul's amazement faded as he spoke, exchanged with concern.

"We _all_ used to know Iris, she was a little wild, but she was never hostile. I know if she understood the whole story, she wouldn't mindlessly wage war. _If_ we can get Iris to settle down, Lance might be more open to allowing Sinnoh refugees given the lack of _war_ he'll be faced with."

"That's smart." Drew chimed in, quickly adding. "But how are you going to get to Unova? I don't know if you've noticed, but we're short a boat, or water pokemon for proper travel."

"Even then, it wouldn't be safe to travel by sea right now, since the storm has finally reached the coast, this could get ugly..." Zoey added, and Dawn chewed her lips for thought.

Rolling his eyes, Paul crossed his arms. Whatever feeble emotion he was carrying died with his frown.

"Right, but let's think like pokemon trainers, not pathetic coordinators."  
"Hey—you were the one that just made a coordinator the champion!" Dawn, Drew, and Zoey yelped in unison, but knew that his low-key insult was simply Paul's demeanour.

"We don't have to travel the whole way—there's a whole ocean of powerful water pokemon, and between the four of us, we have at least six. If we can catch a larger one, we can surf to Unova with the help of flying pokemon—and repeat until we make it. The further from shore we get, the safer the tides should be."

"That's..."

Paul immediately interrupted Dawn.

"It's not cruel. It's practical. The pokemon will be grateful that we don't keep them after the journey."

"But we can't all go." Zoey strained to speak. "Drew has to go to the old Kalos region, and someone has to stay behind with the people waiting at the borders—There's no doubt that what Dawn said today is not going to fall on deaf ears, and what good is all of this if Kanto chooses to execute the people we have down there?"

"You're right, Zoey, and since you're more personable than Paul—you should go to the border. Paul and I will chance the ocean and Drew will _help_ France recover from this tower thing." Her deep blue eyes shifted remorsefully to the green-haired man. "If we fail, for whatever reason, you'll get a guarantee from Diantha, or whoever is in charge of the former league to allow Sinnoh Region refugees in until this storm passes."

Drew took a step back, blinking. "...Of... Of course. I'll do whatever it takes."

"Then it's settled." Dawn inhaled, trying her best to smile, though the weight of the world was too heavy. "Zoey, I'll lend you mamoswine to get to the border-"

"Then I'll lend you lumineon. You might be able to get her to find an appropriate sized water pokemon for your crazy journey."

Dawn's eyes flashed up at her immediate response—a time ago, Zoey might have tried to rationalize with Dawn, after all, she could tell that the red-head wasn't supportive of their decision. Then again, trying times brought out the best and worst in people, and when the two exchanged their pokeballs, a grin was passed between long-time friends, and former rivals.

"It might be crazy—but what else do we have right now?"

Not wanting her more 'reasonable' plans to be neglected, Zoey nudged Dawn's shoulder with sad eyes.

"We could all go to the border and talk to the patrol there; Lance might talk with you."

Dawn couldn't look at Zoey when she shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah... but did you see what he tried to do to Misty? I think it's best if we have leverage."

Words pressed against Zoey's lips, a retaliation that she did not speak. Instead, she nodded. "...I see."

"Anyways, let's get this show on the road—we don't have time to waste." In times of high-stress, Paul always sounded authoritative; admiring to all but knew him—those that did found his personality sometimes a bit abrasive and pushy. However, his heart was in the right place.

"Alright, then let's go!"

"Wait—we should decide on a place to meet when-" "If we are successful, we won't need one, Drew."

"Don't draw this out," Dawn waved over her shoulder as they walked in tandem to the exit. For the first time, Drew saw where Dawn and the Kanto natives would get along. "There's no need to worry, let's just see this through and we'll worry about the rest later!"

 **XOX**

Ash always had a gut feeling that whatever his purpose was—he would serve it among the living. Giovanni had a million chances to kill Ash, but he never acted. This was the only faith that reminded him even though he had a gun pointed at his back, Sebastian wouldn't pull that trigger. However, bringing him _directly_ to Giovanni was surprising. With the addition of Ho-oh, Team Rocket should have known the whereabouts of the rest of the legendary pokemon; in time, they would find them all, even without Ash's help. So now Ash asked himself, what more could he offer?

Sebastian was far form helpful, throwing out commands until they reached the lower parking garage. Ash only hoped pikachu was able to keep on his scent, as Sebastian already removed his pokeball belt. He suddenly thought his idea wasn't so great, that maybe exhaustion and sore, achy muscles were more a factor than he believed—then, from the corner of his eye, Ash saw another flash of yellow and sighed.

There was no need to worry, they could do this together. Then, as they neared a silver sedan without a license plate, Sebastian opened the trunk of his car and Ash visibly flinched.

"Get in the trunk."

"Now try it with a _please_." Ash laughed nervously, but heard the gun cock back, and gulped.

Again he reminded himself, Giovanni didn't want him dead—or maybe Giovanni wanted to do it himself after sending lackey's after Ash so often.

For a moment, he hesitated. If he wanted to, he could have pikachu act now, end it with an electric shock so wild Sebastian would fall, crippled under the pressure of lightning. Afterwards, Ash could make him talk, get directions, the full story—but all of these events would take time, and while he originally thought they still had some time left, the current state of Viridian City terrified him, the activation of the signal towers mortified him—and Misty's disappearance filled him with a dread so deep and hollow, he wasn't sure he would ever feel happiness again.

Swallowing down the knot formed in his throat, Ash reminded himself this was the quickest way into enemy territory, he only prayed that the former-therapist lack of information about Ash would work in his favor. After all, Ash knew what he was capable of now, as did pikachu. When their backs were against a wall, they would win. _No matter what,_ this time, they had to stand victorious.

Glancing for only a moment back at pikachu's reflection in the metal of the car, Ash inhaled, then listening to Sebastian's warnings and quips, finally crawled into the cramped interior of the silver vehicle. Resting his head against the wheel bump, Ash looked up and swore under her breath at Sebastian's over-confident smile, and victorious grin.

"We're gonna go for a ride, so don't make any noise—not like anyone wants to help _you_."

With one swift motion, darkness swallowed him until his eyes adjusted to the faintly lit trunk. Ash was never a fan of cars to begin with, but now that his first personal experience, outside of a taxi, was in a tobacco infested, itchy trunk with his hip bone grinding painfully against the spare tire, he let out a very long, and frustrated sigh he had been containing.

Now that he was here, bound and quiet, he felt robbed of a few necessities; light, fresh air, and the faith that he would be successful.

When the engine revved up, Ash held his breath, and squeezed his eyes shut- praying his instincts didn't fail him now.

 **Author's Note** :

Hey guys, i'm here again.

A few things, I still have to call Kalos 'France' from that decision I made in the start of the story. Where Kalos isn't a part of the league anymore, so they 'changed' their name. Sorry if that's confusing! Furthermore, I realize I kind of skimmed through what happened with Sinnoh but I think the 'feeling' of the portion could be described perfectly by Dawn's last words. "Don't worry about it, we'll figure the rest out later" Since they're all under a time crunch, I wanted them to feel like they're in a hurry, that includes Dawn's "snap out of it" with Drew. She isn't the type of person to 'linger' on her problems.

The idea of a bunch of trainers gathered around asking "How do we get across the ocean" when there are literally pokemon named "waillord" made me laugh, so like the time when snorlax decided to swim, I decided on a creative, albeit, reckless solution. Drew's changed a little, hasn't he?

ASH WAS KIDNAPPED, OH NOES. At this point, I imagine Ash has developed a million wrinkles from just being so done with everything.

Anyways, I just really wanted to post this. From my calculations, there are 10-11 chapters remaining of Locked Away, and I've been really mapping and writing them out before deciding to post this. I know since the beginning of this story, my updates have _really_ wavered , but even though life has gotten crazier, I want to finish on a strong note and have prepared the rest of the chapters for Wednesday updates. SO. I will see you all NEXT WEDNESDAY. (unless I've scared you away)

Thanks again for all the support; the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive and I appreciate all the favorites and follows. I realize I haven't been the best about responding to reviews, but I'm trying to focus on writing as much as possible, so I will reply hopefully within the next few chapters! :)

NINT


	57. Chapter 57: Simple Solutions

**Locked Away, Chapter 57**

After her extended stay in the colorful land of Kanto, May had nearly forgotten how grey and dreary her home region, Hoenn, was. Even though she could see no further than the shore line, the looming dread was very clear. Unlike the Kanto region, open-handling of pokemon had long been banned in Hoenn since the league officials were sentenced to an unintentional 'never-ending' meeting. The ban included all forms of battling, and pokemon out of their balls was prohibited unless in 'safe zones'. May wondered how many zones were safe, if pokemon could react the way that infernape had. She only saw a creature so angry one other time in her life, and she never wanted to see it, or this grey-hell again.

May felt no happiness, she wasn't returning home, she was returning to a prison and Rustboro City was at the center of it. Realizing that the quickest way through the region was to circle back and enter on the west shore line, she and her brother Max spent more time on the dingy little boat provided by Gary Oak than they expected.

At the break of dawn, they hit the shore line without a pier, crashing against the sand. Eagerly, they both hopped out of the boat and landed with their knees in the sand, and a breath of salty air.

"I never thought I'd be happier to see land." May cooed, brushing her hand against the damp earth while Max climbed to his feet.

"Me either, but we're not done yet. We should get moving now before someone sees us."

"Wait, Max, what about the boat?" Gesturing to the transport that carried them safely over sea, Max reluctantly adjusted his glasses.

"Let it drift out to sea—we can't risk being spotted."

"And lose our only escape route?" May gasped, throwing up her arms in exasperation.

"Then we better not screw up." Max grunted, turning away from his sister and carried forward.

Meanwhile, still wobbly on her feet, May gave one last shallow look at the small boat drifting away, and gave her own small prayer of hope that this would go smoothly—after all, how hard could it be to destroy a building? Ash did it all the time, apparently. Following close behind Max through the dense, and small forest, they refused to speak. In the distance they expected to hear screams of terror, roars of horror, proclamations of defeat—yet, they heard none as they shifted through the tropical island morning, and arrived at the break of trees, staring down the meat of Rustboro City.

Oddly enough, as surprise danced over their faces, the entire city was untouched. No fires. No screams. Nothing. In fact, it looked the exact same as when May last saw it, and back then she thought it was dull.

Now, she thought the quiet was sad, and uncanny. In the distance, the eyesore, metal tower that would rain hell upon the land stood tall and menacing in the distance; at the center of the overly calm town. Simultaneously, they shared a look of great concern.

"I thought this was where the tower was? That _is_ the tower is it not?"

"Yeah, it looks like it." Max replied plainly.

"Okay..." May brushed her bangs out of her face, wincing only slightly at the pain still lingering. "Then why isn't everything on fire?"

Max gave her a look, not bitter or angry—just one of his infamous looks. "...You expected it to be on fire?"

"Well, maybe not—but you heard Pallet Town only minutes after infernape lost his mind—I just thought there would be more—you know...destruction?" Making a slightly violent gesture with her hands, Max's eyebrows twitched and he looked away.

"Personally, I think it's to our advantage that the city _isn't_ on fire, May. Maybe that means we can get the public to work with us here."

"the public? What do we need them for."

Max sighed, then glared at May as if she had forgotten the plan that they did not agree upon, or speak about on their long boat-ride to the island.

"Do you honestly think we could take on a fully guarded signal tower? Just the two of us?"

May shrugged.

"I don't see why not."

"Sometimes I wonder how you made it this far, sis..." Max grunted, then pointed outward to the central part of the city; they could see the fragments of a pokemon center sign peeking over the building horizon line. "Let's get our bearings there."

"Whatever you say." unimpressed, she rolled her eyes, and together they started toward the steps that would lead them up through the beach line, and into the city.

May had long ditched her gloves, but longed for them now that she had chewed her fingernails to the quick as they stomped through the small path. They weren't necessarily in over their heads, but removing a signal tower would take more than two people—usually it would take some kind of special operations group, but the rest of the group was counting on them. If they could successfully take out the tower before it activated—that could really be a service!

Walking to the edge of town took minutes with their stride; and Max rattled off statistics and tactical advantages while May stopped to enjoy the fresh, summer air. It reminded her so much of Petalburg City—how she longed to go back to how it was before her parents were taken. Before training pokemon became a war-mongering ideology.

"May-" Max snapped his fingers in front of her face, watching as the lights kicked back on.

"Sorry, what'd you say?" She blinked her large blue eyes, and Max scowled.

"I said; if worse comes to worse, we could probably just take out the power polls around the facility, that might slow them down at least."

"Don't you think they would have back-up generators?" May questioned as her little brother shrugged.

"Guess we'll have to figure that out for ourselves, huh?"

May's face fell as they emerged from the outskirts, hopping over some bushes that blocked the proper path, and matched onto city territory. Usually, in their ripped and soiled clothing, they would make an uncomfortable eyesore for the rest of the town, but for their appearance to be odd, there would first need to be other people present. In this case, there were not. The silence made perfect sense now—given that there was no one on the street, not a single car moving, to cause any!

With a snort, Max crossed his arms and attempted to clean his glasses; probably making his vision worse. "Did we miss the rapture or something?"

"Maybe they evacuated the city?"

"Would explain a lot... but why?" Max grumbled, walking into the middle of the street and looking inside empty stores. Lights were off in every building, even the traffic lights blinked angrily at them.

"Maybe-"

"Hey, what are you doing here?" A voice in the distance called out, unfamiliar to either of the siblings as they looked up to see a lean, brunette, in police-uniform reds, running over to them. He stopped as May tucked her arms behind her back innocently.

"We were out for a walk—is everything okay here?" She gestured to the clearly empty stores, and the cop tugged on his collar and caught his breath.

"We were requested to gather at the central pokemon center by city officials and league officers!"

Max, who had been unreasonably quiet since the officer arrived scoffed; "What for?"

"The announcement from our champion Wallace to follow up the new Champion from Sinnoh's speech. Didn't you hear about it?"

"...No."Confused, May grumbled. "We just got into town."

"Well..." He looked over his shoulder where he saw his partner approaching them, and May thought for a few moments she recognized the young face of the officer—he spoke quickly to correct his bashfulness. Beneath his hat, May thought he looked familiar—but couldn't place his face. "Regardless, I have to ask you to come with me."

"Under what orders? We don't want to go to the pokemon center." Max rebutted, puffing up his chest to look taller—though forever under 5'5", he mostly looked bloated.

The officer chuckled, and shrugged a bit.

"Err... I said it was a request—but we're under lock down until we hear from our champion, so if you don't come with me... I... I'm supposed to use force."

Somehow, neither May or Max believed the young officer of any sort of violence, but thought better than to press their luck. They needed Hoenn region police officials on their side; the good ones, assuming there were any left.

Ever curious, Max did ask: "What are we under lock down for?"

"Can't say, really... but the neighboring towns have been..."

"Stop talking with civilians, Brendan." the partner glowered, his large brimmed hat covered his eyes, but left plenty of room to view his moustache.

"Sorry..." The officer known as Brendan rubbed the back of his neck while his partner gestured and pointed, then shoved May and Max forward to walk.

"Get a move on. Let's go."

Reluctantly, the siblings allowed themselves to be pushed and prodded along the path to the center, until arriving took their words away. A large sign hung over the door, with a metal detector over the top reading: "No pokemon or poke balls beyond this point." Both May and Max shared a look as they reached the line of the last-round-ups of the day. Apparently, they weren't the only stragglers. Most of the people kindly agreed to have their pokemon taken, but May and Max both knew right now, a decision like that was game over. As was running away.

Instinctively, as they approached the radar, the police officers dissipated into a confused huddle close to the door, leaving open their plan.

"Max, take my pokeballs and put them in your hip pack. Once I go through, I'll create a diversion, and you throw it through the little hole there."

Max looked grim. "Why don't _I_ go through the detector first, and you do the throwing?" _Right_ , Max was never the most gifted athletic. With a giggle, May took her brother's pokeballs and shifted them into her own pack before getting in line.

"Alright, but we only get one shot at this—just like in Johto the first time."

The guards inexperience and dislike of their positions would be their down fall—as Max stepped forward, he dropped his empty side-satchel into the bin provided by the woman, and walked through a temporary detector, where he came back clean—on the other side, Max looked to the room gathered with hundreds of people packed into a room shoulder to shoulder and inhaled, before turning back at his sister, who was behind a woman and staring right at Max, then, he tripped.

"Ah! My leg!" he shrieked, falling down dramatically. within seconds, a handful of guards were at his side, and the attention of the lady checking the items was drawn just long enough for May to toss her bag over the side of the machine, and land safely against a cranny between a desk, and the wall on the opposite side.

Moments later, as Max's 'leg cramp' dissipated, May crossed through the detector, but did not immediately approach the discarded bag. Instead, she approached her brother and concerned employees and waved them off with a laugh.

"Oh Max, you're always _so_ dramatic—I can take care of him from here. Thanks, guys." Had it not been for her pretty face and fluttering eyes, they might have believed some suspicion. Even still, one by one, they said their goodbyes, and parted ways. Brendan, however, the officer who walked them there; still squinted in suspicion.

Max's short and loathing " _thanks_ " that followed protruded the full embodiment of complete dislike of May's reaction; though she only responded with a wide grin, and a toss against his shoulder.

"C'mon, let's check this place out." May pointed to the grouping of wall to wall people, while kicking the pack she tossed earlier up into her hands, and clutched under her arm.

Inside the large center was just as they both imagined it—people were separated into a minor groups, but most people sat around, twiddling their thumbs as they watched the news playing back at them. Faintly, May saw traces of Dawn on the screens, and while they moved about the center, they heard the many suffering cries and moans about the situation. Fear for their families, for their homes, and an abundant number of souls who had long given up their fight.

Phrases like, _Team Rocket's still around. I can't believe it._ And _Do you think they have already started on Hoenn_ were passed around like arcade tokens, leaving May and Max both physically and mentally stunned, until the video in question played back on repeat.

Dawn, standing as the champion of the Sinnoh region, announcing Team Rocket's devious plans the last ten years. Dawn, who was practically a household name and star, confirming the suspicions of the previously thought-crazy, now dead, Elite Four member, Misty Waterflower, seemed to be a tough pill to swallow. To assume Unova's innocence, and divert the blame was nerve wracking.

It was no wonder Hoenn region was under lock down. People who believed in what they saw, who looked around them and watched, would have retaliated immediately. Now this _lock down_ had to be another ploy and attempt to keep them quiet until the game was played. Hearing from champion Wallace after his long absent was a joke—May wouldn't be surprised if he was found dead suddenly like Cynthia—now seemed like the perfect time to declare the region's captain-less.

"May..." Max muttered beside her quietly, his voice barely above a whisper. From what she could hear, he sounded scared—but so was she.

News reporters tried to eat the message alive—saying it was a ploy, but dedicated casters from Kanto, and some from other regions verified the information, as well as more recent attacks on other regions. Not unlike usual, Hoenn was missing from the game. For whatever reason, they were waiting, which meant...

 _Now or never._

"We need to act."

"May, look around you—what are we supposed to do right now?"

"I don't know Max—anything!" desperate, May pushed through a crowd of people, and found herself standing on a bench before her brain could argue with her. She looked at several faces, but most people were too occupied to look at her. A lot of people were simply irritated and inconvenienced by the announcement—at least half as many didn't even care. May had to speak to the ones that _did care_ , who looked at her with she started yelling frantically.

"Dawn said we have to stand together!" May shouted, Max's arms flew up, trying to get her to sit down again.

"So let's stand together! Why are we all sitting here like sheep, waiting for some unknown champion to tell us what to do? We haven't heard from Wallace in _years_! We should be taking matters into our own hands! Like we should have years ago when they first started bullying us!"

 _She_ thought it was a really clever speech, given at an appropriate time, around specific, detrimental circumstances that made her words socially acceptable—but of course, people weren't easily swayed, and with the majority scared or uncaring, a laugh was shared instead of battle cries. Guards were approaching, and Max pulled on May's arm to get her down.

"What are you doing? Stop!"

She swatted his hand away, and pumped her fist, looking at anyone that would stare into her eyes.

"C'mon! Look around you-! You all know it's true; you know Team Rocket is planning something, and _we know how to stop it!_ That new tower they've been working on for the last year, it's going to send out a signal that turns pokemon crazy—it's already started to effect pokemon in other regions and-"

"Get down from there!"

"Stop it, Max!" May snapped, eyes angry. "I know a lot of you—or at least, I'd like to, but for the last five years we haven't been able to meet because pokemon battling has been banned. Travelling has been banned, we've been affected by Team Rocket a lot longer than you can believe, so stand with us—help us destroy their property and mind-controlling machines! Let's take back our home!"

Honestly, she had them going for a minute, a few people looked up as the officers tried to trample their way through, and easily pushed Max aside—it was the comment about _mind-control_ that made her look like a raving lunatic—she was never as poetic with words as her brother; and often time, her actions spoke a thousand times louder.

Once upon a time, she remembered that her father, Norman, said that the Hoenn region was full of a million gifted people who only needed to believe in themselves. Their inability to rise in the face of conflict was their ultimate downfall before; and May was worried it would be again. However, May knew, that in face of danger, no one was stronger; so she inhaled.

Maybe she did appear a bit crazy when she jerked, spinning around to face the oncoming peacekeepers, who seemed genuinely concerned with her safety, and instead of stepping down, she twisted her arm, and within seconds a large, furious blaziken stood between her and the police officers—some who looked angrier than others—some she assumed worked for Team Rocket; and those, like Brendan, who simply looked concerned.

Maybe she was a bit baffled, and insulted that when she offered the chance of an uprising—not a single person rose with her, aside from Max, who swore endlessly and cursed her name and heritage and stupidity—but they had to act; whether it was a gut instinct or nerves, she knew if she didn't; the Hoenn region could be buried in catastrophe worse than the Sinnoh region; and May wouldn't see that happen.

"Blaziken, clear a path with flamethrower!" with a loud yell, she threw out her arm and hoped onto the ground to dip out of the view of the guards, as massive flames erupted through the entirety of the building; causing panic and attempt to flee.

"May, what the _hell_ are you trying to do!?"

"Cause a riot—intentionally or not!" Fire burned in her icy blue eyes as she stared down the only object in the way of her march; a window and gates, and of course a few angry guards people with weapons, but guns were outlawed years ago so really she only had to worry about their pokemon.

Across from them, flashes of red grew throughout the center as retaliating pokemon tried to keep May's in check. Which in turn, forced people to flee through locked exit doors, smashed windows and where ever else they could squeeze through—with May starting a fire, it was only natural that the guards and police officers who were trying to maintain the peace until the announcement, would try to stop her—all by summoning their own pokemon. Lucky her, Max had her back with two of his own pokemon.

"We don't have enough power to get through to that tower—did you think about this at all!?" Max screamed angrily, trying to grab May from the fight, using the smoke created by her angered pokemon to his advantage—without having to exchange battle tactics, the pokemon on the ground took off, fighting one another, and defending their trainer. Max pushed May toward a wall for cover.

"Do you want to get us killed? Because this is how you get us killed!"

May threw up her arms. "Well we have to do something!"

"We've been here for ten minutes—blowing up the pokemon center was not on the top of our priority list!"

"Well! Excuse me!" out of defensive stances, she threw up her arms. "I just acted, okay! Someone had to!"

"You weren't thinking clearly! There were a million other options before this!"

"Well we're already here, so we might as well make the best of it! Blaziken use-" May whipped around as the back of a baton found her head and Max sprung to her rescue.

She tumbled to the ground, smashing her knees against the tile; ears ringing. Somewhere she heard Max scream her name before taking on the man himself, and for a moment, she rethought her plan—but _only for a second_. The people of Hoenn were a family; and as a family, they would stand together. They only needed someone to follow. They _had_ to stand together, surely they saw that.

Trying to gather her strength, it was a blast of water that cleared her senses, as a swampert tag teamed with blaziken to create a diversion, and open a place of escape for her and her brother.

"I've seen a lot of stupid shit since I joined the force, but I've never seen a former ranger lose their mind!" The voice belonged to Brendan again, and May grinned this time—now remembering the voice as she smiled up at him with Max at her side, lifting her up—maybe she _was_ still light headed and injured from that explosion a few days ago. May snorted.

"And I never thought a ranger would join the _force_. You know, I didn't recognize you in that uniform."

"Yeah, I noticed." An embarrassed Brendan scoffed, then helped Max carry May out of the center and to the street, where more than one battle was going on—May grinned proudly as Max realized her actions were right. Once trainers had their pokemon back, a full riot had ensued without so much as a command.

"We're not sissys like Sinnoh." May groaned, forcing herself to stand on her own and removing two more of her pokeballs. "We're not going to wait for someone to save us—we're gonna carve the path ourselves."

A make-shift leader in the midst of battle; she shouted loudly for trainers all around her, of all shapes and sizes to focus their rampage on the tower, and the area around it, as Max trailed behind terrified.

 _"I love my crazy sister... I love my crazy sister_." He muttered under his breath as hundreds of people, officers and leading officials included, poured out of the center, and forward to the street to reclaim their lost society.

Logic be damned.

 **XOX**

"It's impossible to follow anyone with this smoke!" Jessie hissed, covering her mouth with a make-shift mask created by the extra fabric of her shirt. Each of them carried some fabric over their faces as togetic hovered back and forth alongside meowth in their best attempt to follow Misty's tracks. The trail died off after the location of the signal flare, and within the hour that they had ran in circles—she could have already been out of the city, or worse; _dead_. They were wasting their time out here. Misty was gone.

Stubbornly, they found themselves following their steps back to the outskirts of Viridian City, on the east side, where they watched the damage above them. There was no coming back from this—the fire had already eaten through a quarter of the forest, with small fires starting in other parts. Lugia and Ho-oh's battle took a tumble southeast, lumbering over and near the cycling route, and pushing their destruction on. Giovanni needed not the help of his signal towers after all; Ash Ketchum always had a trump card for destruction.

"What do we tell Ash...?" Brock muttered, watching as Lugia snapped his large beak at Ho-oh, grasping at his neck and with a powerful swish, blew a gust of wind that culled the flames temporarily, then forced them to burn three times larger.

"The truth: we couldn't trace her steps. She's long gone." Jessie said, coughing. James quietly added:

"We need to stay focused on the plan... if we stop after _him_ now...we could lose."  
"Lose?" Brock scoffed, looking onward at the forest. "We're already losing!" He shouted, angry as he gestured hopelessly to the forest. Ho-oh and the other legendary pokemon were supposed to be their outs. Their plan was to out-smart Giovanni, but it was them who were being out-smarted.

"Misty's gone, Ash is teetering off the edge, and there are _legendary birds_ fighting each other! Viridian City is going to burn to the ground and as far as we know, _none_ of the signal towers have been stopped—and you're worried about losing?"

"..we may have lost a battle or two..but the war is still..."

"We should have went for Giovanni from the start—you—you-!" Brock hissed, wrath fuelling his eyes until he was too exhausted to keep yelling. He turned from them, shoulders slumped.

"...If we knew this was going to happen, we would have acted sooner... I'm sorry." James said, grabbing Brock by the shoulder kindly. "But we can't lose focus now. We have to find where he's holed up. But first, we need to rendezvous with Ash."

"Isn't that what Ash is after?" Brock questioned as togetic brimmed in agreement, hovering around the group to keep moral up.

"Yes, but we shouldn't put all of our eggs in one basket—not now."

"So...what happens if we can't find Giovanni?"

"Then we focus on the towers. If we can't cut the head off the snake, we'll have to try to win at his own game. Take out the signal towers, flush him out."

Disheartened, Brock ran his hand through his hair and exhaled loudly.

"...and what if that's only acting exactly the way he expects us to?" His dark eyes turned to the former Rocket members. "He's got all the legendary pokemon now—what else does he need?"

An eerie silence hung between them, aside from the crackle of fire burning wood; Jessie, James, and meowth shrugged. Unfortunately, there was no easy answer to what Giovanni's true motives were. His actions were undoubtedly destructive; but the true end goal of his motions was lost on the former evil-doers.

"Like I said—we'll find him."

Brock scoffed, the gun he took from Ash in his hand, tracing the trigger hitch. "...and what about Ash? Is.. he going to be the same when all this is over?"

A pause first, then a sigh, disrupted by the cry of Lugia falling into the ground.

"Are any of us going to be?"

Somehow, that wasn't the answer Brock _or_ togetic wanted to hear, as the former egg flew away, shouting in the distance that he was going to find Ash.

 **XOX**

This was Ash's personal hell, being trapped in the trunk of a car for heaven's knows how long. It felt like hours to him, but it could have been minutes. For the first time, he was sitting still, and in spite of his circumstances, his body ached. His back felt chiselled away, and his nerves frayed from stress. Confined in a small space, he could smell the stench of fire filling his nose, and the constant breath of gasoline from outside. Occasionally, Sebastian would hit a bump that would knock Ash forward and wake him once more—but he would be lying if he said the majority of his trip wasn't him passing in and out of consciousness.

Maybe it was the fumes from the gas that made him feel so damn tired. His head lolled back and forth, and his legs had spasms because of their twisted positions. He couldn't be sure that pikachu would follow this fast, for this long, and yet, he wasn't afraid. No matter what, he was going to succeed; even if success felt like sleep right now.

Unable to keep his eyes open any longer, his eyelids slipped shut, and the darkness enveloped the rest of his body and mind—opening only when the tires screeched, and he was jerked forward. The engine died shortly after, and Ash heard car doors slam. The jingle of keys, and incoming foot falls made Ash sit forward to prepare himself. Sweat dripped from the back of his neck, soaking through the collar of his shirt—then, the night air hit his nose, his eyes dilated from a flashlight being shined into his eyes, and he reeled backwards. Ash didn't hesitate, maybe he was panicking.

"Pikachu, now!" Ash screamed as loudly as he could, but his heart sunk when nothing happened.

Terrified, Sebastian looked around, completely stunned, but then rolled his eyes sarcastically, obviously believing that Ash didn't have a plan at all. He tucked the gun into his waist band and laughed maliciously as he gestured for Ash to leave the trunk.

"You're pathetic to try and scare me like that-"

" _Chuuu!_ "

Lightning erupted from all directions, lighting up Ash's view as he sat forward to watch Sebastian hit the ground, ignited with electricity, and then nothing. Left as a twitching, unconscious heap on the ground. Pikachu raced to Ash's side, his small nails scratched the side of the car, and around his shoulders, Ash's pokeball belt was draped around the mouse's shoulders—where it had been left previously in the parking garage.

"Pikachu, pika pi." The mouse explained, noting that he wanted the element of surprise while the weapon was down. Without words, Ash smiled at the mouse.

"You did great, buddy. I can always count on you." briefly, pikachu nuzzled against Ash's chest, and then tried to assist him. "Let's get the keys."

Once out of the trunk, falling twice, Ash could see the distant red hue of fire as his eyes focused on the semi-darkness around him. Smoke poured through the forest that burned his throat and eyes, but he still pressed on. Pikachu poked and prodded through the unconscious' man's pockets until he found the object in question and held them up between his teeth: the keys!

Ash's hands were free in moments, one cuff dangling on the side, and then he took of the last and rubbed his sore wrists.

"Nice work, but we need to see if he has anything written down—you didn't...you know... right?" awkwardly, Ash rubbed the back of his neck and pikachu gave him a look, then shook his head—just a small shock. Not lethal. Not _yet_ anyways.

"Looked pretty violent, though...You're getting better at controlling it, aren't you?" Ash hummed, stepping over Sebastian and beginning to rummage through the front of the car as pikachu explained that he was very upset, but it wasn't a strong attack. After all, they needed him alive, and pikachu was far better trained than that!

The car was empty, aside from a few notes, and Ash slid back out of the drivers seat, and removed the pokeball belt from pikachu's shoulders, and fastened it around his waist once more. He unzipped his jacket, too; the heat was getting to him—as was the smoke. It was easy to tell they hadn't gone too far from Viridian City, because the birds were still having a power-play contest above his head. In the deep of the northern forest though, Ash knew they were out of town, on an unbeaten path.

In the distance, he heard water, and turned to look into the darkness. It smelled like salt water. His nose twitched, and with pikachu at his side, he approached the darkness, listening in. Below the small cliff side was a small dock that Ash recognized was part of one of the routes being built by the league—something he read about once before. A bridge that would connect Saffron City and Viridian City, but for now, there were empty construction signs, and a boat. Next to the floating vehicle, was the cut rope of another anchor, and Ash slipped down to investigate. His pants were instantly soaked in mud and pikachu hissed at the scent. Oil and tar filled their nostrils, and he stumbled, eventually reaching the small boat's dock.

Cautiously, Ash approached, moving quickly up the side and wandering onto the small deck—it was a single seat boat, no more than a sports vehicle. When Ash realized he was alone, he dropped his guard, and walked into the captain's wheel and looked ahead—the coordinates were already punched in, and inside he found a laptop and case resting on a table, neatly tucked aside; as well as a day's worth of clothes and some food supplies.

He honestly wondered why Sebastian returned to his apartment at all—then recalled Abigail's words. _He liked to water the flowers_. Stubborn to a fault, Ash assumed, or there was something else he needed—not that Ash could recall. It had to be on his person. Whatever it was, it didn't matter now, Ash could end this now. If these coordinates truly took him to Giovanni's location, he could sail away and finish this without ever involving his friends again.

Then again...if these weren't the correct coordinates, and Ash went out on a wild goose chase—it could cost him and his friends their lives.

"Chuu, pikachu." The mouse crooned, offering Ash hid advice not to leave, not without answers from Sebastian, and not without his friends. Ash couldn't do this alone—and he didn't have to.

Staring out into the ocean, Ash inhaled.

"You're right." he muttered, releasing the wheel. "Let's get back and tie up Sebastian. We'll find the others after that."

 **XOX**

A mindless riot turned into a wrecking ball of complete destruction, with the combined efforts of over three dozen pokemon trainers and official guardsmen, gaining access into the signal tower's parameter was easy, ripping through the security system was children's play—and getting the operators to sit outside and watch the tower slowly collapse was only slightly frustrating. Many of them refused to leave their positions, so the rioters were forced to take action. Those who didn't confirm would go down with the tower.

May was even more proud to see that when they attempted to hurt their pokemon by activating the signal tower, only a very small handful turned against their trainers, and were easily tampered down after the signal was destroyed. Maybe Sinnoh couldn't retaliate against Kanto—but there was no reason Hoenn couldn't fight itself.

They watched from a distance as their work forced collapse by the day's end, a proud and meaningful conquest served with exhausted trainers, and tired pokemon.

"Why do you think they waited to activate the tower?" Max asked, approaching May who was shaking hands with Brendan. Max had been gathering as much information from the Rocket members running the tower as possible—but found none of them would speak. He almost doubted that any of them really knew what was going on themselves.

"There's no telling, honestly. Maybe they didn't think we were much of a threat—proved them wrong, didn't we?" She nudged Brendan, who appeared genuinely unhappy.

"I wouldn't consider this a victory. Police members actively fought against league orders during a riot."

"You did the right thing."

"Like rangers did the right thing when we actively stood against the operation of pokemon facilities? They took away the region's right to train pokemon for that—what will they take away next?" Brendan groaned, looking over the crowd of people that celebrated their small victory.

"...Maybe we don't have to stop here?" May suggested, earning an eyebrow raise from everyone else.

"What's stopping us from going directly to the pokemon league—we could gather people from other towns, and finally take back control of our region! Let's face it, they've had our gym leaders, champions and Elite Four members since the ban, maybe this riot could be a good thing."

"...You mean civil war, May?" Max groaned. "We can't start a civil war!"

"Why not?" She whined, throwing up her arms. "Pokemon and trainers are supposed to work together, not live in shackles and redundancy—we shouldn't stop here. The signal tower was only the first phase. Who's going to stop them from just building another one and trying again? We have to make change."

Brendan, who had been out of the loop for the majority of events, having only what Dawn's speech informed the people of, and what Max and May had tossed him; nodded in agreement.

"I think you're right. We shouldn't stop here. I know a ton of other rangers who lost their jobs, and rivals that would march with us on our way to the league grounds. We can't sit back like we did last time."

"C'mon guys, think rationally! Dawn is trying to avoid a war-"

"With other regions. This doesn't involve other regions, Max." May raised her fingers. "Besides, maybe we can find mom and dad."

Max's cheeks puffed him. "Don't try to change my opinion with that! We can't start a civil war."

"It isn't a civil war if the people we're fighting were terrorists to begin with. Team Rocket needs to be eradicated."

"But-"

"Max, don't argue with us. We're doing this whether you want to or not."

"You haven't asked anyone else yet! How do you know they'll follow you, huh?" He shouted, trying to keep them within reason, but Brendan and May started back to the rest of the group; quietly, she told him to pass on the message and see who will come, and then stopped Max from following closer.

"I'm not being reckless, I promise."

"You said that last time and almost died, May!" Max screamed, tears stinging his eyes that he hid by removing his glasses quickly and wiping off the lens.

"Yeah, but I was just a kid back then—I've gotten a lot better. We can't let them have control of us anymore. We've forgotten what freedom feels like."

Max outwardly swiped at his tears, sniffling and trying to control his breath. "This is more than a protest May—more than a test run with those stupid microchips."

"Max, everyone else is fighting Team Rocket right now, too. Ash and Misty are taking Giovanni head on, Gary, your mentor, is tackling a tower all by himself, and Drew and Dawn have an _entire_ region to look after and a war to stop—everyone has something to do in this fight, and not letting them have control over Hoenn any longer is _mine_."

His shoulders stiffened. "Then what do you want _me_ to do?"  
With a broad smile, and closed eyes, May hugged him tightly. "I want you to go to the old Kalos league—take out the signal tower we were warned about there. The other former rangers and I are going to take care of things here. Without the signal tower in operation in Hoenn—this will be cake, right?"

In times of desperation, Max never shared his sister's optimism. As a natural pessimist, he shook his head.

"I think you're crazy."

"And I think you think too much!" She grinned. "So stop acting like you're twelve again, and help me out, will you? Let me lead us for once."

"Every time you lead I usually have to pull you out of some kind of fire."

"Well, it's a good thing you won't be around, because I'll stay in that fire this time!"

Max's eyebrows raised, as realization seeped into May, who started to sweat and look at her fingers.

"I mean, I'll get out of the fire myself?"

Max sighed. "Whatever sis—just don't die." He face-palmed as she tried to adjust her sentence, failing miserably. She stuck out her tongue.

"You don't die, either. I mean, how could I explain that to mom and dad?"

"You wouldn't." Max smiled finally, even though he was uncomfortable with the idea. "Let me borrow blastoise to cross the ocean—I think we're missing a flying pokemon, right? Told you we shouldn't have let the boat go."

May handed him the pokeball with a very loud scoff. There was no point in arguing with him about who did what, so instead, she scoffed and said: "Shut up."

Max was ready to turn and leave, just as May's arms wrapped around him again, squeezing him tightly.

"You're my little brother, Max. Please come home safely."

"...you, too."

 **XOX**

Ash had a million crazy ideas over the last year that worked in his favor, but as he sneezed, he had a feeling around the world—crazier ideas were being hatched. That, or the smoke was crawling into his sinus and making his eyes water up. He fastened his jacket sleeve over his nose, and ripped a piece of his shirt for pikachu to use as they trekked over uneven terrain. It might have been easier to fly with charizard, but Ash was concerned he would earn to many looks, as the majority of town was trying to flee north on foot, by vehicle, and by pokemon. Ash had never seen so many flying pokemon in one place before—and he had a sure feeling that the majority of them didn't have their flying licenses, either!

However, it was good to see them running; at least he knew some people would survive. Hopefully, the other cities weren't hit as hard as Viridian City and Pallet Town. Ash marched up a trail that wound in behind a set of trees and shrub, and walked for a decent thirty minutes until familiar voices flooded his ears. The smoke was making him light-headed, however.

"..Is he going to be the same when this is all over...?" Brock asked quietly just as he wrapped his arms around his chest.

Ash wanted to be. He would love to be that ten-year old again, without a care in the world; but Brock was wrong, Ash had already changed so much. Done things he never thought that he could. The moment togetic broke from the group, he circled back around to Ash quietly and stooped behind the tree-line where his trainer was hiding.

"Hey." Ash mouthed, and brushed his fingers over the pokemon's scalp as his wings fluttered happily. "Sorry I took so long."

"To-kuuu." The flying pokemon responded, nuzzling Ash's head, and then sharing a head-butt with pikachu.

"I still think we can solve this without violence. Giovanni should stand before the rest of the regions." Brock muttered to no one in particular. Both former Team Rocket members shared a look of concern, and at the notion, Ash emerged from the trees as four pairs of eyes watched him dangerously, demanding immediate explanation.

"I rode in the back of a car and pikachu shocked Sebastian—I locked him in the trunk of his own car and found a boat to get us out of the city—so we should probably...go."

"That explains nothing." Jessie whined, though they followed Ash up the trail he took to find them.

"I didn't really learn a lot, just that Sebastian wants me alive, and was going to take me to Giovanni—he let his guard down though."

"He wanted to take you to _that guy_?" James asked as they wandered through the trail. "What for?"

"You know, I forgot to ask..." Ash's voice was muffled, hidden behind his sleeve as Brock trailed close behind. "We'll talk more when we get out of this smoke."

So they trekked silently; but Ash's mind screamed louder than ever before. When he didn't see Misty with the group, he could only assume the worst—and pray the rope from the absent boat belonged solely to her, but he couldn't let himself wonder what happened to her; not yet. Ash had to believe she survived a massive explosion once—mind control, or whatever was happening to her, had to be easier to survive than that.

What he couldn't take his mind off of, was Brock's words. The man hadn't spoken a single word to Ash since he arrived, unusual, given Brock's general mother-hen persona. Even if Ash had asked him before to stay quiet, he was sure that Brock would have hammered him with questions. Now, he saw the way the older man's brow crinkled and twitched, and his face sullen and dark. More than likely, he felt as terrible about being unable to find Misty as Ash would. Jessie, James, and Meowth, who curled over James shoulder for efficiency, were already so aware and used to losing people they cared about, they were unburdened with the loss of a friend.

The trio talked among themselves, while the usual peppy and conversational duo walked in bitter silence.

"I'm...not gonna change, Brock." somehow, he found the courage to speak, and Brock winced.

"Don't worry about it, man. Let's just concentrate on the task."

"And we're going to find Misty, at some point. She always finds her way back." He felt like he was lying to himself, but he had to try to think positively.

"I know, man..."

"Then try not to look defeated already. The night's still young. A lot can change."

"I'll try not to look so defeated when you can say that without looking so dead." Brock countered, walking in stride. Togetic's head lowered and pikachu's ears fell. "Listen, I know this going to be difficult, but I'm with you. You don't need to sugar coat the truth for me. I've been here longer than you; Team Rocket took my dad, remember?"

"I remember." Ash muttered, stuffing his hands into his pockets, finding the smoke thinner as they neared their destination.

"...but I also... I know you want to help Brock, I do. I get that. Giovanni has..." Ash exhaled, he was never great with deflection, Misty was great at that, Jessie and James had taught him some of it, but Ash wore his emotions on his sleeve. He wasn't good at keeping secrets, he wasn't good at beating around the bush.

"I need you to stay behind when we go."

Brock stopped immediately. " _what_?"

Ash exhaled, cracking his neck to one side, both pokemon stopped to complain, and Jessie and James continued forward without a second thought, but meowth trailed behind to listen as Ash faced Brock with furrowed brows.

"I don't want you to come with us to fight Giovanni. Stay here; go turn off the tower in Saffron City, convince Lance to step down—focus on protecting the league."

"No way! I'm not leaving you again! I left you and Misty alone for a few hours and-"

" _I know!_ " Ash screamed, he did not need to be reminded of what happened again. "I'm aware, I get it. Misty could be dead, we could screw up again, and Giovanni could be right there waiting for us—!" Ash inhaled, regaining his composure, or at least what was left of the threads.

"That's why I need you to stay here. If I screw up again, I have to know that someone is going to be here to pick up the pieces. This has been one bad call after another, and now Viridian City is under total evacuation. Pokemon are going crazy, and people are getting hurt— _dying_. More than I need you to watch my back, I need you to make sure there's still something left to save."

"But if you're coming back why do I-?"

Ash's face fell, his eyes turned away from him, and Brock threw his hands up and stormed away. Ash's promise to return was a fruitless promise, _if_ he came back was the key phrase, and _if_ wasn't good enough for Brock.

"I'm not letting you go alone with those two!" Brock yelled over his shoulder stubbornly while chasing down Jessie and James. They had stopped momentarily at the shouting behind them, but did not pry into their personal lives. Outside of the mission, they showed little interest in their affairs. Brock didn't stop to greet them, despite not knowing which direction Sebastian was in, but when Ash found them, they looked worriedly at him.

" _You know...he could be helpful..._ " meowth mewed, but Ash groaned.

"I can't have him there." His chest hurt as he walked and pet pikachu's head. "He doesn't _get it_."

James frown deepened as he shared a passing glance to Jessie who could also not make eye-contact with either male. Ash was right, Brock didn't understand how dangerous and violent and hectic things could become the very moment their feet touched the same soil as Giovanni, and the three of them knew that there would be no peaceful resolution. Not anymore. Giovanni crossed too many lines, and prison didn't work last time—it won't this time.

"Yeah... _I get it._ " James murmured, brushing his hand against Jessie's as a habitual comfort and followed Ash into the darkness.

 **XOX**

Had the forest not been on fire, and legendary pokemon fighting around them, they might have considered taking the night off—but time was running thin, and now they had a direction.

"These coordinates take us to the Sevii islands. To think he's been so close all this time." Jessie sneered, approaching the vehicle with a map in her hands. Ash and James had wrangled Sebastian out of the car. His body was still limp and malleable from pikachu's shock, and Brock still hadn't spoken to Ash since the request.

"We should take him with us." Ash suggested to James and Jessie, behind them Brock scoffed and threw up his arms.

"Probably would be safest. If we left him here, he could escape and warn Giovanni."

"Worse comes to worse and the coordinates on the boat aren't Giovanni's location, we can squeeze him for more info." Jessie suggested while snapping her fingers.

"Mew—owth." the cat extended his claws, walking back and forth in front of the body.

"We probably shouldn't do that, meowth-!" James squeaked, his face turning red; both Jessie and Ash laughed nervously and Brock shook his head.

"So the crazed, evil therapist gets to go, but I have to stay behind?"

"Brock-" "No, no, it's fine. I'll be on the boat where I'm not needed." And he disappeared behind the tree line, with togetic on his heels in his best attempt to cheer him up. Pikachu chirped on Ash's shoulder, feeling sorry for Ash's decision, but no matter how angry Brock became. Ash wouldn't change his mind.

"James, help me lift him." Ash pointed to Sebastian's feet, that the lavender haired man was quick to grab, and then they heaved him up and away. Jessie triple checked the car for any last minute details and then followed after with meowth at her feet. There was no point in hiding the evidence. If the forest continued to burn, the car would be destroyed with the rest of it.

Sloppily, they tossed the handcuffed Sebastian onto the platform, where Brock was already sulking off to the side of the washboard. One by one, the rest of them climbed in, and James released the hitch and they started to drift. The ocean was chaotic due to the splashes caused by the Legendary pokemon, but there were no seas that Jessie, James, and Meowth couldn't handle.

"Where to first?" Jessie asked, manning the wheel.

"Celadon Bay port to drop off Brock."

"Pfft!" The man scoffed, and both Jessie and James awkwardly found the place beside one another, squeezed into the bulkhead of the boat. Meowth slowly joined them, believing that an argument was on the rise.

"I can't believe you. After everything that's happened, you honestly think leaving me behind is smart?"

"Yes."

"Even after what happened with Misty."

Ash hesitated. "Yes."

At this, Brock shook his head, licked his lips and then leaned forward, prepared to tear into Ash.

"For the last six months, I have tried to be supportive of every decision you've made. Sometimes blindly so in belief that your intuition was better than my own, but Ash, think about this. When you went to Unova, you nearly failed. When you went to find the other Legendary pokemon, you nearly failed—when you started this journey to see Giovanni you nearly failed _and_ we played right into this trap. He has to know you're going to come for him, and you _can't_ go, Ash. Not without me. I'm not leaving you again."

"Brock..."

"I'm not staying on the sidelines again while I watch my family get picked off one by one!"

"I already said, _you_ have to!" Ash screamed his sharper voice silencing Brock.

"I can't have you there making me feel guilty for my actions! Peace isn't an option anymore, Brock! There's no taking Giovanni to court to answer for his deeds, there's no convincing the league, or changing the minds of the people—they don't need their minds changed, they need to be saved. So when we go to face Giovanni, it's his head or ours. Are you okay with that?!"

Brock didn't reply immediately. Ash already knew, from the time Brock took the weapon from him, to trying to cut off the root of the problem. The answer was no. Ash continued. "That's why I need you to do what you do best. Be the political one and help the region now. They need it more than ever and it needs to be you. If Misty can't do this, you _have to_."

"You don't have to be the only hero, you know. You don't have to shoulder this alone."

"Yeah, but I'm not really alone." he glanced slightly at Jessie and James, recalling their stories; recalling the journal, his confessions to Sebastian. They may not have been friends, but they had the same goals. "I started this, so I have to finish this."

Twitching, Brock shook his head in disagreement as the Celadon Bay pier moved closer. How many times had he said goodbye to this young man? Now for the first time, he thought it could be the last, and he was so _angry_.

"I should be there."

"No, you shouldn't. I should have never gotten anyone else involved in this."

Scoffing, Brock shot him a worried look. "We got _you_ involved, don't twist the story."

Ash smiled, and shook his head. Irrational, suppressed guilt eating at him. "Brock, I came to you with pipe dreams and nightmares and pulled the rest of the region in with me. If something happened to Misty, it's because of me. If something happened to my mom or my brother, it's because of me. If Kanto burns to the ground, it's because of me. Believe it or not, when I woke up a year ago, I started this somehow, some way, and I have to set things straight. Do you get that?"

"Not at all. I think you're being dramatic, and it doesn't suit you." Brock admitted harshly, his anger boiling behind a calm composure, but Ash shrugged.

"You don't have to." Ash looked down, brown eyes void of sadness, full of acceptance. "Thanks for being my friend, Brock."

The boat rocked against the pier, and Brock grabbed his back pack without a passing glance and shook his head stubbornly as he exited off the deck, stepping over Sebastian and practically growling at Jessie, James and meowth, who he believed only made the situation worse, and Ash crazier.

"Thank me when you come back."

"I'll try."

Ash watched until Brock disappeared from sight, probably due to the smoke before staring back at James, and the back of Jessie who was steering the boat once again. Meowth informed Ash that he made the right call, but James sunk slightly.

"That wasn't a very warm goodbye." as opposed to their usual; no hugs, no hopeful solutions. Ash inhaled sharply.

"That's alright..." he sunk into the side of the boat, glaring at Sebastian, stewing in his own frustrations.

James looked like he wanted to pursue the conversation and issue, Ash's sudden aloof coldness, but instead nodded. Maybe now wasn't the time to press the issue. Regardless of the reasons, Ash was right to send Brock away to contain Kanto's rampage. Otherwise, there might not have been anything left to return to. No one left to protect from the evils of the world.

Ash, looking back at the pier once more, where Brock's shadow disappeared only moments ago, squeezed his eyes shut, and stroked the ears of a very worried pikachu.

"This is for the best..." _I hope._

 **Author's Note** :

Power came back about a quarter to midnight last night, and I was too tired to update.

I've hinted before that May had friends who were former rangers (In this case, Brendan)—as well as Hoenn's weak grasp on civility. In the games, the rival (Brendan, in this case) are a huge factor in helping out the protagonist, so I thought the throwback was good; not to mention they are no longer trainers at the end of the game; but they are still friends. I thought it was just a good tie-in to May's heritage in Hoenn, as well as understanding that the population was teetering for years on a revolution, they just needed a _push._

Anyway, not too many thoughts on this chapter; just preparing for the next! I need to skim through this one and the previous one for mistakes again, but this is good for now.

See you in a little bit!

NINT


	58. Chapter 58: Gary

**Locked Away, Chapter 58**

Unlike May, Gary was no brave heart. He was no warrior or rioter, he was a collected, patient planner; who thought out every step before taking action. Entry into the Johto's signal tower would be no different for the youngest pokemon professor.

Unlike other towers, the Johto's signal tower was erected at the center of Goldenrod City, a bright scar for those that understood what it meant, and a tourist attraction to everyone else. Gary almost wanted to begin asking towns people what they thought the tower was for, why they never sought to overturn its construction, but given the current disarray of the city, he thought better than exposing himself.

Pokemon were attacking their trainers. Attacking one another. He hadn't lucked out of the Kanto chaos, soon enough, all of the Johto region would be engulfed in flames as well.

Action was required immediately, but he couldn't storm the metal fortress. For something as unimportant as a tower, the security was sickening, standing behind large, iron fences, watching as pokemon quickly lost their minds, and downtown Goldenrod turned into a flood of screams. Gary, who hide behind a fraction of what remained of the beautiful central park's trees, held his breath and rethought their entire plan. Rather than attack the tower directly, the easiest way to buy himself some time, would be to turn off the city's power.

With a slight limp and a tight grip on his right thigh, Gary winced and kept himself in cover. He needed to get to the city's utilities plant without being detected; not that anyone would care about the not-actually-dead Gary Oak right now, but they might be interested in a pokemon that isn't going to attack them.

Honestly, Gary wasn't so sure he even trusted his own pokemon right now. Everything that they knew about the tower was still up in the air. Would the electromagnetic waves affect normal pokemon the way that it effected micro-chipped pokemon, based on how close they are to the signal tower? He couldn't take that risk, not with a nine-foot bird like Pigeot, that's why he walked— _hobbled-_ from the forest, and back into the city.

Goldenrod was at least easy to find. The fire was really nice in the fading light;it amassed a glow that he had never seen, nor wanted to see again in his life. Sardonic thoughts fleeing from his mind, he finally pushed off the tree again, with the electrical company in mind. He could take down a few power poles on his way over, and pray that at least one of them would diminish the power of the tower.

Clumsy on his feet, he staggered. His vision was slight and blurry, and he pushed back the longer strands of his hair. First, he needed to focus on putting one foot in front of the other.

 **XOX**

On Gary's best days, he missed his grandfather. On his worst days, he wished the old man was still around. Somehow, he had an answer for everything, a joke for every mood, advice to the moon and back—and his heart ached when he thought of his absence.

 _If gramps had been here, none of this would have ever happened_. Least that was what Gary told himself. Unfortunately, Samuel Oak _was_ here when this first started, and he was helpless to prevent it. His mistakes were part of the reason they were all struggling so much to make matters right. One by one the professors fell. One by one they let Team Rocket into every corner of their infrastructure, and the majority of them were helpless to prevent it. Not anymore, or so Gary hoped.

By the time he reached the electrical company, which was unmarred by the raging battles below, his leg wound had opened up again, or at least he thought it might have. Brock warned him to take it easy, but Gary had no interest in listening. There was far too much at stake—but he could no longer mask his exhaustion.

Beads of cold sweat poured down his temple, and he heaved on air. A walk that should have been a leisure stroll through the woods required more effort than climbing Mount Silver. He felt like hell, and prayed the cut wasn't infected. Mostly, it was the pain. He had no fever, but every time he applied pressure to his right leg, he wanted to scream. If he didn't care so much for his damn pokemon, he would have used them to reach his destination quicker—but they were too noticeable now. He was practically here.. he just needed... _he just needed a break_.

Falling butt first, Gary hit the ground with a heavy thud and wiped at his brows. Before he could enter the company, he needed to get his mind back in control. Focus on anything else but the pain. Grasping at the wound, blood oozed and seeped between his fingers through his black pants, but Gary tried not to focus on it. He was ready to cut the damn thing off.

For a few beats, he wondered if that's what would happen when this was all over. Ash may have been able to walk away from fatal injuries, but Gary was not at all like the damn Ketchum. To what degree was he going to be dragged into the mud before he found the results equal to a day in Ash's life?

Petty.

He was being petty, but a part of him couldn't help it.

This sucked. This all sucked. The region was on fire, the league was falling a part at the seams. His granfather's lab was destroyed and Leaf was...

Gary squeezed his eyes shut, trying to let the feeling float away before it landed. He couldn't think of her, let alone say her name.

He wanted to believe, no _he had_ to believe she was not dead, but all facts pointed there, and inside he felt dead as well. Hollow where his heart used to beat. Now it was a whirling black hole that pumped blood into his veins only to spite him.

 _Stop_ , he echoed, pinching his nose. He had to think of something else.

Inhaling, he looked to the sky to clear his head, only now they were beginning to brew something nasty. Dark, rolling storm clouds streamed above his head, crackling with lightning and brief spurts of thunder. Something big was coming. _Something terrible_.

Gary recalled seeing the battle between Lugia and Ho-oh begin as he flew away from Kanto. He was at least a hundred miles away when the pokemon started to clash, but his ears were still ringing from their shrieks.

Now, the sky above Johto reminded him of that horrifying sight. The sudden fear injected into his heart had him back on his feet, teeth grit to distort the pain, and stumbling forward towards his goal.

The Golden Electric Company, the massive building responsible for providing power for all of Goldenrod City, and several of the small towns around it, had one main power grid, and relaxed security. Gary participated in tours of the company when he was a child and new trainer, but it had been years since he last visited.

Given the state of panic, there were even less guards around than usual. Posts were left abandoned, and Gary had no problem slipping through the gates with his key card. After all, they probably didn't have time to remove his information from the computer. He had only been dead for a few days, a thought that would have usually terrified him, but now brought him some deal of peace.

At least if he was dead, he wouldn't have to _feel_ anymore. He wasn't a religious person, but being sucked into the vacuum of space seemed more comfortable than the heart ache, the leg pain, and mind-numbing fear he was currently experiencing.

The entrance to the facility was concreted and gray. No trees, no frills. After all, they wanted to avoid any possible errors that would halt the use of power. Guess they never thought it would be the pokemon that they were trying to protect themselves against.

Entering the facility was easy enough as well, through the metal doors, he followed a hallway down a flight of stairs, until reaching the observatory overlooking the many different generators that operated through the bottom floor. Along time ago, they tried to implement the use of pokemon services, but that quickly got out of hand, when pokemon started trying to battle one another in the generator room. Now they relied on pumps and friction, and any fossil fuel they could manage to make the machines pump out energy by the handfuls.

Many people, corporations, trainers, centers, and businesses relied on the flow of electricity. Gary's laboratory did as well. Years ago, when there was a power outage, he nearly lost several of the pokemon in cyberspace, and almost all of his recent data. People lived and breathed the electrical crack. He only prayed he could damage enough of it that even with the loss of power, the pokemon will calm down. Even if the people don't.

Mindlessly he followed the signs to the operations room, breathing heavily as he did. Metal walls with metal doors and metal handles, seeing the window separating him from the rest of the world was refreshing. Above the room was a skylight, and even with the storm clouds above, he was relieved to know that the outside world still existed.

To think, all of this energy could be disrupted with the flip of a single switch. Gary believed that it sounded too much like a movie, the flip of a switch and everyone was saved, but sometimes life threw him a curve ball by making his story easy.

"Wow... To think that you're still alive. We almost didn't think so, given the trial of blood." a gun cocked behind him, and Gary froze.

He should have seen this coming.

 **XOX**

No where was it ever written that _Gary got lucky_. He played the cool, macho guy, but he mostly got the short end of the stick. His hand shook as he slowly turned to see the two members of Team Rocket flaunting their true colors.

They wore all black, with the symbol "TR" embroidered as a small detail over the left shoulder. One had dark green hair, and the other long, blond hair. Smugly, they watched Gary twitch and sweat, and panic inwardly about his next decision.

"Step away from the switchboard."

He could...or he could flip it—which would make no difference. They could shoot him, and it would all be over, anyways.

Gary lowered his hand. They looked even happier about that.

"Gary Oak himself, in the flesh. Why I never thought I would be so lucky."

Gary's eyes shifted uncomfortably.

"...You're welcome?"

The green-haired man pointed the gun menacingly, tilted sideways, probably expecting Gary to flinch—but he didn't. In fact, Gary felt nothing. No fear or fight. Acceptance was a greedy and powerful thing. The researcher could also tell his lack of fear intimidated the two Rocket members. They weren't used to handling composure when their efforts were usually met with fear.

"To think after everything you've been through, you would still come here. Haven't you learned anything?"  
"Apparently not." Gary responded immediately, voice mellow. Cold.

This seemed to upset the green-haired man, who grit his teeth, and spit a little.

"What did you expect to do, huh? Hobble down here with your one injured leg and do what? Turn off the power? Did you think that would help?"

Gary shrugged at the man's rude remarks. If Leaf was there, they might have shared a high five for his ability to remain so falsely calm under pressure.

"Assuming that _you're_ here, I guess I was on the right track. Silly you would lean your entire plan on something like this without a proper back up plan.

"..why you little smart ass, we _are_ the back up plan!"

Gary snorted, "Oh, then color me terrified."

"Butch, knock it off." The woman, speaking for the first time snagged her partners hand, and reeled him backwards, then forced him to lower his gun with a wag of her finger. Her eyes were icy and a bit terrifying. The man known as 'Butch' was a brute, but this woman was heartless. It shook Gary. No soul reflected through those glazed eyes, and yet she smiled with the perfectly plump lips, and winked with perfectly shaped eyes.

"You are very smart, we would have expected nothing less from you." She cooed, and it made Gary want to vomit. His hand still twitched next to the button, waiting for his body to agree with his brain.

The woman approached.

" _Unfortunately,_ you're also stubborn... but we can fix that." She was close enough to pat him on the cheek, and Gary snarled at her, finally showing disdain. Butch snickered at this.

"Your wife's name is Leaf, isn't it?"

A flutter, or a skip; Gary couldn't be sure. He tried to mask the surprise on his face, but couldn't find the effort in his body to pry his eyes away, or from showing every insecurity there. That seemed to make the woman smile, and she squeezed his chin roughly, then released.

"Then it sure would be a shame if we _really_ pulled the trigger, wouldn't it? I mean, if you do what we say, and walk away from this... you might even see her again."

Gary couldn't think.

"That's why you're here, isn't it? To avenge her? It can't be because you think you can actually _win_. Your friends might have set us back in the Hoenn region, but we have much _bigger_ plans. You're going to lose and your friends are all going to die... but there's still hope for you, _and_ for your wife."

Gary swallowed, he couldn't wrap his head around what she was saying. His stomach threatened to implode and his mouth opened and closed on repeat.

His voice was so small when he finally found the strength to speak.

He asked: "...how?"

"The boss wants _you_." Her voice was so smooth, her lips curved into the sweetest, conniving smile, before twisting into something ugly and dark. "We couldn't convince your grandfather to help us, but I think you might be a little more reasonable, wouldn't you say?"

She gestured with her hands a little gun, and Gary felt sick at the realization.

 _That's why_. It had always been discussed, but Samuel Oak's death was presented as an accident; as anything than what it was, and tears stung his wide eyes. They burned but wouldn't release. He wouldn't let them see him cry.

"Why does he want me?"

"The same reason he wants all the professors, _dear_. He wants your knowledge. We can't move into phase two without that."

 _Phase two?_ The thought repeated, swallowing hard against a lump in his throat. His palms were sweaty, and that icy grip that fastened onto his heart somehow let go, and he felt it hammering away.

"Now, why don't you stop this vendetta and come easily with us? We won't hurt your family if you do as we say."

Gary's eyes immediately hardened. She might have had him for a minute there, out on a limb—but she ruined it. This woman, whatever her name was, was a liar; her partner, who was covering his snickers with the palm of his hand, was a liar. Team Rocket were monsters, and even if they killed him here now, he could at least temporarily stall their plans.

"I mean...if it'll... Leaf is okay?"

"If you behave, she might be."

Gary closed his eyes, and exhaled. Believing she had won, she looked over to Butch with a condescending smile—one could only imagine the discomfort when Gary looked back up at her with an evil glare, flipping her off with his spare hand while the other flipped the switch, and jammed it to one side.

"Over my dead body I'd ever stoop to your level."

"No!" She screamed, swatting at his hands and then cursing as she flipped it back down. However, the power would not immediately turn back on until the generators reset. At least thirty minutes. That was enough time to save the world, right?

She looked at him again with those hateful, demonic eyes, and Gary stepped away—or tried to before her fist found his face, and knocked him onto the ground.

"I swear, it must be something about these Kanto idiots, but we always have to get violent for them to understand."

"He never had an option, really, Cassidy." Butch chimed in, walking over to kick Gary in the face while he was down. "Offering them an easy alternative is a lie. Where he's going there won't be an _easy_ way out."

Gary winced when her boot collided with his stomach again and she cracked her knuckles.

"He'll learn in time. They all do."  
And before he could open his eyes again, the lights were out and the release he wanted finally rescued him. Darkness.

 **XOX**

Gary didn't dream often. Usually, he found himself far too exhausted, surviving on little, to no sleep, and constantly distracting himself with coffee. Leaf liked to sleep, he liked to watch her sleep. Something about her head on the desk while he scribbled down notes was how they originally started to date to begin with—back when they were both apprenticing. They had to stay up late with different kinds of information, sicknesses, studies, and when she would fall asleep, she would tip over onto Gary, but he never really minded too much.

In fact, her drowsiness became an anchor. A reminder that he needed to sleep occasionally, too. The only time he really slept well were the times when he and Leaf started sleeping together. In bed, or on the laboratory couch. Then after his grandfather died, only Leaf could get him to sleep, ease the nerves in his body. Calm every stress.

Usually she joked with him—her wit was as sharp as his; and she never backed down from the challenge. On most occasion, she kept him moderately grounded, stopped his ego from over-expanding, and was the nerdy-friend when he finally started to show his true colors, and tend to pokemon. Never mind that Leaf was a few years older than him, having started her pokemon journey as the only female from Pallet Town in almost six years, they were rivals when Ash failed to be. First at the Indigo League, then in research, and finally when in the position to be selected by Professor Oak to be the successor.

Leaf used to joke that it _had_ to be Gary because he was the current Oak's grandson, and they would never let a _flower_ take over the tree industry. Back then, Gary jokingly offered to marry her so her last name would be suiting for a professor. He never imagined four years later, they really would tie the knot. In a small, nearly forgotten by the time, church on a random day in the middle of summer, a few weeks after his grandfather died.

They hadn't been engaged for more than an hour, but Leaf never left his side. Not when they were teenagers growing up without their family or friends, and not after the last of his parental figures were dead. She played as if she were an uncaring, sarcastic woman, but there was no one alive who cared about Gary more than she did. That's why he married her. That's why he vowed to take care of her. Why he wanted all of the world for her. _For them_.

After Gary's grandfather passed, they never talked about it. For better or worse, they were both Professor Oak's. The title they fought tooth and nail over felt wrong. Worn for over forty years by a man who they both believed was the greatest researcher of all time, the title suddenly felt empty without his presence.

The world felt even more empty without her in it. Thinking back, he would have given her that title in a heart beat. She deserved it so much more than him. Her feats were far greater than his own, and her victories more common.

 _God, he missed her_.

Gary's eyes opened to the rattling of a car burning rubber down a dirt road. His head rocked back and forth, and his eyes threatened to roll back into his head. His mouth tasted like blood, probably from the split lip and swollen eye. His ribs were swore, probably broken, and his hands were bound, and resting on his legs.

At least the pain was drawn from the cut and spread evenly. More importantly, pain reminded him that he wasn't dead, and suddenly, he didn't want to be. He wanted to fix this. Find Leaf. Help Ash.

"We need to be as far away from here as possible before that beast shows up, Butch."  
"I'm driving as fast as I can, Cassidy!" He sneered. "If we hadn't needed to drag that stupid carcass from the electrical company, we would have already been away from here."

Cassidy was grinding her nails against the door frame. "I know, but it's not everyday one of our targets falls right into our laps."

"We were ready to go." Butch groaned in an annoying voice that Gary was growing very tired off.

"Whatever, _he_ will be happy to know that we found another one. One step closer to ending this stupid nightmare created by Giovanni."

Gary's entire body ached, but not enough to miss that. He didn't open his eyes, but he lolled his head backwards to see if he could see her from here. Who were they working for if not Giovanni? It was too much for Gary's brain to comprehend at the moment, so while his captors were occupied at the steering wheel, his stared up through the passenger window, and nearly fainted again.

Above them, in the sky, twirling in an enraged mess, was a long scaly, green and red monster. Gary could not see the head, or the arms, but he saw portions of wings and the span of it was far larger than the city.

Once upon a time, Gary read a book of lore about the great titan Rayquaza, how the beast would come down only during trials of great distortion and correct the issue by all means necessary, but before now, he never believed it.

There were many ideas that Gary didn't believe before Ash came back into his life, but watching as the impending thunderstorm threatened to swallow them all. To restore balance the only way it probably knew how.

The plan all along, was to corner them. Create so much hell that only Giovanni would have the pieces to the puzzle to put everything back together again... but as Gary watched the endless form in the cloud twist, he couldn't help but think that if this was Giovanni's plan—he bit off far more than he could chew.

With the two rocket members arguing in the seat ahead of him, Gary's heart raced. He had to get back to that tower and shut it down before the real problem came from the sky and fixed it for them. He should have never let his guard down, cared so little. Selfish. Gary was selfish, just like his grandfather before him. He lied and said it would be okay, and cowered to 'save' his family—only to be murdered in his own lab by the likes of some Team Rocket grunt.

Without thinking, Gary kicked out his feet, ignoring the hellish pain that shot from his body when he wedged his foot through the front seats, slamming Butch forward, and causing them to spin out of control.

"Shit!" Butch screamed, and Gary braced for the impact by tucking himself into a ball as they swerved violently off the road.

 **Author's Note** :

So, nine chapters left.

I feel _really bad_ that I haven't updated this in close to a year now! YIKES. to think I used to update anywhere between 1-3 times a week when this first started. I almost feel guilty that this chapter is so short to be coming back with, but I wanted to post something. I've had it done for awhile now, but after losing all my progress, again. I felt more or less blah about everything.

I've also been editing the old chapters for inspiration to finish re-writing the last nine chapters. Not going to lie, most of them are done. I just have to add the fluff and stuff.

Please review and ask questions. We're at the end of the story now, so I probably won't reply to them until chapter 65 is posted but I would love to know what your thoughts are as we run to the end of the story.

Thank you all for being supportive these last two (three?) years. I hope the wait was worth it.

NINT


End file.
